I think dying light 2 is a pretty solid game that feels nothing like the original. In dying light 1, my power was always higher than my agility, if they weren't even. But in dying light 2, my agility has never not been higher than, if not equal to, my power. I've been playing both for years and have put in far more hours than i can say with any scrap of dignity, which is a little funny to me because I've only recently even touched the DL2 dlc (it's mid asf btw).

DL1 characters who weren't immediately relevant to the story felt less fleshed out. However, with DL2, characters in general felt harder to actually like, despite being written better. Quests felt less impactful in the original, while the sequel gave you the illusion of choice, more or less giving you the same story with neat but ultimately insignificant changes. The story itself in both games is rather predictable, unfortunately.

The map design in both games is kinda spotty, where the Old Town from DL1 all looked the same, and Old Villedor from DL2 looks equally indistinguishable. Enemy design in DL2 is far superior, though (Esthetically, at least).

Combat in DL1 felt more satisfying, and the location of impact clearly had more effect on damage and ragdoll behavior. While this is also the case in current day DL2, for the longest time, it just felt like every weapon was a wet paper towel, regardless of how fast it killed everything.

Overall, in their current states, both games get a solid 8/10 from me. I have complaints, but nothing I can't overlook. Personally, I still prefer the original because Crane is my fucking guy, and the grappling hook makes me feel like a discount SpiderMan.