Dying Light 2 - In the final stretch [interview]

The Escapist reports that Dying Light 2 is in the final stages of development in an interview with the developer. This is contrary to reports of development troubles from anonymous sources.

• The WrocÅ‚aw studio has fallen behind on the production and the project is currently being saved by the Warsaw office, which has stopped work on the new title.

This is not true. Techland's main office is in Wrocław, and it is there that the team developing Dying Light 2 is working (about 200 people). The Warsaw studio is currently conducting work on our new, yet unannounced, production. Of course, we constitute one company and support each other. For example, despite the team in Warsaw being focused on their own project, a few people from the studio are partially supporting the production of Dying Light 2.

• Cooperation with Chris Avellone is not smooth. Techland redesigned and/or changed a lot of his ideas because of poor quality. There are a lot of issues between him and Adrian Ciszewski.

The game's vision was created collectively with the cooperation of Adrian Ciszewski, Paweł Selinger, and later Chris Avellone even before we started any production work and has remained unchanged since then. Of course, iterations took place in individual aspects, which is absolutely natural in the production cycle of a video game.

Here's Chris' comment on the matter:

"I enjoy working on Dying Light 2, and I enjoy working with Techland. Design elements do get discussed and iterated on, and that's a normal part of any game development process. In the end, you do the best work you can to support the gameplay and vision for the title; that's a designer's job.

"While Adrian Ciszewski and I discussed story, I never felt like there was any conflict. It's normal for all design elements to be iterated on, not just narrative. Story is a key element for Dying Light 2, and it's important to the team and I to get it right."

[…]

Thanks Farflame!

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Shared this last week on the forums and have to say I'm not surprised. Its the same publisher/developer who ruined Dead Island 2, and put that series in limbo.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Shared this last week on the forums and have to say I'm not surprised. Its the same publisher/developer who ruined Dead Island 2, and put that series in limbo.

I don't think you got that right. Techland made the first game and was supposed to make the second game but they instead focused on Dying Light and Deep Silver, the publisher of Dead Island, gave the job to Yager. That was in 2012, and that's when Techland's involvement with the game ends. Later, the game changed hands several times.

My mistake the point still stands at least. Whats interesting though is reading the Avellone writer/co-operation isn't going smoothly. More info on that please.

As he had problems working with Obsidian as well.

Not even the same publisher. Dying Light 2 will be published by Techland themselves, not Deep Silver. But I agree with you on the Chris Avellone remark.

Still we'll have to wait and see. I really loved the first game and the sequel is on my watchlist from day one.

Well all quiet on this news front. I'm getting worried.

Where Is Dying Light 2? - GameInformer

Recently we wrote up about the returning Left 4 Dead 2 crossover to the first Dying Light. Immediately, the comments about "what happened to Dying Light 2" swarmed following several major changes happening behind-the-scenes. Following the in-depth look at the anticipated sequel during E3 2019, Techland has parted ways with key members of its team and placed the upcoming game under the 'delayed indefinitely' label. This begs the question: what is going on with Dying Light 2?

They have no problem milking Dying Light with a new anniversary edition though.

Dying Light 2 and Bloodlines 2 are both looking to be disasters. I was looking forward to both. Kinda sucks.

I thought Dying Light was surprisingly good. It was light years better than Dead Island despite being from the same studio. Great atmosphere.

I'll be disappointed if DL2 doesn't see the light of day. (Pun intended)

I hops so as well. As the demo videos from last year showed a lot of potential.

I loved the first Dying Light. Played through it by myself, and again all the way through in co-op recently.
I'll be massively disappointed if DL2 doesn't come out.

Yeah, Dying Light was a good game and (for me) somewhat of a nice surprise. Better than I thought it would be, I mean. I still haven't played The Following expansion, so I could always play that if I really want more. I'd rather have DL2, though.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
I still haven't played The Following expansion, so I could always play that if I really want more.

You've gotta play that!
More Dying Light, but with upgradable cars to drive around in and smash zombies with.

Originally Posted by Shagnak
You've gotta play that!
More Dying Light, but with upgradable cars to drive around in and smash zombies with.

So true but the endings make me not want to replay it again. I'm not kidding either.

Originally Posted by Shagnak
You've gotta play that!
More Dying Light, but with upgradable cars to drive around in and smash zombies with.

I haven't played it either. I finished DL before The Following was released and have yet to replay it.

The cars look fun, but does it also retain the same kind of atmosphere and exploration as the base game?

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
So true but the endings make me not want to replay it again. I'm not kidding either.

Yeah the ending sequences in both instances kinda suck. They also take you out of co-op, which pisses me off. The ending of the DLC is annoying enough that I recommend watching it on Youtube rather than persisting if you fail the first couple of times. (it's also fairly lengthy)

Originally Posted by JDR13
The cars look fun, but does it also retain the same kind of atmosphere and exploration as the base game?

The exploration is definitely less dense than the main game, due to the larger, more open spaces. The only built up area is a relatively small area to the east.
Still lots of cool encounters to be found, though (including the fate of the nutso Russian twins who always need help with their experiments). There isn't as much of that closed-in creepy atmosphere as in the main game, but the large scale and fun cars partly makes up for it.
Even if you find it's not as good as the main game, it's still better than any other first-person zombie action that I can think of.

Originally Posted by Shagnak
The exploration is definitely less dense than the main game, due to the larger, more open spaces. The only built up area is a relatively small area to the east.
Still lots of cool encounters to be found, though (including the fate of the nutso Russian twins who always need help with their experiments). There isn't as much of that closed-in creepy atmosphere as in the main game, but the large scale and fun cars partly makes up for it.
Even if you find it's not as good as the main game, it's still better than any other first-person zombie action that I can think of.

Thanks, I'll definitely get around to checking it out eventually. So it sounds like the DLC takes place after the main game?

And yeah, DL is head and shoulders above any other zombie game out there.

Originally Posted by JDR13
So it sounds like the DLC takes place after the main game?

Not exactly.
You can start the new content at any point after the tutorial in the main game.
It's kinda weird how you start it. You basically select it from the main menu and then select an existing game save with the character/progress you want to take with you.

Once in the new area, you can't travel back (well, other than loading the original save). If you use an early enough save, it's like the rest of the main game doesn't happen.

Edit: forgot to mention - you find out the true origin of the volatiles in the DLC, and some other important things.

Originally Posted by Shagnak
Not exactly.
You can start the new content at any point after the tutorial in the main game.
It's kinda weird how you start it. You basically select it from the main menu and then select an existing game save with the character/progress you want to take with you.

Once in the new area, you can't travel back (well, other than loading the original save). If you use an early enough save, it's like the rest of the main game doesn't happen.

Edit: forgot to mention - you find out the true origin of the volatiles in the DLC, and some other important things.

Interesting. I wonder why they didn't treat it like an add-in and make it one large game world. I'm guessing there must have been a technical reason for it.

So does that mean the game basically has two endings? You can continue playing afterwards right? At least that's how I seem to remember the base game. I guess you can finish one story and then load that save and do the other one.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Interesting. I wonder why they didn't treat it like an add-in and make it one large game world. I'm guessing there must have been a technical reason for it.

So does that mean the game basically has two endings? You can continue playing afterwards right? At least that's how I seem to remember the base game. I guess you can finish one story and then load that save and do the other one.

I'll avoid spoilers, but the DLC has a definite ending. Well, two possible, but definite, endings, and at least one secret ending. All of which remove any ability to continue.
Like I said, it can be like the rest of the main game doesn't happen if you use a save pre the main game ending.
I certainly would have preferred something less final, so afterward you could go back and forth between the Following area and the main game area and just muck about with your high level character.