Who doesn’t love running around and slaying zombies all day? Tack on some fast-paced parkour action, and you have yourself the experience to remember. Dying Light 2 blended the two concepts quite well, but where can players look when they’ve taken Aiden as far as he can go? They’ll want to boot up one of the following titles, which represent the best games like Dying Light 2 and its predecessor.
They may have zombies. They may not. Overall, they’re all connected through tone, style, and substance, providing players with a similar experience as the Dying Light series. Here are the games like Dying Light you should be checking out.
Games Like Dying Light
1. Project Zomboid
Developer: The Indie Stone
Publisher: The Indie Stone
Remember early previews of Dying Light 2, which promised a fully dynamic world that would change with the decisions players made? The finished product was far from what many expected, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find that experience elsewhere.
Project Zomboid may be an indie title, but its focus on mechanics and survival allowed The Indie Stone to create a zombie-centric game where every decision really does carry weight.
Whether you play alone or with friends, Project Zomboid tests your abilities to survive in a zombie apocalypse. And it’s not just the zombies you have to worry about, as depression, hunger, thirst, various illnesses, and even boredom will hinder progress. Project Zomboid is the type of survival game you pick up and have a hard time putting down. You just need to see whether the choices you made one day are enough to keep you alive the next.
2. 7 Days to Die
Developer: The Fun Pimps
Publisher: The Fun Pimps
Take Dying Light, strip away the parkour, minimize the narrative, and add survival elements, and you have 7 Days to Die. Kind of. There’s really quite a bit that separates the two, but 7 Days to Die is a fine replacement for when you’ve played Dying Light’s story to death and wished you could build your own post-apocalypse.
Putting the focus on survival, players explore a world infested with the undead, gathering supplies in hopes of simply making it to the next day. Like most survival games, you start with basic blueprints and find more advanced survival tools through quests and exploration. With zombies lurking around every corner, you definitely want to turn that stone ax into something a bit deadlier.
7 Days to Die is a bit slower than Dying Light, requiring patience as you can’t quickly parkour to your destination. But the payoff is a solid survival title set in a decaying world.
3. GTFO
Developer: 10 Chambers
Publisher: 10 Chambers
It’s supposed to be a simple trek into The Complex to complete a series of Work Orders. Unfortunately for the prisoners tasked with entering this long-abandoned facility, the Work Orders wind up being the least of their concerns.
Overrun with Sleepers, The Complex poses a unique challenge as players have to explore and scavenge resources that make survival possible. One wrong move and the slightest sound will awaken the pale fiends, sending hordes of them barreling down on the hapless four. GTFO is all about survival, and that means laying heavy on the trigger and working together to keep the Sleepers at bay.
With new Work Orders keeping things interesting in The Complex, GTFO remains a fun multiplayer battle against waves of zombie-like creatures. The atmosphere of the underground facility is very reminiscent of some of the more heart-pounding segments of the Dying Light series, particularly creeping through the labs in the second game.
4. Ghostwire: Tokyo
Developer: Tango Gameworks
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
No, spirits aren’t the same as zombies. But they can be just as much of a nuisance, especially if they’ve overtaken an entire city.
Ghostwire: Tokyo may seem very different from Dying Light, with elemental spells replacing bludgeon weapons and firearms, but the traversal is quite similar. In fact, set Dying Light in Tokyo, and you may better see the parallels between the two games.
Ghostwire is imbued with Tango’s signature weirdness, but it works well to create an action-packed battle against the supernatural. In fact, Ghostwire looks like Tango took the speed of Dying Light and mingled it with some of the designs from The Evil Within – and that’s definitely nothing to complain about. Ghostwire is a unique experience that can help taper the want for fast-paced horror-themed gameplay.
5. Ghostrunner
Developer: One More Level
Publisher: 505 Games
If it’s parkour you like, then you’re going to want to give Ghostrunner a try.
There’s no time for standing still in this stylishly violent, forward-moving first-person slasher, where it takes only one hit to bring the titular runner down. That amplifies the challenge, forcing players to not just bring enemies down as quickly as possible but find the best routes that keep them out of the line of fire.
Ghostrunner isn’t a horror game, it’s completely devoid of shambling undead, and the post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world is quite different from the open world of Villedor. But that element of parkour should really speak to Dying Light fans, and who doesn’t love wielding an uber-cool blade and sporting abilities that let them dodge bullets?
