So, you have played the original Dead Island series and have been wanting the same sort of action again where a bunch of generic emotionless and uninteresting NPCs give you the most generic tasks to do which in hindsight do seem to make sense. The sort of scavenging for items such as food and basic supplies which is all you do for the most part does seem to be what people would actually need in such a situation. Ah, I just understood the premise of Dead Island finally. A literal Zombie Apocalype Walking Simulator.
But enough droning on the past. Instead let's drone on a different version of the past.

Dying. Light.

Yes, now you have to deal with the same scavenging and looting mechanics in a zombie outbreak.. in a different city, Harran. Hurrah.

What's changed though?

Parkour! Lots of it! And Night Cycles!

Be sure though, that this game far outclasses Dead Island and is one of the best Zombie games out there currently. Oh also, half the time the focus of this zombie game isn't to kill zombies. If that's what you're looking for, you'll be waiting a while till you get better weapons or unlock skills off the skill tree.

Let's focus on the Pros first:
+ Dying Light fixes most of the issues people had with the original Dead Island series (including the much appreciated HD remaster). Revamped Sensible UIs and Menus and better navigation.
+ CO-OP ABILITY AGAIN! Being able to play with your friends. Nothing like fighting a horde of brain dead zombies who accidentally blow each other up with your own horde of equally brain dead zombie (cus the monotony of life and our daily grind kills us inside too innit?) friends who accidentally or willing blow each other up. Jolly Good Times.
+ Albeit to what some think, I personally loved most of the characters and thought they were much more interesting with their individual quirks and plot twists, even if the tasks they give are usually quite repetitive in nature. But the game does a good job at story telling so as you don't feel the mundane nature of the tasks each time you do the same fetch-n-retrieve quest.
+ Our Harran's Clueless yet Beloved Protagonist, Kyle "The DropKick" Crane, does a great job at making you wonder which side is he truly on as he continually bullies his way through everyone. Whether it be shaking down an opressed fisherman for cold hard earned protection money. Or shooting arrows through the heads of the Antagonist's men. Or.. just taking out his frustration on the poor zombie on the sidewalk who was just minding his own business by decapitating it with a electrified water pipe with a spinning 10 inch blade. Ah Kyle, we love your antics. Screams LA VACHE!!!
+ The Night Cycle. Nothing like blindly running around in the dark with a bunch of Vola- I mean Zombies, nipping at your heels for Crane's autograph! If your heart didn't pound out of your chest the first time the game introduces the Night Mechanic, you're a big fat liar. But seriously, night time exploration elevates the gameplay over any other generic zombie game.
+ A plethora of really cool weapons, attachments, boosters and effects can be made with the supplies you gather. (Nah, you won't use 90% of what you farm unless you're really only playing just this game as your life and consider yourself a citizen of Harran but yes, still, steal those 28 dollars off that zombie and the duct tape off the next. You never know when you might need them even though you have 1,000 of them now. Or 16,000 You know what I am talking about, you Duplicating Douche.)
+ Picturesque locations, even though, y'know, zombies, viscera and guts all over the place, bloodstains, and garbage piles everywhere. Never understood how landing on garbage would break your fall instead of your back though. But tons of areas with lots of Easter eggs, nifty details, characters, loons and goons.
Whether you like Old Town or the Slums more, everyone will surely agree that Antenna is the worst and most annoying climb in the game.
+ Cool even if cliched and copied villain to fight against. Vaas from Far Cry was the apparent inspiration and the delusion shows quite clearly. Man's a down right mad lad machete wielding muchacho with loads of style to spare. He disArms you and brings about his Armageddon in this Arms Race. Arma. He gives you a Hand to save Harran. Better take his Machete. This will come in Handy. High Five, Rais. Or a handshake perhaps? Okay, I'll stop.
+ The game encourages post completion gameplay with great extra content like Be the Hunter where you can "experience the fight from the other side" which is a great DLC. People love to compare this game and this mode to Valve's famous Left for Dead where you can play as the infected.
+ Bozak Horde. fAsTeR FaSte- B*TCH I AM TRYING!!!
+ Extortion Money. "This is our friend Jafar. We threaten to break his legs. Then he pays us. He's cool about it."
+ Jade :D

So what are the Cons?
- Early game weapons are absolute trash. Pardon the pun. But to be fair, you do pick half of them up from piles of Garbage anyways. Takes forever to dispatch even the most lowest of the low. Also it was just my unwillingness to ditch my beloved wooden plank till it splintered to dust. Yeah yeah, the focus isn't on fighting but as someone who's high from the rush of killing zombies in L4D2, you can get a little stumbled.
- Quests can be rather repetitive at times. But if you did them in Dead Island, you won't mind them here. Please do listen to what all characters say. They can be downright hilarious.
- Annoying overused tropes throughout the game. Also the fact that the introduction to the protagonist in the first few seconds of the game makes you question his skills.

Actual spoilers below, skip if you haven't played the game yet:
Military trained professional dude can't deploy and land a simple parachute? Can't shoot and dispatch the guys who attack him even though they are beating the everliving crap out of him upon landing? Gets the dude who tries to save him killed? Rip Amar. You were a victim of overused tropes where a character dies saving the protag even though there's zero reason for him to be killed off. Fails to save EVERY single other character including his (okay, I meant mine) love interest Jade? Stop killing characters just because you have no other way to give meaning to their character and make the viewer care about them. Rais continually doesn't kill Crane and monologues and loses everything in the end.
Anddd even the ending is a failure because as confirmed in Dying Light 2: "Over twenty years ago in Harran, we fought the virus—and lost. Now, we’re losing again." Bah, what a mess, my man.
-Error prone parkour and grappling hook mechanics. Half the times you'll end up hooking into anything and everything as well as No Clipping through everything. Seriously, it's easier to go out of bounds in this game than it is to stay in bounds. Not really that big an issue though so we cool.
- ELEVATORS. Suddenly every single elevator in the whole city is broken or breaks down halfway through riding it. People make fun of Capcom for their signature elevators. But at least those usually work.

Spoilers again, avert eyes:
-Jade D:
-Just two elevators work in this game. TWO. The Tower and the Boss Battle at the end of the game 2 minutes before you complete it.
-The final boss battle should have been implemented differently and is lacklustre. Techland took the safer way for implementing it. Honestly, it's not that bad. But the fact that you fail to save the city makes the ending feel sour and unfulfilling.

Final thoughts?
Dying Light is an absolutely Harrandous game to play, solo or with friends and significantly easier when you have even one extra person to cover your back and is one of the most fun coop experiences I've had. The difference between this and Dead Island is Night and Day! See what I did there? Yeah..

8.8/10!

~Rais the Dead.~