E12 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13 , 2022
IMAGES FROM TECHLANDBY CHRISTOPHER BYRDI was not exactly thrilled to
begin “Dying Light 2 Stay Hu-
man.” I’d willfully missed out on
its predecessor because I under-
stood it was a fair time commit-
ment, and the only thing I knew
going into the sequel was that it
was an open-world game, with
RPG elements, set in a post-apoca-
lyptic, zombie-congested city. The
thought of slipping through seedy
ruins staving off viscera-smeared
monsters filled me with a wary
sense of deja vu as I’ve battled
some version of “the infected” in
more games than I care to recall.
Early impressions didn’t cause
me to doubt my misgivings. The
plot setup is nothing if not basic:
The game casts you as Aiden, a
man searching for his sister, who,
like him, was the victim of a covert
medical program that used kids as
test subjects. (Aiden’s backstory is
told in flashbacks that are too
rushed to establish any signifi-
cant connection to his younger
self.) Even now, more than 50
hours into the campaign, I’m not
particularly invested in Aiden’s
quest.
All that said, I am dazzled by
how compelling it is to pilot him
about the blighted cityscape.
Similar to the Mirror’s Edge
series, “Dying Light 2” is a park-
our game where you spend a hefty
amount of time scurrying over
things with acrobatic grace. The
game excels at conveying the
physicality of Aiden’s movements,
like the way he tucks into a roll
when landing a high jump or
flings himself through the air to
tackle an enemy. There is a feeling
of velocity and weight to his ac-
tions. Aiden’s character anima-
tions made me reflect on how far
development practices have come
since the days when controlling a
character from a first-person per-
spective felt like steering a disem-
bodied camera.
Getting Aiden from point A to
point B is wonderfully complicat-
ed by the game’s day-night cycle.
During the day, relatively few
zombies roam the streets while
the majority sleep in darkened
buildings. Those buildings, how-
ever, are where the most useful
loot can be found in the form of
weapons and stat-boosting con-
coctions. Venturing indoors be-
fore evening is usually a recipe for
disaster. At night, buildings are
easier to infiltrate, but the streets
are filled with zombies. When I
first started playing “Dying Light
2” I instinctively avoided travel-
ing at night. Later, when I grew
more comfortable with the con-
trols, I embraced the risk of hit-
ting the streets after dusk. (The
ominous droning sound that
plays at sundown is superb as isthe game’s sound design.) I
learned to keep my flashlight off
as much as possible so as not to
attract a swarm of the infected.
Running through those murky
nights while trying — and some-
times failing — to pick out objects
to climb over, putting some dis-
tance between Aiden and a mob of
stirred-up zombies, has given me
more kinetic thrills than I’d ever
imagined. Another facet of “Dying
Light 2” that surprised me is the
quality of the cast. (Rosario Daw-
son, who plays Lawan, one of
Aiden’s chief contacts, is particu-
larly good in her role as a swagger-
ing assassin). The NPCs that help,
betray, and frustrate Aiden are
interesting and varied enough to
interact with that the quests move
along at a nice clip.
Glancing over the list of quests
I’ve completed, I can’t say many
stand out — aside from one where
I had to climb the tallest building
in the city, which felt like a suit-
ably arduous task. Restoring pow-
er to different places, searching
for people and clearing out areas
of zombies are pretty much the
types of activities I’d expected.
But I was utterly enthralled by
“Dying Light 2 Stay Human’s” me-
chanical panache, entrancing
soundtrack and charismatic
NPCs.Christopher Byrd is a Brooklyn-based
writer. His work has appeared in the
New York Times Book Review, the
New Yorker and elsewhere. Follow
him on Twitter @Chris_Byrd.Dazzling mechanics and sound design
add flesh to a played-out zombie genre
DYING LIGHT 2 STAY HUMAN
Developed by: Techland
Published by: Techland
Available on: PC, PlayStation 4,
PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox
Series S/Xjoy of “Before Sunset” is watching
them wander around Paris togeth-
er, engaging in intimate, free-
wheeling conversation while
struggling with how much of their
unguarded selves to reveal. I’m
not going to spoil how “Before
Sunset” resolves all that tension,
but I dare you not to swoon at the
ending.Michelle Buteau (Melissa in
‘Marry Me’)
The go-to romantic movie for
my husband and I would probably
be “Die Hard.” Anyone can go out
and buy a dozen roses, but Bruce
Willis is saving lives and showing
how much he loves his estranged
wife. Is there anything cuter?
Probably. Is “Die Hard” a Valen-
tine’s Day movie? I think “Die
Hard” could be whatever you want
from a movie. I find it very roman-
tic. There’s nothing better than a
man coming through for you.Doug Jones (Amphibian Man
in ‘The Shape of Water’)
I met my future wife in 1981 on
Valentine’s Day. I was in the audi-
ence watching a production of
“Godspell” at our university, Ball
State. I met her after the show, and
it was love at first sight. Which is
why my favorite romantic movie
— and also my favorite movie — is
“Somewhere in Time.” It came out
in 1980, and I went back to the
theater again and again and
again. Christopher Reeve sees a
photo of a woman [Jane Seymour]
from another era and finds a way
to travel back in time to find her.
