When the first Dying Light game came out, the game managed to shake-up the very tried-and-true zombie game in a subtle but impactful way. Infusing Mirror’s Edge style parkour with the hacking, slashing, and shooting of Dead Island, Dying Light ended up being a surprising breath of fresh air for zombies games. It wasn’t revolutionary, but the game did enough to entice players without being dragged down by a setting and theme so many other games had tackled before. Now, zombie games like Back 4 Blood and The Last of Us 2 are showing the subgenre still has some staying power, which would be perfect for Dying Light 2 to capitalize on.
At first, when Dying Light 2 was first revealed at E3 2018, the game showed significant promise in iterating and refining the original game’s ambition much further. Branching narrative options, a reactive world that reflects the players’ choices, alongside the fantastic movement and combat systems that Dying Light implemented. A few other gameplay walkthroughs and demos showed up in 2019, but after that summer, news and teases from Dying Light 2 came to a halt. While Techland endured issues behind the scenes as a result of the sexual misconduct allegations earlier this year, Dying Light 2’s development was affected by this and other factors considerably.
Building Hype for Dying Light 2, Prior to its Disappearance
Dying Light 2 was first announced at E3 2018 at Xbox’s conference, showcasing the narrative innovations coming to the second entry. Promising a much deeper and player-driven story approach, Dying Light 2 made a big showing when it was first unveiled. Later on, at next year’s E3, Dying Light 2 provided another more protagonist-focused trailer alongside an in-depth gameplay walkthrough as well. Watching the game in action, as polished as it seemingly already was, it seemed like Dying Light 2 could easily become a spring 2020 game. However, the game never came this year, as reveals and trailers seemed to cease after last year’s E3 showcase.
After a peculiar but not inherently worrying silence, Techland eventually announced that Dying Light 2 would be delayed indefinitely. It was a surprising announcement at the beginning of 2020, especially after many figured the game would release in January like the original Dying Light did. For a game seemingly poised to release this year, Dying Light 2’s indefinite delay was certainly a red flag for fans. After all, the gameplay demos seemed to be showing a highly developed beta build of the game, so clearly Dying Light 2 was pretty far along in development. However, various issues at Techland during development seem to have contributed to the game’s long delay.
Dying Light 2’s Troublesome Development, and Hopeful Release in 2021
That inclination of a potentially troubled development was apparently true, though it’s important to point out that Techland has refuted the following claims. According to various reports, Dying Light 2’s development had been severely hampered by combating directors. The game’s narrative director Chris Avellone, who would have his own respective controversy later on, seemed to be working at odds with the game’s creative director Adrian Ciszewski. Other Techland developers had also referred to Ciszewski as the “evangelist,” citing a “design through iteration” development philosophy that would constantly be at odds with previous development changes.
It also didn’t help that the game’s narrative director, Chris Avellone, was subject to multiple sexual harassment allegations from current and previous coworkers. As a result, Techland (and other developers like those working with him on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2) had parted ways with the writer. In the statement announcing Avellone’s departure, Techland also reiterated it’s “progressing efficiently” on Dying Light 2 in spite of the game’s delay, the pandemic, and Avellone’s departure. After that, like many other developers and game companies this year, news would be sparse as the team would return to working on the game.
Techland has since teased that Dying Light 2 will resurface next year, posting on Techland’s social media to “get ready for 2021.” Additionally, the company’s official Discord channel announced that there will be further development updates coming in the new year. Considering Dying Light’s recurring live events have started to peter off in 2020, Dying Light 2 is closer to release than ever before. Resurfacing just at the end of 2020 after a long silence, fans can at least remain hopeful that the game could very well be on its way in 2021.
Dying Light 2 is in development.
