Okay, I'll give it to you straight: characters range from bland to cartoonish and corny. The story is fucking stupid. The tone, like the characters, is inconsistent, and can leap between melodramaic and ham-fistedly comedic. All main characters and their motivations are dumb as fuck. This is tepid videogame shit through and through.
That said, the environment and core mechanics elevate it above those negatives. The ambiance of the environment is something else. I can only describe it as thick, almost soupy with all the post-processing and particles. It paints a convincing picture, and at times this shit is survival horror-level engaging. Especially when you're out there alone and get some distance from the main plot characters talking in your ear. Another strong aspect of the game would be side missions. A lot of care went into these and they're atypical for what you'd expect of an open world game. Much better than the efforts of Ubisoft or Bethesda. More comparable to Witcher 3 side quests. You still have that uneven tone and corny characterization, but the actual quests make up for it.
This game excels in situations, what it lacks in story.
Also, I recommend this as a SP game. People will talk up the co-op, but that fun will come at the cost of tension, and the experience of isolation and oppressive ambiance that is quite unique to this game. You just don't have that tension when you're racing to the next map-marker with a buddy. You also get a pretty strong illusion break seeing player-character animation from third person. It's poor. A shame since the animation is very convincing in fpv.
Also, the combat is good, and varied. Best of its type, imo.
Dying Light is worth playing.
