Techland really has bolted out the gate with Dying Light 2; the follow-up to the hugely popular undead survival-cum-parkour game has already sold five million copies. And that was just in its first month! The series as a whole clearly has appeal, too, surpassing 20 million sales in its lifetime. Dying Light, it’s fair to say, is a franchise that’s here to stay.
Part of the immense popularity of the series is its longevity: the first game is still being supported by the developer – some six years after it orginally came out – and Techland has outlined its intent to support Dying Light 2 for at least five years post-launch, too. It’s a nice claim, but what does planning five years ahead actually look like for a developer that’s keen to stick to a schedule and respond to fan feedback?
We asked Dying Light 2’s lead designer, Tymon Smektala, whether the game is going to go as out-there as the first Dying Light or stay a little more… grounded.
“Don’t expect that [the DLC] will take you to space or something like that. That would maybe happen in year 3 or 4,” Smektala jokes.
“Our PR lady is looking at me funny for saying this because in other interviews I’ve said something hypothetically about Dying Light 3, but the news headlines were ‘Dying Light 3 confirmed’, so I’m not confirming that we will take players to space or take players to Atlantis.
We already know that Dying Light 2’s first story DLC has been delayed to September, and details beyond that are thin on the ground. Smektala drops some hints for us, though. And it sounds like the game is staying more grounded (for now).
“For DLC 1 and 2 they are different locations, but they’re all within the same universe, the same headspace. They are connected to what’s happening in the city and start in the city of Villedor, it’s all broadly the same area. Those are new locations.”
That’s not to say things won’t go to Atlantis, or to space, in the future, though.
“We have 5 years of content in front of us with big steps defined that will take us to where we want to be in 5 years,” Smektala continues.
“I think in those 5 years the game will have grown to be really huge. I think that’s all I can reveal at this point. The game will definitely grow to get more locations and more content but it’s too early to talk about specifics. We don’t want to promise something and then it takes on a new life of its own and gets taken out of context.”
We’re cautiously optimisitc, then, that Dying Light 2 is going to start in Villedor-ian locales and then spin out to… well, who knows where. Check back here in ~five years’ time and see how on the ball ‘Atlantis’ and ‘space’ are for Dying Light’s future.
Dying Light 2 is available on PC, current and last-gen consoles, and has a cloud version coming to Switch later in 2022.
If you’re keen on trapsing into Villedor and seeing what all the fuss is about for yourself, you can check out our range of Dying Light 2 guides to make the most out of your time with the game.
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