Dying Light 2 - Details of Release date, Game mode, Updates, Background story - top most popular games in 2021
Photo: DenofGeek

The successor to the original parkour/survival game Dying Light (2015), Techland’s Dying Light 2 will open-world first-person role-playing game set in a zombie apocalypse. Following the story of Aiden Caldwell, Dying Light 2 will equip the player with various new parkour skills allowing them to travel across the game’s open world. Four times bigger than the game’s original map, Dying Light 2 will feature a much bigger city.

Apart from a single-player campaign, the game will also feature a four-player cooperative multiplayer mode. It will be available to play on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. After a delay in its originally planned 2020 release, the game is set to launch in 2021, with the developers set to teasing some more information on the same soon.

What is Dying Light 2?

Dying Light 2 is an open-world action game set in an isolated urban landscape during the zombie apocalypse. You play as Aiden Caldwell, a freelance runner who handles various odd jobs and tasks for the citizens of The City, one of the last human settlements in Europe. Following the events of Dying Light's post-game expansion, The Following, the former-protagonist Kyle Crane was infected with a new strain of the virus that turns people into the ravenous infected, and he unknowingly spread the disease throughout the world. After the global outbreak, modern civilization came to an end, pushing humanity into a new dark age.

The sequel takes place twenty years later, where the modern world is a thing of the past. In Dying Light 2's present, advanced technology is scarce, and firearms are hard to come by, requiring you to scavenge parts and piece make-shift weapons together to survive the onslaught of infected, along with enemy factions looking to take what you have left. As you freely explore The City, which is four times bigger than the original game's world, you'll be able to take on side-missions, explore abandoned buildings, and make essential choices that will impact the flow of your story. Ultimately, your decisions throughout the settlement will leave an impression on the state of the last human settlement.

Dying Light 2 - Details of Release date, Game mode, Updates, Background story - top most popular games in 2021
Photo: DenofGeek

Dying Light 2 - No Release date has been announced

Right now, Dying Light 2 has no release date. The game has been delayed indefinitely - not canceled - and has scrapped its Spring 2020 window as a result. It's the second delay for the game that was originally planned for a 2019 release and is all down to developer Techland needing more time.

In a statement announcing the news, CEO Paweł Marchewka said: "We were initially aiming for a Spring 2020 release with Dying Light 2, but unfortunately, we need more development time to fulfill our vision. We will have more details to share in the coming months and will get back to you as soon as we have more information. "We apologize for this unwelcome news. Our priority is to deliver an experience that lives up to our own high standards and to the expectations of you, our fans."

Despite the absence of any release date, Techland was more than happy to show off several minutes of direct gameplay footage at E3 2019. Naturally, the updated visuals look stunning, and Techland seems to be making the most of the Xbox One X to show off all those rich colors and sharply drawn skylines. The demo also gives you a good idea of the game's updated parkour and combat mechanics, so it's well worth a watch for any interested fan.

Dying Light 2 - Details of Release date, Game mode, Updates, Background story - top most popular games in 2021
Photo: Gaming Bolt

Players' choices

While the player choice was a part of the original in 2015, Dying Light 2 will be doubling (or even tripling) down on it — offering a slew of different ways to tackle missions. As part of a showing at E3 2019, we got to see a taste of how deep the decision-making can go. In the demo, a fortified base was placed on a water dam, which you can choose to infiltrate. You can choose to bust in Rambo-style or sneak in to avoid being seen. Or you can opt to skip the section entirely.

If you do decide to take over the dam, you’re able to flood certain sections of the map — changing the layout of it for the duration of your game. There’s a bit of risk/reward in doing this, though, as it will allow other sections of the map to become accessible. Be careful, as infiltrating this base will change your status with the faction that had possession of the base, which will impact your playthrough, as well. It’s unclear if you’re able to mend your relationship with factions, but we imagine they won’t be friends after you take them out, Digital Trend cited.

