Dying Light 2 update adds fan-requested feature from the original Dying Light

If you like watching zombie bones shatter, Dying Light 2 patch 1.7.2 is for you.

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It’s not unusual for game sequels to disappoint fans of the original by leaving out beloved features.Dying Light 2was no exception: While the open world zombie sandbox got plenty of good reviews (including mine) and a mostly positive response from fans, there were complaints about the lack of zombie ragdolling and weapon repair systems sported in the original.

Also: there was no X-ray. In the original Dying Light, if you stunned a zombie with an attack there’d be a moment of time-slowdown and you’d see the zed’s skeleton through their bodies. Y’know, like an X-ray. If you followed up with another attack you could see the zombie’s bone’s shatter and break inside their infected bodies. It’s a bit reminiscent of Sniper Elite’s brutally gory kills where you can see bones (and otherNSFW stuff) being splintered in slow motion as a bullet passes through them.

Dying Light 2 was patched to version 1.7.2 yesterday in anticipation of theBloody Ties DLC. Along with darker nights, outfit previews, and other quality of life improvements, plus plenty of bug fixes, X-ray has been added to Dying Light 2 in the patch, though the feature sounds like it’s still in beta.

“The all-time loved feature from Dying Light is back! X-ray is available and will make your gameplay more memorable!” thepatch notes say. “Please keep in mind that this is the first phase of this feature, and we will work in the future to make it iconic for Dying Light 2 Stay Human – your feedback is appreciated, so smash some bones and let us know what you think about it!”

I couldn’t deny the urgency of so many exclamation points used in the space of a single paragraph, so I jumped into the patched game to try it out. After running around the streets bashing zombies with a mace and a fire extinguisher on a stick, I did see the new X-ray effect happen a few times. It’s not quite as intense an effect as it was in the original Dying Light, at least not yet.

For comparison, here’s a clip of the X-ray feature from the original game:

And here’s a gif of the couple of times I saw it in Dying Light 2:

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There were other times where I think I couldhearthe effect kick in, without actually seeing the bones of the zombie appear. But, like Techland says, it’s basically in beta at the moment, and it may be a while before Dying Light 2 can live up to Dying Light’s original bone-crunching glory.

Here are the full patch notes for Dying Light 1.7.2.

Gameplay updates:

Co-op updates:

UI/UX Updates:

Technical updates:

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he’d stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He’s also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

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