Games like Dying Light: 9 first-person games with deadly nights

If you like Dying Light, play Dying Light: The Beast and Dying Light 2 Stay Human first. After those, the best matches are first-person zombie games where nights are more dangerous than days, such as 7 Days to Die. This list gives you nine games and says what each one keeps from Dying Light and what it changes.

What makes Dying Light special

Techland released Dying Light in 2015. It is a first-person game in an open city with a day and night cycle. In the day, the zombies are slow and clumsy. At night, they become very aggressive, and you change from hunter to hunted.

Three things make the formula work:

• Close combat. Most fights use melee weapons that you find or craft.
• Movement. Parkour lets you climb any building and choose to fight or to run.
• The night. Each night forces a decision: stay out and face the danger, or go to a safe place.

We compare each game below on these three points.

Route 48 (our game)

Full disclosure: we made Route 48, so we put it first.

Route 48 is a first-person driving survival game in Early Access on Steam. You fight zombies and armed hostile survivors with guns, and your way to escape is your car. You decide when to fight, when to avoid danger, and when to get back on the road. The screenshots show fights at night, with a muzzle flash near an abandoned building.

Dying Light: The Beast

Developer: Techland. Released: 2025. Players: Single-player or online co-op.

You play Kyle Crane, the hero of the first game, in Castor Woods, a large area of wilderness. Crane now has beast powers, and you can switch between normal combat and a beast mode.

• Close combat: Physical melee combat, with many weapons and modifiers.
• Movement: First-person parkour, plus an off-road vehicle that you can drive through hordes.
• The night: You scavenge by day. After sunset, you can only run, hide, or fight.

This is the most direct follow-up to Dying Light, and it is the best place to start.

Dying Light 2 Stay Human

Developer: Techland. Released: 2022. Players: Single-player or online co-op for up to 4 players.

You play Aiden Caldwell, a Pilgrim who searches for his sister in Villedor, one of the last cities. The survivors in the city are in conflict, and you must choose your allies.

• Close combat: Creative melee fights, and you can also use parkour moves to attack.
• Movement: A large parkour moveset. You jump between rooftops, swing across the city, and ride ziplines.
• The night: Monsters take over the streets after sunset. If you stay out too long in the dark, you may not return.

Choose it if parkour is your favorite part of Dying Light.

7 Days to Die

Developer: The Fun Pimps. Released: 2024 (version 1.0), after Early Access from 2013. Players: Single-player or online co-op and PvP.

This is a first-person open-world survival game with crafting, base building, and RPG skills.

• Close combat: Melee and guns, with weapons and tools that you craft or loot.
• Movement: No parkour. You build vehicles instead, from a bicycle to a gyrocopter.
• The night: With the default settings, most zombies walk in the day and run at night. Every seventh night, a Blood Moon horde attacks.

The big difference: in Dying Light you run from the night, but in 7 Days to Die you build a fort to survive it. Read our list of games like 7 Days to Die for more games with base defense.

Days Gone

Developer: Bend Studio. Released: 2019 (PC: 2021). Players: Single-player.

Days Gone is a third-person game, so it is not a full match. But its nights work in a similar way. The developers made the Freakers stronger at night. Large hordes rest in dark places in the day and roam at night.

• Close combat: Melee, firearms, traps, and stealth.
• Movement: Your motorcycle, which needs fuel and repairs.
• The night: A horde acts as one group, so one mistake can bring the whole horde to you.

Choose it if you want a long story and a vehicle to care for.

Dead Island Definitive Edition

Developer: Techland. Released: 2011 (Definitive Edition: 2016). Players: Single-player or online co-op for up to 4 players.

Before Dying Light, Techland made Dead Island. You survive a zombie outbreak on Banoi, a tropical island, in first person.

• Close combat: This is the core of the game. You repair, upgrade, and modify weapons at workbenches. Blueprints let you add effects such as fire or electricity.
• Movement: You explore a large open world on foot, from city streets to beaches and highlands.
• The night: Not a focus. The danger comes from close fights with groups of zombies.

If you like the melee side of Dying Light more than the parkour, this game is a good fit.

Dead Island 2

Developer: Dambuster Studios. Released: 2023 (Steam: 2024). Players: Single-player or online co-op.

The sequel moves the outbreak to Los Angeles. You play one of six Slayers, who are infected but immune.

• Close combat: First-person melee is the main focus. A detailed system shows wounds and cuts on each zombie, based on the weapon that you use. You also use firearms and explosives.
• Movement: Los Angeles is split into ten open zones, not one large open world.
• The night: Not a focus.

Choose it if melee combat is your favorite part of Dying Light. For more games of this type, read our list of games like Dead Island.

Back 4 Blood

Developer: Turtle Rock Studios. Released: 2021. Players: Solo with AI teammates, or online co-op for up to 4 players.

This is a first-person co-op shooter from the team behind Left 4 Dead. You fight the Ridden, people who became monsters because of a parasite.

• Close combat: Guns first, with a card system that changes your build for each run.
• Movement: A campaign of missions, not an open world.
• The night: Not a focus. A Game Director changes the fights based on how you play.

Choose it if you liked the co-op fights in Dying Light more than the open world.

Left 4 Dead 2

Developer: Valve. Released: 2009. Players: Single-player with AI teammates, or online co-op for up to 4 players.

You play one of four survivors across five campaigns in the southern United States. The game is a first-person co-op shooter.

• Close combat: Guns, plus melee weapons such as an axe, a chainsaw, and a frying pan.
• Movement: Set campaign routes, but the AI Director can change the paths that you take.
• The night: Not a focus. The AI Director changes the weather, the paths, and the zombie numbers to match your performance.

Choose it for short, intense sessions with friends.

Quick comparison

How we picked these games

We looked for zombie games with first-person combat, dangerous nights, or both. Days Gone is the only third-person game, and we included it for its night hordes. We checked each game's developer, release date, and player modes on Steam.

Which one should you play first?

• Play Dying Light: The Beast if you want more of the same, with a vehicle.
• Play Dying Light 2 Stay Human if parkour is your favorite part.
• Play 7 Days to Die if you want to prepare a base for the night.
• Play Dead Island 2 if melee combat is your favorite part.
• Play Left 4 Dead 2 or Back 4 Blood for co-op shooter sessions.
• Play Route 48 if you want first-person guns, a car to maintain, and a new world each game.

For more solo options, read our list of the best single-player zombie shooters.