6. Mirror’s Edge
Developer: DICE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Seven years before Techland let players dropkick zombies and use their heads as stepping stones, DICE was trying to perfect fast-paced action-adventure platforming with Mirror’s Edge. Like when night falls, and the Volatile emerge, Mirror’s Edge is one big chase sequence, with protagonist Faith Connors running through a pristine white environment and performing incredible acts of parkour.
Mirror’s Edge was actually used as inspiration for Dying Light’s team, as they hoped to emulate the smooth and fluid parkour DICE had created. While Dying Light may be a little clunkier at times, it succeeded in recreating Faith’s impressive feats.
What Mirror’s Edge lacks in combat and action, it makes up for with exhilarating platforming.
7. State of Decay 2
Developer: Undead Labs
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
If you like games with content, State of Decay 2 has a ton of it. In fact, you can easily spend nearly 100 hours exploring the open world, completing quests, clearing infected zones, and rescuing survivors.
In this third-person zombie romp, players can swap between survivors, customizing each one to serve a specific purpose. Create leaders and reserve the weakest for zombie fodder as you build up your base, constructing beds, medbays, and more to attract more mouths to feed. State of Decay 2 requires players to carefully manage resources while eradicating as much of the zombie threat as possible.
There is no shortage of undead to go up against, but unlike in Dying Light, when a survivor dies, that’s one less person for players to control. When they all perish, it’s game over, and the zombie horde has succeeded in overtaking humanity.
8. Dead Rising 2
Developer: Blue Castle Games
Publisher: Capcom
Dead Rising was Capcom’s attempt at thrusting players into the middle of a zombie apocalypse and allowing them to just go wild and have fun. It was quite the change from Resident Evil, favoring zany zombie entertainment over slow-pacing and atmosphere. What it lacked was the ability to create custom weapons – a feature added in its sequel, Dead Rising 2.
Dead Rising 2’s Chuck Greene was easy to sympathize with as his daughter is always on the verge of joining the undead ranks. Like Aiden in Dying Light 2, though, all she needs is the antidote. But that’s not even the biggest parallel between the two games. To survive in Dead Rising 2, Chuck has to craft an array of weapons, many of which you’ll swear you’ve seen in Dying Light.
Dead Rising 2 has a lot to offer, from a fun Vegas-like setting to a never-ending horde of undead just asking to be shot, stabbed, bashed, decapitated, electrified, and blown up.
9. Dead Island
Developer: Techland
Publisher: Deep Silver
Believe it or not, Dying Light wasn’t Techland’s first go at a first-person zombie action RPG.
Four years earlier, they had dropped players in the tropical paradise of Banoi in the middle of a zombie outbreak. Unlike Dying Light, Dead Island was a bit slower-paced, favoring patience and careful decision-making. It was also a bit more of a horror title as even the lesser zombies posed a significant threat.
It’s a toss-up whether you’ll like Dying Light or Dead Island more. They’re two very different games in tone and pacing, but share similar elements like weapons modding, mutant zombies, and character abilities. If it’s a more tempered zombie horror game you’re looking for, Dead Island may be more your speed. It’s completely devoid of all parkour and quick on-foot traversal, and rushing through the tropical environment will only spell certain doom.
10. Dishonored
Developer: Arkane Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Dishonored is another non-zombie game that captures some of the similar pacing and movement of Dying Light, allowing players to quickly traverse rooftops. Similar to Dying Light, Dishonored is also an action RPG, putting ample customization in their hands with unique abilities that amplify the protagonist’s power.
However, it’s worth noting that the two are also very, very different in many ways. First off, in Dishonored, you’ll spend much of your time sticking to the shadows, waiting for the right moment to release a horde of plague rats. Additionally, Arkane Studios crafted a combat system that is so fluid that players can string together elemental, physical, and technical attacks seamlessly.
Dishonored leaves a lot up to the player as they navigate the seedy underbelly of Dunwall to ultimately clear Corvo Attano’s name. The blend of supernatural and practical combat fits well within the Steampunk city crafted by Arkane and Half-Life 2’s art director, Viktor Antonov.
If you need a break from zombies, you may take some pleasure in cleverly assassinating the foe that stands in Corvo’s way.
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