Dying Light 2 is alive!

 Don't count me out yet!

Zombies are shaping up as something of a dying art in today's age, at least on the AAA gaming stage, because just like Hollywood they went and oversaturated the trend and now no one gets to have the undead fun they once wanted to because it's haplessly pastiche at this point. Things have become so overplayed that now even Resident Evil can't be bothered to do Zombies anymore; RE8 was about vampires and werewolves and Resident Evil 4 Remake is about that most terrifying of Lovercraftian horrors: eastern Europeans. But somewhere out there are those lone heroes that never gave up on the zombie horror genre, even when they themselves are partially responsible for that oversaturation problem I mentioned earlier. Those who have been pumping the world with their special brand of zombie game all along and were just about getting somewhere interesting before the world did a sickie for a year. Well guess what- they're back and they bought their game with them. Yes, I'm referring to Techland's Dying Light.

You see, a long time ago Techland were famous for an entirely different zombie game in Dead Island, the campy survival-esque romp where you trounced around an island resort and stomped on zombies with glee for the first two hours and then sort of glided through the rest of the game growing increasingly frustrated with the mechanics and setting being just inadequate enough to keep you unsatisfied. I swear I was so close to liking Dead Island for it's entire runtime, but I just kept getting dragged down again and again by the ceaseless backtracking through narrow streets, hordes that respawned with every area change, boring NPC's that always bog down these zombie games, and just the raw gameplay that grew stale way too quick. Maybe I was just ruined by Dead Rising and it's seemingly endless zombie murdering fun, but Dead Island just didn't do it for me. And then came Dying Light.

Dying Light took Dead Island and did what everyone wanted that game to do, it opened up the world into being something wholly more engaging to explore. Now a true open world, Dying Light let players parkour over buildings, objects and even zombies themselves as they raced around an open world characterized by speed and mobility. Improving the flow of traversal naturally lead into improvements to combat, which made the entire loop feel fresher and ended up propelling Dying Light into one of the longest-living Zombie titles of all time. I mean that to say I know people who, even years after the fact, will keep that game on their hard drives because they just like to stomp zombies every now and then. Techland have nurtured that love with a well-received DLC story cap, patches and updates, a separate battle royale spin-off for some reason, and the constant promises of Dying Light 2; oh Dying Light 2...

For a long time it looked as though this mythical sequel was going of the way of all long awaited sequels; nowhere. Just like Beyond Good and Evil 2, or even Deep Silver's sequel to Techland's own zombie game, Dead Island 2, this was just a game that kept getting the pause button thrown onto it. Either that meant good things and that the game was being cooked until it was good and done, or terrible things in that the game was going through development hell and would be lucky to make it out alive. I'll be honest, years of seeing this has tainted me into a bit of pessimist, so I personally did not believe this game was coming out. Even after seeing the 2019 reveal (which was alright) that 2020 of complete silence just sealed my opinion. "It's been dropped, nothing to see here." But seems I was a little too early, and a lot too presumptive, because whatever kinks the year of plague introduced to development has been worked off and Dead Island 2 is back, baby! ('Stay Human' is it now? Kind of cliche and forgettable, but I guess I can dig it)

I wasn't a believer, but with the recent Dead Island 2 features trailer that has been released even I have to admit that I'm a little bit tempted. Originally (In 2019) the promise of a supped up gameplay loop alongside that ever meaningless marketing buzz point of "Meaningful choices" turned me right off. Hearing them talk about how your choices would change the city, and then just showing how different colour banners fly from some fort somewhere, gave me flashbacks to the whole "change the skyline" pitch for Saints Row 3 which amounted to three or four Fleur De Lis' getting stamped onto nowhere buildings. But this time around we're seeing things that actually look interesting, switch ups that even look comparable to the impressive leveloutions that Battlefield pioneered and then mysteriously abandoned. (I get that it must have taken a lot of development time and effort; but it was so cool! Go back to that!) However it ends up, I must say that this is the way that you handle visual world shifting consequence: show giant swathes of the city be levelled by some falling tower, make me care and remember!

As for the raw gameplay, it's hard to judge from looking alone but everything has been tweaked to look very good. Suspiciously good. As in, "I kind of don't believe that all the 'gameplay' sections are actually gameplay". I mean there's some interactions where it's obviously gameplay, but that shot of the protagonist leaping all over the place and jumping up using a zombie looked a little staged. (or if not staged, just incredibly unlikely to actually pull of oneself) There's just this visual fluidity that rings untrue to my eye, but maybe that's just because they've nailed it so well, I can't say. On a much more positive note, I love how it seems the amount of gore and dismemberment enjoyed by the zombies is being extended to human enemies, as traditionally human enemies are the weakest parts of any self-respecting zombie game. These human enemies, though we've seen but glimpses, somehow still give off the impression of being as dumb as rocks, but maybe being allowed to brutally slaughter them will improve my general opinion on them.

