Dying Light 2 Interview – Tencent Is An Amazing Partner For Techland

Techland: First of all, it means we’re focusing on zombies and zombie interactions mostly – and less on human-to-human drama and conflicts. We also plan to work more on our zombie AI, their behaviors, and the threat they present to the players at the same time, giving players more tools to fight the infected in new and cool ways.

Techland: It’s a very good question and a type of balancing we need to face almost every day – yet after working on the franchise for more than a decade, I think we have this sorted out already. Our core main stories need to be serious & grounded – maybe not super dark and grim like The Last of Us but still believable and held within the classic boundaries of a zombie fiction genre.

On our side, additional stories can be more adventurous, lighter, and sometimes even occasionally goofy, especially if the goofiness is still grounded in reality. Super crazy, comedic stuff can have a place in a Dying Light game, but it should be treated as an easter egg – and I think our Tolga & Fatin characters are a great example of this. And then optional content, content that players can get through events or DLCs – this is where we can go full mental, offering knights, samurai, and Egyptian gods.

Techland: I’m sure the game will be a survivor, the character that you usually see at the end of a zombie movie, standing at the top of the hill and looking at the apocalypse below. The times are hard for the games industry, but I’m confident we have enough experience and insights to be able to smartly offer players the experiences they expect from an open-world zombie game.

Techland: As long as it’s feasible. So far, the game “fits” the last-gen platforms, so we don’t intend to stop adding to it until we reach the limits of those consoles.

Techland: My personal “bucket list” is actually quite extensive, but what I believe would work great are series like Mortal Kombat, Assassins Creed, The Witcher, Resident Evil, God of War, or Halo. I’d also like to collaborate with some of the legacy brands that I played as a young kid – imagine Duke Nukem in Dying Light world, for example! But this is just my “wishlist.” Will it become a reality? We’ll see.

Techland: To be precise, we never worked on Dead Island 2 – it’s the IP that we created and then left to our publishing partner to focus on Dying Light, which we managed to take a few levels higher. I’m super happy Dead Island 2 was released, as I believe there’s space for both of those games – especially since they might look similar on screenshots but play completely differently.

Techland: Well, actually, I believe there’s none. With Dying Light 1, we already created a very unique business model, where there’s a fully complete premium game that brings those live-service elements that allowed us to support the game successfully for more than seven years.

We’re trying to do the same with Dying Light 2 Stay Human, adapting this idea to the current state of the gaming industry.

Techland: The reaction was super positive, and it definitely overwhelmed us. What’s interesting is that the players responded very well not only to the firearms but also to the other additions this update contained – like almost 10 hrs of new missions or significant graphical improvements that upgraded the visuals of our zombies, environments, and lighting/skyboxes.

By many accounts, the update was so significant they almost turned the game into DL 2.5 – hearing such comments from players makes us truly charged for the next phase of the game’s support.

Techland: Hopefully so. We’re releasing a smaller update focused on Nightmare Mode soon (April 18th) – a new difficulty level aimed at our most hardcore players. We’re also working on promised Tower Raids, which is a completely new, unique take on Dying Light gameplay.

I can’t wait to see how our community reacts to that since it grew to be something bigger than we initially planned. If the Nightmare Mode is aimed at the most hardcore of players, we hope Tower Raids will be a cool experience for all members of our community, highly replayable, constantly surprising, and full of emergent wow moments.

Techland: We used the Nightmare mode from Dying Light 1 as a foundation, but of course, we managed to add a set of new features. Players can expect obvious things like super tough enemies that strike hard, with rebalanced parameters and tweaks made to their behavior trees. We didn’t only look at making the mode more difficult but also more atmospheric.

That’s why we reintroduce – based on community requests – a flickering flashlight that can fail you in the middle of the night. Looking at new features, the most significant one is Tactical Stamina – a new take on stamina management that pushes the game closer to the territory of Dark Souls, etc.

Another addition is the 5th level of chase mechanic, where players are chased by Volatile Tyrants, our zombie version of SWAT units from GTA. Completing games in this new difficulty mode will be rewarded – of course – our community can expect to get an outfit of one of the characters of Dying Light 2 – the Waltz.

Techland: I have to keep my lips sealed, or a Volatile will chew on my head.

Techland: Of course, so far, we’re amazed by the support and new dev opportunities we received from our partners. Tencent is a big family of a few dozen super-experienced studios, so even being able to exchange knowledge and insights is a completely new world for us.

Techland: Remember what I told you about the Volatile? I can still hear the beast right around the corner.

Techland: Both IPs are developed by two separate studios within Techland – Dying Light is Techland Wroclaw, and the fantasy IP is Techland Warsaw. It would be great to have two strong – and different – IPs under our umbrella.