And why he connects with thatphoto is because when that photo
was taken, she was looking at him
after he traveled back in time. I
was like, “Oh my gosh, that is
amazing!” It ends rather tragical-
ly, but love prevails. My romantic
turn in “The Shape of Water”
showed that love is possible, even
for a monster; love is out there for
all of us.Gina Gershon (Sue in ‘Rifkin’s
Festival,’ Corky in ‘Bound’)
Even though “Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind” is probably
not considered a typical “roman-
tic movie,” I do love it. It deals with
relationships, breakups and
heartache in a very honest way.
Romantic love often isn’t rational.
We’ve all been through relation-
ships that for whatever reason
weren’t working, and we go
through various different meth-
ods to rid that person from our
life. This movie goes to extreme
measures to exorcise that person
out of your thoughts and memo-
ries, yet the heart remembers. The
frequency of love does not rid so
easily. And I find that notion very
romantic, albeit a bit disturbing.George Chakiris (Bernardo in
‘West Side Story’)
I tend to go to the MGM musi-
cals, because they take me back to
when I was a kid watching them. I
guess that’s not romantic, but, in a
way, it is. It’s a way of feeling good
about life. I’ve watched “Singin’ in
the Rain” more than anything
else. Gene Kelly and Debbie Reyn-
olds are just breathtaking. It
brought Cyd Charisse to nationalattention because of [the “Broad-
way Melody” number,] that ex-
traordinary Broadway rhythm
ballet. Jean Hagen is so beautiful-
ly funny, and Donald O’Connor in
“Make ‘Em Laugh” makes me
laugh every time as if I’ve never
seen it before. It’s perfect; such a
beautiful movie.Pat Boone (Wayne Frake in
‘State Fair’)
I’m a member of the Academy,
and every year right after Christ-
mas, my wife, Shirley, and I would
go to our hideaway in Hawaii, and
we would look at films that might
be nominated for Academy
Awards. That is how we saw “The
Notebook.” James Garner and
Gena Rowlands did a beautiful
job. Shirley and I were wiping our
eyes, and I said, “I hope when we
get to heaven, you and I are going
to be Mr. and Mrs. Pat Boone, and
not just two amorphous angels
that brush wings every eon or
two.” Inspired by “The Notebook,”
I went out to the pool, and in a
half-hour wrote a song called “You
and I.” When I sing it at the end of
my shows, I don’t dare look be-
hind me, because there will be a
picture of Shirley [who died in
2019], and if I look at that, I’ll
never finish the song:
You and I
There’s never been a love like
ours before ...
We share a love that time can-
not erase
No matter what the future holds
if I can see your face ...
We’ll see it through together
You and I ...VIDEO GAMESBY DONALD LIEBENSONWhat the world needs now is ...
well, you know the song. Happily,
from contemporary rom-coms to
classic tear-jerkers, there is plenty
of movie love to share on Valen-
tine’s Day. But if you’re stuck for
just the right thing to watch, who
better to ask for suggestions than
the stars of some romantic movies
— along with an expert who liter-
ally wrote the book on rom-coms?
What are their go-to heart-
warming movies? The Washing-
ton Post asked, and it turns out
that love truly is a many splen-
dored thing.
Ruta Lee (Ruth Jepson in
‘Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers’)
Valentine’s Day is very impor-
tant to me because that’s the day I
met my glorious husband, to
whom I was married for 46 years
until he foolishly left this planet.
For our ideal Valentine’s Day, I
would bake a huge baked potato,
crack it open, fill it full of caviar,
sour cream and scallions, and take
a bottle of Champagne or vodka
up to our bedroom and turn on
“The Way We Were.” That is about
as romantic as it can get. That
movie reminded us that not every-
one was as lucky as we were. We
were truly, truly blessed. The love-
ly thing about my husband is that I
miss him with a smile.
Miss Piggy (Herself in ‘The
Muppet Movie’)
I simply adore “Breakfast at
Tiffany’s” — not only because it
stars the incomparable Audrey
Hepburn and her fabulous little
black dress, but any movie with a
meal and a jewelry store in the
title has to be an instant classic!
Gina Rodriguez (Anne in ‘I
Want You Back’)
“Monster-in-Law”; any rom-
com J.Lo. has ever done. I abso-
lutely love [Jennifer Lopez]. But I
chose that one because it includes
the in-laws, and to me, there is
nothing more romantic than fall-
ing in love with the sacrifices and
compromises of the people who
raised the person that you love.
Not to mention I just love the
scene where she and Jane Fonda
slap the s--- out of each other.
[Laughs.] But I love my in-laws;
my mother-in-law is probably my
favorite person on the planet.
Scott Meslow (author of ‘From
Hollywood with Love: The
Rise and Fall (And Rise Again)
of the Romantic Comedy’)
“Before Sunset” works best
alongside its predecessor, “Before
Sunrise” (which captures the wild
rush of young love), and its sequel,
“Before Midnight” (which cap-
tures the complexity of any long-
term relationship) — but this mid-
dle chapter is the most achingly
romantic of all. It centers on Jesse
and Céline, two star-crossed lov-
ers in their early 30s, now wise
enough to realize they bungled a
once-in-a-lifetime connection
nine years earlier and hopeful that
it’s not too late to recapture it. The
Actors and a Muppet share their ideal Valentine’s viewing
NEW LINE/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCKCOLUMBIA PICTURES/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCKMELISSA MOSELEY/NEW LINE/AVERY PIX/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCKFROM TOP: James Garner and Gena Rowlands in the 2004 tear-
jerker “The Notebook.” Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand are a
contrasting couple in 1973’s “The Way We Were.” Michael Vartan
and Jennifer Lopez star in the 2005 film “Monster-in-Law.”