Finally there's the factions and the world that Dying Light 2 wants to build, essentially the reason why you're going to have multiple choices in the first place. This is a highlight video and one that clearly didn't focus on them, but even then I have to say that they look bad. Really uninspired, confusingly so. With the amount of detail thrown into the environment, the animation, the glorious models of the zombie themselves, it's actually quite head scratching how the 'distinct' two factions the game has managed to dream up are rigidly brutal authoritarians versus anarchistic bandit-types. (There's also the nightrunners but I suspect their role will be ultimately inconsequential for taking control of the world space) Even Fallout 76 managed to inject more colour into their binary faction system. (A little more; they made the cops 'builders') maybe this is just the simple veneer and there's some deeper colourful story that fleshes out these people and what they represent beyond the bleedingly obvious, but if so then the writing will be doing the supreme heavy lifting because the visuals aren't selling it. (And even if that is the case; that makes for poor visual storytelling.)

So overall I'd say that Dying Light 2 honestly looks exciting, which is saying something for someone who wasn't excited for Dying Light 1, wrote off 2 ages ago, and thought he was done with zombies for at least another four years. State of Decay overdosed me on zombies to the point where I get nauseous even thinking about another rotten-flesh expedition; but if it's wrapped up in gameplay this cool looking, I think I can get through it relatively unscathed. If Techland remains half the team they were before Dying Light 2 entered full development, then theirs are hands fully safe to entrust this project into and I'll remain genuinely excited for tomorrow. Call the team 'necromancers' because they're bringing the undead trend back to life singlehandedly. (Oh, I guess Zach Snyder has a part to play too. Kinda.)

Dying Light 2 dies it's final death?

Wait, is that more of a Vampire thing?

Zombies; a mainstay of video games, and popculure, since the dawn of time. (Or so it seems.) Unlike most pop fads, it seems that the zombie craze never dies and we always have a least one game about those flesh eaters on the horizon. Perhaps that's because we can never get enough of stories that recount the unquenchable thirst of death and it's unfaltering march ever onwards; or maybe we like reminders of how society may be the one thing separating us from animals; whatever the case, we can't get enough of zombie-mania. Which is why it's such a shame that one company who made their name on two successful zombie titles, Techland, seems to have been struck with the Valve curse as they are unable to bring out any sequels. And the latest news from their studio is not too encouraging on that behalf.

On Twitter, not so long ago, it was revealed to us all that Dying Light 2 was pushed back for a second time, only this time it was 'indefinately'. Personally, I can't actually remember the last time that has happened, so I can't be sure whether or not this news is extremely reassuring or incredibly disconcerting. (Although, judging from my title, you can probably see where my feelings ultimate settled.) Don't get me wrong, it's by no means irregular for games to find themselves launched into a pit of development hell, that happens all the time. Just look at 'The Last Gaurdian', 'Duke Nukem: Forever', 'Final Fantasy XV' or, to touch close to home, 'Dead Island 2'. All of those games got caught up in a whirlwind of 'behind the scenes' issues which ballooned development time out of control, and half of those examples turned out pretty all right games in the end. However, when a release date is announced, or even just a window, it's supposed to be a sign that the approaching seas are relatively calm and turbulence will be minimal. (relatively, at least.) But things haven't seemed to play out this way for poor 'Techland'.

Let me try to establish just how monumental this development is. Originally, Dying Light 2 was slated for a Spring 2020 release date. When Techland made that announcement, it wasn't just so that fans could start their hype trains to arrive at the station on time, it was also for Investors and analysts to start making their projections. That is why when such a date is moved, it's important for a new release window to be selected, else everyone ends up in the lurch. Now it would have been easy for Techland to push the game back to later in the year, citing 'difficulties' like CDPR did, but to push that window even further into oblivion speaks to a lack of confidence on behalf of the leadership. Will this game even make it out before the end of this console generation? At this point that seems unlikely, which has the potential to push the game back even further as they are forced to work on next-gen ports. (It would be positively foolish not to at that point.)

