GameCenter - Issue 68 - 36

preview

Like the most memorable sequels, Dying Light 2 looks
poised to deliver more of what we loved while finding
room for expansion and improvement.

Factions like the
Peacekeepers and
the Scavengers
jockey for control of
The City.

36

of the past game and follow a new
protagonist named Aiden Caldwell.
There's a good reason for that jump
forward in time, Smektała told us.
"There are a lot of games, comic
books and movies that focus on the
outbreak of the virus and the first
days of the epidemic, and because
of that it's mostly about the zombies,
about dealing with that imminent
threat," he said. "We wanted to
create a world which is a little more

stable, where the threat is not new,
to observe and wonder if an apocalypse of that scale would change
something in our behavior. Having
a game that takes place 15 years
after the end of the world allowed us
to let loose with our creativity and
try to imagine how a world like that
would look."
The result is a setting Techland
describes as the "Modern Dark
Ages," where survivors huddle
together in a heavily fortified European metropolis that evokes the
walled settlements common during
the Medieval era. Simply enough, it's
just called The City.
What truly sets The City apart,
Smektała told us, is how it will
change based on the choices you
make throughout the story. "Some of
these changes are really huge-[for
example], you uncover a big part of
the open world by activating the dam
and lowering the water level. Some
are smaller but have a big impact

on gameplay [like the] introduction
of a new enemy. Some are really
cosmetic. But all of them allow you to
create your own version of The City."
Of course, players can also expect
to enjoy the exciting gameplay of
the original Dying Light, complete
with some new twists. The gameplay
we've seen features plenty of the
same mix of parkour and combat, as
well as the same deadly approach
to nightfall. Smektała told us players
will encounter all the infected types
from the first game "and much, much
more."
Like the most memorable sequels,
Dying Light 2 looks poised to deliver
more of what we loved while finding
room for expansion and improvement.
According to Smektała, Techland
learned a lot from its work on the first
game, but "the biggest lesson was
the confidence to believe in our own
ideas. We're a grown, mature, confident game developer now, and we
hope to prove it with Dying Light 2."
GameCenter - Issue 68

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GameCenter - Issue 68
