Dying Light 2 Release Date
The highly anticipated sequel to the smash-hit zombie-killing parkour frenzy, Dying Light 2, is still in the works, and Techland Games is keeping quiet about the gameplay, story, and world showcased at E3 last year.
While slated to release in 2020, no promises have been made on exactly when we’ll be enjoying the thrill of jumping across rooftops in a zombie-infested world again.
Though little information has surfaced on the long-awaited continuation of Dying Light, we do have a good bit of info on what we can anticipate about the game.
So, from fighting to freerunning, here is a list of the 10 most interesting gameplay features we know about in Dying Light 2.
10. The Map is How Big?!
Here's a sneak peek at three separate areas in the map released in the preview.
During the E3 Presentation of Dying Light 2 with Techland Games’ Tymon Smektała, we were given the announcement that the map size would be getting an increase from the moderate scale of Dying Light. While presenting the game behind closed doors, Smektała revealed that the map size would increase to four times the size of the original game’s two areas.
If there’s one thing to show for its scale, this video showcases the amount of time it would take to walk across only The Slums in Dying Light, and this video shows the amount of time to walk across Old Town. Between the two, that’s 20 minutes alone, which means it could take up to an hour and a half just to walk across the map!
9. Slash & Dash: 1st Person Combat
This is a sick shot of a player fighting a zombie in mid-air,
As with any game under Techland Studio’s belt, Dying Light 2 continues to enhance and entertain the audience with the gloriously gory combat that made the original shine. If bashing zeds in the head with an electrocuted sickle with fire attachments wasn’t enough for you, then you haven’t seen anything yet! Though the game will have less potential on the gun aspect of the game, compound bows, crossbows, and other ranged weapons will be making a reappearance, which were additions added to the original with the Bozak Horde DLC in 2016.
8. What in the World Can I Use to Take Them Out?
A man stands on top of a traffic light, with a bright ultraviolet light shining down.
In the original Dying Light, we were introduced to makeshift spiked walls, ultraviolet light traps, and, for the more human characters, the ability to influence the infected to attack those around important items and locations, such as supply cashes or loot spots. With Dying Light 2, it seems we’ll be returning to form!
In the E3 Announcement Trailer, we see a man sitting atop a traffic pole, turning on a large ultraviolet light connected to it. While being our first glance, we get more confirmation through the Gameplay Premiere that immediately follows this reveal. A minute in, we see the use of a pole being used to kick someone off the edge of a building, revealing more than just sandbox utilization, but increased use of parkour in-game.
7. Free Running Just Got More Fun
Kyle Crane jumps towards another building.
The biggest tagline for Dying Light was its introduction to parkour mechanics in a zombie game. Clambering up walls, ziplining from the freeway to street level and the setup of various ramps by the survivors in the city helps to engage the players in a truly immersive experience. This feature will be making a return, and will be bringing more to the table than ever before!
Throughout the premiere of Dying Light 2, we can see several changes to the character’s movements from the first. This includes sliding down a sign to reach the ground level with ease, seamless gliding through window-like barriers, and quick action kills by dropping from overhangs that are almost reminiscent of the Assassin’s Creed series’ kills. These examples, which are shown in the premiere, help to establish smoother gameplay, faster movement, and an overall more enjoyable experience.
6. Making Your Own Passenger Seat
The dune buggy was so helpful with killing zombies.
Though only shown for a few seconds, Dying Light 2 has vehicles, and not only a dune buggy this time, like in Dying Light: The Following. In a small instance, the player jumps from a rooftop down to a working, moving truck, and grabs hold to ride as it drives down the road. Not much is known as to how it will work in-game, and whether or not we will get any combat, riding atop, or more from this gameplay feature, but the use of it is amazing nonetheless!
5. Who’s Who? Factions in Dying Light 2
One of the faction leaders seems to be stopping you and telling you to get in line.
