It’s been other four years since Techland released Dying Light onto the world. The open-world action-RPG was such a big hit that Techland was once again at Gamescom to unveil Dying Light 2.
In Dying Light 2 you are Aiden Caldwell, an infected survivor. Your exceptional agility and brutal combat skills make you a powerful ally and a valuable commodity in this dangerous world. You can achieve things no one else can. Enter places no one else dares. With your unique abilities, you have the power to be an agent of change within this decaying metropolis.
The line “agent of change” in the above press release is extremley apt. A lot of games recently talk about how your choices affect the story but in Dying Light 2 the not only change the narrative but the landscape too.
In the presentation, I saw at Gamescom 2019 after making a decision to turn on the water pumps and provide the town with water, an entire area of the landscape that was previously flooded was drained. This lead to the freeing of new even more powerful infected.
The “host” approach to multiplayer is well implemented as well. Dying Light 2 can be played in online 2-4 player co-op. With one player hosting the game.
This means that if you host the game. you and only you alone can make story and environment changing decisions. Your friends or guests can suggest which choice to make but ultimately it is up to.
Any choices you make in your world are permanent and experienced by your guests. That been said when you join another game you get to play out their choices. Enabling you to experience and compare the difference in each others city, narrative and gameplay experience.
It is this approach to adaptive narrative that gives Dying Light 2 a massive replayability factor. I have no idea how many choices, endings, narrative structures etc they are in Dying Light 2 but there is a hell of a lot of game to discover.
The city itself is stunning and well crafted. Due to the scarcity of resources, unstable society and lack of trust in ruling bodies, humanity as slipped into a dark age. The remnants of civilisation are still there but are now reappropriated into something new.
You may come across ballista or catapults but instead of made from wood they are constructed of salvaged metals. Every skyscraper rooftop is now a small farm. Civilisation is still there, it is just that this society uses it differently.
Movement and combat across the city are seamless and brutally gratifying. You can go from leaping over walls and climbing scaffolding to lopping of an infected’s head with an electric infused machete then sprinting across rooftops and jumping through windows in a matter of seconds.
The infected have evolved since Dying Light 1 as well. They are now more sensitive to UV light meaning that mankind exists in the relative safety of sunlight. At night the infected roam the streets in their neverending hunt for prey.
At first, you would think this prohibits you from moving around at night but it is in fact the exact opposite. At night while the infected roam the streets you can now explore the cellars, buildings and safehouses of the infected that were impossible to search through during the day.
In the demonstration I saw at Gamescom it seemed that whilst the fighting is brutal and chaotic, sometimes it is best to actually avoid the fight and parkour your way out of the situation.
making the choice to run or stand and fight can have big consequences too. In the demonstration, they choose to run from a fight and the rooftop they ran across plunging them deep into an infected liar.
This affected this mission they were on as the people they were chasing almost got away. So choosing to stand and fight may not always be the right option. But if you choose to run the path you take could have big consequences too.
The Dying Light 2 presentation was extremley impressive and with a spring 2020 release date planned I hope to bring you more on Dying Light 2 as it is revealed.
More Stories
CyberPunk 2077 – Gamescom 2019 Preview
Borderlands 3 – Gamescom 2019 Preview
Commandos 2 HD Remaster