Techland took the opportunity to ask a very straightforward question to the Dying Light 2 community on Twitter, and the answers are simply marvelous. The developer’s official account had a tweet that said, ‘What is your NG+ level now?’ and players responded right away with figures that demonstrated how large the endgame grind actually is. The figures refer to New Game Plus playthroughs that are in the double digits, and the maximum Legend levels that have gone as high as 300. It is a breathtaking image that represents the passion of the community, although it also raises the issue of the game’s balance between being overpowered and difficult.
So, what is going on? For those who have not yet come back to Villedor, Dying Light 2 received a significant update that finally introduced the New Game Plus mode. This update allows players to replay the whole story while keeping their abilities, equipment, and parkour skills. But that’s not all. When players reach the maximum level, they will then start to gain Legend levels, which are almost identical to the one used in the prestige system that gives the player stats permanently increased. The concept is quite straightforward: to maintain the difficulty during the replay of the game on higher NG+ with the tougher monsters.
However, the replies received by Techland on the tweet clearly show that a lot of gamers have gone much beyond ‘challenging’ and are in ‘god mode.’ A user named @Strike20Thunder bragged that they have just completed NG+ 7 and are going to start 8, at the same time being at Legend level 300. Another player, @doomersonalized, is on NG+ 10 with maxed-out Legend level, and he even posted a laughing-crying emoji that perfectly illustrates the situation. A third player, @TempyNoodles, is working towards NG+ 10, while @Deegan_999 claims he is on NG+ 7 with 300 Legend after 284 hours of playing. That is some serious dedication.
And this is where things get very tricky. The argument is complicated. Many gamers expressed their belief that the game’s equilibrium shatters the moment you reach such extremes. A user by the name of @reezzhaa93 directly asked for an update: ‘If going for Legend and New Game+ levels, zombies die too easily with one hit, and execution animations are not available. Please update to balance the zombie levels.’ It is a fair point – when there is no longer a fight to be fought, where is the fun?
User @cipri1422, who claims to have already achieved NG+ 11, criticized the enemy scaling as ‘bad design’ and the NG+ as being too linear in terms of storytelling since Dying Light 2 allows players to make multiple choices. They commented, ‘Everything is just one way, you don’t have different outcomes for choices, except for some side quests. The rest is just one way no matter what you choose.’ Meanwhile, @BonelessAEsir has attained Legend level 265 but is putting off his grinding to 300 until the ‘Nightmare’ difficulty, which was promised, arrives, hoping for a rebalance so that it will not be an ‘easy one’.
Of course, not everyone is grinding at that level. There were also more down-to-earth responses. User @oje_bennett27 is at level 31 and says that they ‘can’t play all day’ and that constantly replaying the game is ‘definitely for streamers, not people who have a life outside of gaming.’ User @TMANTREY141 is at level 55 with 89 hours played and is saying that he is ‘absolutely loving the update.’ And the third user @ali_hld13 asked whether reaching level 70 after finishing the main storyline, all factions, and activities was ‘good?’ (Spoiler: yes, that is pretty cool!).
Though the thread was not just about levels. It was a community check-in, which means that players also shared their wishlists and bugs, etc. User @JosephS67796646 begged, ‘please fix the bike that is crashing the game,’ a problem that some have reported and is already known. User @WeslleyDM80 reported that they have ongoing issues with the game not starting and that they had to use DX11 as a workaround. And user @MrNightrunner is curious about the availability of PlayStation Premium cloud streaming.
Some of the requests were even… daringly optimistic. User @VooDoo1290 took the opportunity to pitch the idea of Dying Light 3, asking for a prequel about Kyle Crane and the gang from the first game, with airdrops, dune buggies, and the Night Hunter included. After all, a fan can dream, right?
But one thing that is definitely noticeable from this Twitter thread is that players are invested, and some have even called out the developers on platforms like Steam. The community for this Xbox and PlayStation title remains deeply engaged.