In Dying Light, a few factions of note were in-game. We had Rais’s group, The Tower, and two groups with no true face: the Ministry and the Global Relief Effort (GRE). In Dying Light 2, we have been introduced so far to two of the “many factions” in the game: The Peace Keepers and an unnamed faction that aims to supply necessities through the black market. Through a single interaction and the effect it has on the area around it, we gain insight on who these groups are.
The Peace Keepers, or PKs as they are called in the premiere, are a group working on rebuilding and protecting the people. However, through ruthless tyranny over the areas they protect, many will be forced to abide by new laws, or die disregarding them! The other faction, the suppliers to the black market, aim to use the necessities of survival, such as the water tower in the premiere, to gain an upper hand on the population around them, which can attract many less-than-good people to the area they’re at.
4. Branching Out of Linear Story
Try to gain the trust of other characters in the game to advance the story.
The previous point mentioned two factions and how they influence the areas they reside in. These factions, as well as many other facets of the city the game takes place in, can be influenced by the player! Whether choosing how water is distributed throughout the area or choosing how to set up for the survival of the population from the horde of undead, your actions will ultimately help to decide the fate of your story. No two players’ stories should be the same, according to the E3 Premiere.
3. Real Actions: Real Consequences
Be careful what choices you make. People could get killed.
With a branching storyline comes the narrative aspect of the game that sets it apart from the typical zombie game: consequences to your actions. The story itself, though still hidden from the general public by Techland, will be situated in the aforementioned city shown in the trailers. This city, along with your actions, is subject to change during your playthrough, monitored in days by the premiere.
Whether this ends up having a Fallout-esque storyline, in which minor choices are reflected upon throughout the game, or if it will try something new in the “multiple endings” format is yet to be seen. However, with the choices being a highlight of the premiere at E3, it’s best to assume it will have a heavy impact on the story itself.
2. Perfecting Your Craft
Level up your skills with XP.
Dying Light’s main focus on improvement for the character, Kyle Crane, was the skill trees unlocked through certain actions in the game.
Vaulting over rooftops, climbing up light poles and riding zip lines across the slums? Agility would be improved. Swinging a khukri into a zed’s neck to cut its head off? Power would gain a point. Using the environment, such as those spiked boards along walls, UV traps, and car alarms to either sneak past or kill the undead? Your survivor rank would increase.
These three skill trees were pivotal to traveling through the slums and Old Town of Dying Light, and with new game plus, there was a chance you could max out all three. In The Following DLC, two more trees were added: Driver, for driving the dune buggy, and Legend, for those who want some extra power to swings of a certain weapon, extra bang to a certain explosive or more reach for the grappling hook.
With a new game, the skill trees will most likely be seeing improvement, but only time will tell what those improvements will be.
1. Good Night, Good Luck
If there is ever a more iconic line in Dying Light, it’s the tagline of the series, “Good night, and good luck.” This is uttered in the original game as darkness begins to settle in, the world being encompassed in the night that would bring out the true nature of the zombies of this world. At night, their senses sharpen, their speed and agility increases, and the volatiles are set loose upon the land.
Volatiles were the way Dying Light shook things up in the zombie genre. At night, these ravenous mutated zombies would come out of hiding and begin to hunt. With keen senses able to pick you up in total darkness, speed matching or overpowering your own and a strength that can put anyone down in seconds, these creatures are ferocious in every sense of the word. At the end of the premiere of Dying Light 2, it was revealed these creatures would be making their return, and how they will is still a mystery, though it may end up being a similar or the same concept as last time.
With nighttime still being the climactic gameplay segment of the open world game, this game will definitely hold true to its predecessor. It will hopefully, like Dying Light, continue with its amazing opportunities for better items, faster skill tree increases, and more heart-pounding gameplay as the thrill of the chase gives rise to more stealth or more fast-paced escapes.
If you’re looking forward to Dying Light 2, these few gameplay features are only the tip of the iceberg for what’s to come! Dying Light 2 is set to release sometime in 2020, and we will hopefully be given a concrete release date soon.
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