I'm now about 15 hours in and my praise for the game has only increased. Still haven't experienced any technical issues (PS5, Performance, 100% solo) except the previously mentioned black flicker, I'm starting to think this was some bizarre, intentional design choice to simulate the character blinking, weird stuff.
When I think about games that had liberating traversal mechanics, movement that felt unique and exhilarating I think about stuff like the Infamous series, swinging through NY as Spiderman, riding on an elephant and gliding over the forest canopy in Far Cry 4. DL2 might have my favourite moment to moment movement in any game ever. There is an unbridled joy in traversing this city that only gets better as time goes on and more skills are unlocked. Highly recommend unlocking the Dart skill ASAP which allows a burst of speed before jumping to allow greater distances, huge gaps between certain buildings are no longer a problem, leap and fly. I haven't even unlocked the grappling hook or paraglider yet, can't wait.
The combat in this game is weighty and impactful. If I have any criticisms it's that kicking enemies into spike traps or smashing an zombie head with your weapon while it's on the ground feels limp and lacking emphasis. I think some are remembering Dying Light with rose-tinted glasses. I loved that game, played the hell out of it including Following DLC, DL2 is superior in every way. I'm tempted to redownload it to do a direct, immediate comparison but even just watching some YT vids confirms what I suspect, maybe I should just be to fair though.
I want to shout out the OST once again, I'm absolutely in love with it. It's wistful, melancholic, has a sense of longing. At other times it's triumphant, enormous and fervent. No matter what it always fits the mood and action going on on screen. No surprise I dig it so much once I learned the composer is Olivier Derivière who did the the soundtrack for one of my fave OST's of the past 10 years: Vampyr. He's also done a bunch of other games like Remember Me, Life is Strange, A Plague Tale and Greedfall to name a few.
Interesting thing with the main character sounding so much like Troy Baker and it brings up a good question: why does the industry put so much stock into Baker if this "imitation" is just as good? To put it another way, if Baker had this role with the exact same script he couldn't do it any better. Just an observation, I think Baker is fantastic and enjoy his work. The real stars here are the major NPC's though. Hakon, Dodger, Sophie, Aitor, Barney and more are all fantastic, well written and well acted. It's really Aiden getting entangled in this world of politics and power struggles that shines more than his character or his motivations which is rather throwaway. Nothing is initially as it seems, this is a world filled with shades of grey filled with difficult and interesting choices, looking forward to navigating it's wide underbelly and meeting it's many inhabitants.
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why do all raytraced games feel so sluggish? 