Not only can you choose how to tackle certain sections of the game, but you can completely ignore some of them if you choose. We’ve seen and heard promises of player choice being meaningful in games before, but Dying Light 2 seems to be designed around letting you do things exactly how you want. Techland said you’ll have to play through the game multiple times in order to see everything it has to offer.

In regards to correcting decisions you’ve made, the game’s lead game designer, Tymon Smektala, said, “It’s not like you can like go back to the moment of that decision and just change it. You need to do some additional stuff, like complete a couple of extra missions, to fix the things that you think you wronged. But apart from those rare instances, all of the decisions are permanent.” The sequel will feel much more like an RPG than before — where you’re in the driver’s seat, making (tough) decisions.

Dying Light 2 - Details of Release date, Game mode, Updates, Background story - top most popular games in 2021
Photo: Redbrick

What's new in the Sequel?

The most significant change coming to Dying Light 2 is the new adaptive storytelling. Throughout the game, Aiden Caldwell will rub shoulders with the various factions in The City, and at critical points in the plot, he'll need to choose whom to side with to press forward. Depending on which factions control the districts of The City, you'll see changes to the environment that reflect their ideologies. During E3 2019, we saw a gameplay demo that showed off a mission set at a fortified water dam. A faction had moved in and turned it into a safe-haven. While it seemed like a peaceful place, your present task required that you break in and confront the leader, putting you at odds with the group. Choosing to take over the dam will not only claim the territory for your chosen faction, but it will also change the very layout of the district's map itself. By manipulating the dam's water levels, certain areas of the map will flood, making them inaccessible. On the inverse of that, other places will see the water drained, which will unearth new places to explore, along with mutated infected that will spread to the city.

Throughout the game, you'll acquire new abilities and weapons to aid you in your fight against bandits and the more evolved infected. There's a more significant emphasis on crafting gear, and in some instances, you can build modded weapons that have multiple uses. In the E3 2019 demo, Aiden picked up a special harpoon gun that can be used a mace when you're out of ammo. Along with that, modded weapons are far more effective in the sequel, but your enemies are also far more capable of taking you down in combat.

According to the developers, the sequel plans to take more cues from role-playing games to give players more choice in the flow of the narrative. With Chris Avellone serving as narrative director, whose previous writing and design credits include the Fallout series and Planescape: Torment, Dying Light 2's story offers a lot more flexibility when compared to the original's static plot. This approach will, in turn, create more opportunities to shape the dynamic of The City based on your preferences. In addition to the returning focus on open-world exploration and melee combat, the adaptive narrative adds a new twist that makes the game's world feel more like your own. In a recent interview, the Techland devs stated that to see the game's 100+ hours of content, it will require multiple playthroughs of the game.

Dying Light 2: Debut Trailer

Debuting at E3 2018 during the Microsoft Press Conference, Techland showed off the first look of the follow-up to the 2015 game. Set in a European urban setting, the protagonist fought against several bandits that culminated in important choices that could change the fate of a city's district, such as taking control of the area's water supply for selfish benefit. Shortly after the debut, narrative designer Chris Avellone took to the stage to lay out Techland's vision for the game.

"Dying Light 2 is everything that you would expect from a bold sequel of the first game," stated Avellone. "A fluid parkour system with improved natural movement, deep and tactical first-person melee combat, and of course, terrifying nights when the infected emerge from the depths of the city to feed on anyone they can find. We invite you to a new vision of the post-apocalypse, an unforgiving reality we call the 'modern dark ages."

Dying Light 2 - Details of Release date, Game mode, Updates, Background story - top most popular games in 2021
Photo: Gaming Trend

Will there be Multi-player?

Yes, Dying Light 2 will feature co-operative multiplayer for up to four players. Just like the original game, players can have others join their game to take on various missions, activities, and other open-world excursions. As of this time, there hasn't been any additional info about what you can do in the open-world with other players.

Dying Light 2: Pre-Order guide

Currently, there isn't a set release date for Dying Light 2, nor is there any info on any special collector's editions of the game. Still, you can pre-order the game at this time on various digital distribution platforms. Check out our pre-order guide to find the best places to go pre-order the game.

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