What Dying Light is
Dying Light is a first-person survival action game set in an open-world city that has been devastated by a zombie virus epidemic. You scavenge for supplies, craft weapons and fight through infected with a mix of melee and ranged options. The combat leans hard on the environment: you can use the terrain, weapon types and abilities together to gain an edge rather than trading shots in the open. The city is built for movement — parkour lets you scale buildings and reach remote areas, so getting around is a core part of play rather than just fast travel between markers.
A day and night cycle changes the balance of power. During the day you move as a hunter, and at sundown the threat comes out and the roles flip: you either face what's waking up or get clear fast without looking back. A secret mission runs under all of this, putting loyalty to your superiors against the will to save the survivors, and the ending you reach depends on those choices.
Playing it with a group
The story campaign supports four-player co-op, so you can run the whole thing as a team instead of alone. Co-op is online, and there's PvP available too if your group wants to fight each other rather than the infected. Beyond the campaign, the game includes a level editor, which means there's community-made content to work through alongside the official maps.
Progress carries over through Steam Cloud, and Steam Achievements are in place for anyone tracking what they've cleared. Controller support is full, with DualShock and DualSense controllers covered, and Remote Play on Tablet and TV lets someone join from a screen you're already using.
Before you start
The Essentials Edition bundles the base game with a long list of DLC: The Bozak Horde, Cuisine & Cargo, and a set of bundles including Ultimate Survivor, 5th and 10th Anniversary, Harran Ranger, Gun Psycho, Volatile Hunter, Retrowave and Shu Warrior. A Retouched Update is available free to all Dying Light owners and brings enhanced visuals, graphical improvements and a remastered soundtrack, so the game you install looks better than older footage suggests.
Expect an open world you're meant to cross on foot and by hand, a campaign with real narrative stakes, and difficulty that swings with the clock — planning your nights matters as much as your loadout.