Now, it's possible that we as fans are the only one's currently in the dark at this point. Perhaps the team and investors have a 'goal date' in mind that they intend to hit and just don't want to make any promises just in case they have to break another; but that skepticism brewing around this title is sure to effect the mood towards the game and investor trust in the brand. (I hate getting all 'corprate' but I feel it's an important aspect of this story.) Say this title does get a Christmas release date suddenly, so we can expect to see it on shelves comes September, would you believe it? Would you wonder about just what corners had to be cut to meet this new release window? Even if you were a diehard fan of the original, aren't you, as a responsible consumer, going to have this sudden delay gnawing at the back of your mind like an annoying Walker? Maybe enough fans will feel that way to actually hurt those all-important week one sales, which will in turn hurt Techland. Now, that's a worst-case scenario that I just hypothesized there, but it's a possibility that Techland have opened themselves up to.

The key question on everyone's minds right now is probably the same one that raced to your head when you first heard of this delay; why? And for that, I'm afraid, there is no easily citable catch-all answer for us to digest and feel ultimately good about. If we refer back to the original delay tweet there is some fluff about 'needing additional development time to fulfill their vision', but that's so canned they may as well have said absolutely nothing for as much as it explained. (At least CDPR explained that it came down to an issue of bug fixing.) Once again, this maw of reasoning has left room for rampant speculation from folk with no first-hand knowledge of the issue, but what else are we to do?

For my wild speculation, I believe that this delay might have something to do with a vast restructuring of the game's framework, which would explain why this title hasn't been given a release date because they're still putting together what the final vision of the product will look like. When the original Dying Light came out in 2015, it was applauded for being everybit the original vision of the 'Dead Island' project. People couldn't get enough of the mobility of the game and, therefore, forgave the title for some of it's weaker moments. (such as in it's story.) Personally, despite being a lifelong zombie fan myself, I found 'Dying Light' to be largely underwhelming. (Much like Dead Island, for that matter.) Don't get me wrong, the parkour was fun, but in the same way that the newest Ubisoft game's gimmicks are fun, you enjoy them now but you're really waiting for the next game where they get implemented properly. (I just wished that there was more integration between mobility and combat in Dying Light.)

Dying Light 2 seemed to fix my concerns, in that department at least, judging from the reveal trailer; but I felt a whole slew of new concerns rising from the rest that they showed off. Now, these concerns were mostly just my own at this time (the fans practically ate all this up.) but perhaps with the changing attitude towards certain kinds of games, Techland started to see what I was seeing. To be clear, my issue was with the main focus of the game being on the idea of a 'faction dispute' wherein the actions of the player will have consequence. Now, this sort of marketing gimmick has become a stable in modern gaming, so 'no harm no foul', but Techland decided to take it one step further by insisting that the choices of the player would drastically effect the world around them. (Something which flashed me back to 'Saints Row 3' wherein your progress through the story would determine which colour drapes 4 of the city's building wore. Truly a gamechanger.) True to their word, Techland showed off a bunch of 'before and after' shots of districts whose faction flags switched depending on your quest choice, and folk like me were just left wondering. "Is that the best you've got?"

Now, one weak 'consequnce' system isn't enough to sink a game; but when it seemed to be the core mechanic that was leading marketing, it does make someone worry that this game had literally no over surprises up it's sleeves. In all honesty, this felt like one of those 'copy and paste' jobs that Ubisoft would do with their mechanics, and, as I mentioned recently, things have reached the point where even Ubisoft can't defend their own laziness in that department anymore. So what do you do when the people who you used be inspired by change course? You either double down and start a daily blog about the source of you loneliness, cut off all ties and shrivel into a loathsome shrew of a human who's only respite is the sham comfort of unconscious dreams; or just follow suit and pray you're making the right choice. (I'm being hyperbolic for effect.)

Does this mean that the Dying Light 2 game is dead in the water? Not exactly, but this could be a signal for development troubles, or even marketing troubles. As much as there are a loyal contingent of 'superfans' who bated their collective breath for this game, there are a larger public who seemed indifferent and totally forgot this title existed until it was delayed. (A group of which I am a member.) I mean, just look at how their 'Dying Light' Battle Royale: 'Bad Blood', from 2018, practically disappeared from the limelight a couple months after it's debut. This franchise lacks the staying power that the studio need for a successful sequel and I feel like that could have something to do with the choice to delay. (Maybe Techland want to mount a stronger marketing campaign. In their shoes, I would want to.) At the end of the day this is all just guess-work. The real reasons behind this are known by Techland and only them. We can only hope they know what they're doing and that the final game, if it ever releases, is worth the wait.