Dying Light 2: Stay Patient on PlayStation 4
Dying Light 2 patch 1.07 was released Friday, March 11, for PlayStation 4. Readers interested in viewing the full spread of fixes and adjustments can do so on Techland’s official website.
While the development team appears to be hard at work on releasing regular updates and fixes, it’s easy to see why some players may be giving up on the game until many more patches round out Dying Light 2’s rougher edges on last-gen consoles.
Further adding to the frustration, PlayStation 5 consoles continue to sell out in the mere minutes following a restock, a trend that has sustained from the system’s release. With no end in sight to the supply chain issues plaguing many technology-based industries, last-gen ports for new videogames have become increasingly common.
PS4 Performance
Days before update 1.07 for Dying Light 2 was released, the game crashed as I entered the Peacekeeper’s main base of operations in the Central Loop. Later, upon starting the game again, I was informed that the crash had corrupted my 60-80 hour save file, and I had to delete it. The next thing I know, I’m being prompted to adjust the brightness settings and agree to the user license agreement all over again. This crash did more than corrupt my save; it reset everything short of my trophy progress.
Starting over from square one has been an understandably painful blow; however, Techland’s patch notes promised considerable improvements to the game’s systems. Despite these flashy additions, the first few hours of Dying Light 2 show that PS4 players looking for a smooth, relatively bug-free experience should keep waiting.
Dying Light 2 vs. Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4
It may seem unfair to compare Dying Light 2’s launch to that of Cyberpunk 2077, but for last-gen users, the similarities are difficult to ignore. Beyond bugs, glitches, and crashes, a glaring likeness comes in the “nerfing” of certain in-game features or exploits that many players once used to wring out any ounce of joy from the product that they could.
Early Cyberpunk players may remember the good times they had with a particular work of art: the Untitled 18 – Brancesi 2021 painting. This item sold for a cool 4,000 Eddies, and players could repurchase it for a measly five Eurodollars, then wash, rinse, and repeat. Needless to say, this made filling your pockets and grabbing every nice, pricey thing you wanted a real bargain!
Did CD Projekt Red wait to adjust this player-rewarding oversight until Cyberpunk was running dependably? Did they focus on the glaring issues and let those of us struggle-busing our way through the game keep our money-making exploit? Of course not!
Dying Light 2’s Korek Charm is the new Brancesi. What was once an easter egg that only required that players pay with their will and determination to find the item now features an upcharge of one-third of all the scrap one could possibly possess, but with less payoff. The durability-enhancing weapons charm has also seen its effect decrease from +500 durability to +300. While some at Techland promise to rebalance this feature, it will doubtlessly leave a sour aftertaste in the mouth moving forward.
New Bugs After Version 1.2
Nevertheless, patch 1.07 for Dying Light 2 on PS4 pledges improvements in one previously lacking area: combat. The “brutality pack” included in the update makes hacking, slashing, and bludgeoning your way through foes much more satisfyingly visceral. Still, undead and human enemies alike are prone to freeze and stutter throughout combat situations, so take the extra blood with a grain of salt.
Progress does not come without drawbacks, though, as patch 1.07 also introduces new bugs and issues. On several occasions during the game’s opening hours, the merciless groans of a zombie I’d just slain would drone on from the floor, their enemy indicator would persist on the bottom of the screen, and no matter how far I ran, the threat detector remained. This bug will prevent players from performing story-related actions until they reload the game from the main menu.
Naturally, Dying Light 2’s audio issues on PS4 have not been fully resolved, nor have the NPCs stopped occasionally looking like they’re waiting to audition for a sequel to I, Robot. Players may find that tall grass still resembles strips of grey construction paper from time to time, but pausing for a few seconds does seem to give the game the time it needs to catch up. On the bright side, at least people can’t exploit the Korek Charm anymore!
Dying Light 2: Stay Human continues to leave its last-gen user base behind, and fans of the apocalyptic free-running experience shouldn’t expect things to change in the near future.
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