As the developers at Techland recently announced. Expect a massive amount of gameplay hours in the upcoming zombie action open-world hit Dying Light 2! If you want to see everything in the destroyed fictional city of Harran and experience all the decisions, you can expect at least 500 hours! A number that even a Witcher 3 or Skyrim would have a hard time reaching.
This is what lies behind the 500 game hours of Dying Light 2
A game that lasts 500 hours: This announcement now scares off many players rather than attracting them – most simply have far too little time for such a chunk. Therefore, the loud and negative reaction to a corresponding tweet about Dying Light 2 is not really surprising. However, the developers are directly trying to limit the damage.
- Last update: 11 January 2022
- New: Another developer tweet on game time
On Twitter it says players will need “at least 500 hours to play through Dying Light 2 completely, almost as long as it takes to walk from Warsaw to Madrid!”.
To fully complete Dying Light 2 Stay Human, you’ll need at least 500 hours-almost as long as it would take to walk from Warsaw to Madrid!”. DyingLight2 stayhuman pic.twitter.com/Sk3KFpRJoA
– Dying Light (@DyingLightGame) January 8, 2022
Update 11 January 2022: After the first tweets drew a lot of fan criticism, the developers obviously want to appease further. In another message on Twitter, they now say that the campaign is only about 20 hours long. With all the side quests, it would take about 80 hours. The 500 hours would only apply if you want to see every dialogue, every collectible, every corner of the map and all story endings.
Dying Light 2 should be suitable for different types of players, i.e. for those who really have to collect everything as well as for story fans who only want to play through the story.
We wanted to clarify our recent communication about the amount of hours required to complete the game. Dying Light 2: Stay Human is designed for players with different gameplay styles and preferences to explore the world as they see fit.DyingLight2 pic.twitter.com/tcaDKULMo8
– Dying Light (@DyingLightGame) January 10, 2022
Fans worry about grind and little variety
Instead of anticipation, resignation comes through in the comments. Many don’t believe that a game can deliver hundreds of hours of exciting content, but must artificially stretch its playtime with grind and long running paths. (Casual Gamers IE) writes something like:
As can be read in an official tweet from the developers. Should keep us busy for hundreds of hours in an action RPG set in a city infested with zombies and battling rival factions. Or as the developers humorously put it – A similar time required to walk from Warsaw to Madrid.
8 hour campaign confirmed. Pick up every single sock in the city – 500 hours.
The developers have already responded to this, stating that the story campaign, including side missions, should take around 70 to 80 hours to complete. Another (Tweet) clarifies that the 500 hours only apply if you really want to explore every last corner of the Open World and unlock all Achievements. Also, Dying Light 2 offers several different endings, so that also counts towards “playing through completely”.
Even 80 hours is a rather depressing prospect for many commenters, but there are also opposing voices who are looking forward to a huge Open World and lots of quests. Twitter user (Slomo) writes, for example:
Now I want to play it even more than before, I found the first game way too short. I can’t wait to experience this long, dark story they have prepared for us. Look at it this way, we also get more of Jonah’s incredible voice acting” (Editor’s note: Jonah Scott voices protagonist Aiden Caldwell)
To fully complete Dying Light 2 Stay Human, you’ll need at least 500 hours-almost as long as it would take to walk from Warsaw to Madrid! DyingLight2 stayhuman pic.twitter.com/Sk3KFpRJoA
– Dying Light (@DyingLightGame) January 8, 2022
But what to make of the information? Open-world games have been criticised for quite some time for offering huge playgrounds but with little immersion and attraction and instead relying enormously on the same tasks over and over again, which are more like occupational therapy than an exciting adventure. AC: Valhalla would be the best example of this recently. This is why more and more players now want denser, crisper and better staged adventures rather than yet another open-world á la Far Cry with bandit bases and lookout towers. How Dying Light 2 implements this will be seen in early February, when the game is released for all major platforms.
But it’s likely that the advertised 500 hours will count as multiple playthroughs of Dying Light 2. That means multiple restarts, where we’ll keep making different choices than the playthrough before. These will sometimes be more, sometimes less distinctly different from each other, and so definitely add up to 500 hours of gameplay, which it takes to really see every possible turn and conversation option for ourselves. Still, it’s a proud and bold announcement. Completing the main campaign including all side quests, on the other hand, will take, still a proud 70-80 hours, according to the developers. And if the zombie action sandbox really manages to also offer us interesting activities and exciting decision-making options that affect our world, we look forward to the hundreds of hours of gameplay.
