For a game all about surviving in a world full of zombies, there sure are a lot of human characters protagonist Aiden Caldwell constantly interacts with in Dying Light 2: Stay Human. Whether it's a Peacekeeper, Survivor, or even someone completely unrelated in one of the game's many side quests, there are a lot of people to keep track of.
With such a large cast of characters to keep track of, it can be tough to pick your favorites. In that case, let's go over the standout examples in Dying Light 2 of well-written or just plain likable characters.
9 Barney
Dying Light 2 has a bit of an issue with the memorability of some of its characters, as a good number of them are incredibly easy to forget - especially during the lengthy early hours of the story. Yet, everyone remembers Barney. Sure, you probably only remember him because he is so incredibly annoying and useless, but that still counts. Barney is Sophie's brother, making him one of the higher-ups of the Bazaar even though he obviously shouldn't be.
He's a coward who leaves his friends behind, a fool who constantly blows smoke, and a loudmouth who can't ever stop talking about "Crystals." That lowest of lows starting point makes it all the better when Aiden either gives him what he deserves or watches as he slowly grows depending on what choices you make throughout the story. Still, just a perfect character for players to test their weapons on if given the opportunity.
8 Hermann
As a character, Hermann isn't really much, he's more of a growling lump of flesh than a character with hopes and dreams. Primarily, Hermann spends all of his time with his arms crossed, standing directly behind Sophie. He's gigantic, he never talks, and he has a lot of scars. Before taking on Jack and Joe's Bandit Camp, you'll have the chance to hear about his backstory around the campfire, and it does actually add a bit to his character overall.
The fact that he has some pretty severe hearing issues not only serves to justify his quiet demeanor, but also makes him even more impressive, given that he's managed to survive this long without one of the most important senses for survival. That said, a tragic backstory can only get a side character so far, and this is as far as Hermann goes.
7 Sophie
Sophie is, for all intents and purposes, the representative of the Survivors Faction in Dying Light 2 (the better faction to choose between the two) and spends most of her screen time in the opening section of the game constantly at odds with the Peacekeepers. And, in comparison to her brother Barney, she's a much more capable, enjoyable, and well-written character overall. That said, there's not much to say negatively about her, but not much to say positively either.
She's a pretty by-the-books dedicated leader-type character and doesn't have a lot of unique aspects to her personality or motives that make her especially memorable. She does genuinely seem to care about the people of the Bazaar and is willing to do anything to protect their way of life (except get along with the Peacekeepers), but she doesn't have that "hook" in her writing as Lawan does with her expletives, Frank does with his...alcoholism, or like Barney does with his stupidity.
6 Frank Marwey
This next character is an interesting one, mostly because players are expected to like him for what he used to be, not what he currently is. Frank was the leader of the Nightrunners, a group of Parkour experts who weren't afraid to venture around the city at night in order to save stranded Survivors or gather supplies. But, all the Nightrunners were killed, and the version of Frank players meet in DL2 is no more than a washed-up drunk drowning in loss and regret.
Granted, he does gradually get better over time, especially if Aiden makes a certain decision during the "Broadcast" mainline quest (the one you'll unlock the Grappling Hook in), but most of the time, players just watch as Frank drunkenly mumbles something incredibly rude while chugging some alcohol and Lawan yells at him to get himself back together.
5 Aitor
Much like Sophie, Aitor is the de-facto representative of the Peacekeepers, at least in the starting area of the game before Aiden gets to the Central Loop. He's someone who was suddenly promoted into a position of power after the old Commander, Commander Lucas, was brutally murdered. And, again like Sophie, Aitor is pretty inoffensive as a character. He doesn't act overly authoritarian or overly radical, but he's pretty nice to Aiden overall which is a surprise.
Even if you choose to side with the Bazaar and actively work against Aitor, when you meet him in the car factory tunnels he's still pretty cordial. He has a bit more going on than Sophie with his side quest later down the road, but he's still just relatively safe as a character in general.
4 Juan
Next up is Juan, the foil to Jack Matt in the Garrison area of the map, and a real eccentric snob. He's another type of stereotypical character, filling the role of "insufferable yet admittedly successful eccentric" that seems to always appear in media nowadays. To get Juan to work with Aiden at all, Aiden has to go find him some ancient bottle of Whiskey as a sort of "bribe". Juan is bougie, rude, and entirely stuck up, but those character flaws absolutely make him more memorable compared to some of the more half-and-half characters.
He's a bit of an opportunist, but he does seem to mean what he's saying at all times. And, as far as conversations go, his are some of the most interesting by far as they aren't entirely centered around explaining Aiden's next mission beforehand.
3 Jack Matt
Once players finally get into the Central Loop, It's not long until they meet Jack Matt, leader of the Peacekeepers. Now, if Aitor was about a B+ in terms of his overly serious nature, Jack Matt is an S+ in that he's all business, all the time.
What Jack has that Aitor doesn't is a more memorable voice and a much better sense of style. Plus, Jack Matt has the luxury of Juan always being around to act as a contrast to him, giving both characters more memorable moments for Aiden to bear witness to. Additionally, as Juan hints at, there's a bit more to Jack Matt than initially meets the eye, so he even has a bit of hidden depth as well.
2 Lawan
Of course, Lawan was always going to be near the top. With the ever-enchanting Rosario Dawson as her voice actor and visual model, Lawan is a step above in comparison to almost every other character in the game. She has a bigger character arc, tons of dialogue in general, and even has an optional boss fight of her own before getting into the Central Loop.
The only downside of Lawan's character is that she can be a bit cagey, leading to a lot of her scenes feeling like she's starting to open up to Aiden before shutting him down for something he didn't talk about, but this still makes sense for someone who had been through the type of trauma she's been through.
1 Hakon
Honestly, Lawan and Hakon are basically tied for first place, with either taking to crown depending on the time of day. Hakon is one of the first people Aiden meets in Old Villedor, and he's incredibly charismatic from minute one. Out of all the characters in Dying Light 2, Hakon seems the most like an actual person with different motivations and an ever-changing goal.
There's a lot about Hakon that includes story spoilers even after his first big branching choice, so to keep it light let's just say that there are multiple times in the story where it's revealed that Hakon has a lot more to his character than it would initially appear. And, because there's so much to think about in regard to Hakon, both good and bad, it propels his character just ever so slightly ahead of Lawan.