During E3 2019 we had the opportunity to attend a closed door presentation of Dying Light 2. The presentation allowed us to discover new details about gameplay, storyline and choices that we can undertake during the game, which according to the developers will completely change the course of the campaign.
In Dying Light 2 we will live a "Modern Dark Age", in fact 15 years have passed since the beginning of the infection, which in addition to its death trail, has caused the birth of factions, bandits and survivors who try in vain to survive this world as fascinating as it is hostile. In the demo we witnessed we found ourselves in the role of the protagonist Aiden Caldwell, a survivor of a world where everyone is infected, including himself. His great fighting skills and incredible agility allow him to do things no one else can do. We will be able to climb walls, jump between two buildings, jump with a do-it-yourself hang glider or jump on a zombie to reach too high a hold. However, these incredible abilities mean that Aiden is the only one able to help the survivors and for this reason he will have to make his choices with due attention.
The biggest element of Dying Light 2 is its nature of "Narrative Sandbox", which will give you the opportunity to undertake choices that in some cases will drastically change the main plot, the surrounding environment and your s with the other characters. The city is divided into seven different regions, each of which features different enemies, new parkour moves, and new gameplay mechanics. In the demo we were able to appreciate how decisive our choices are in the course of history and how they affect both the city itself and the fate of our companions. We must always expect difficult choices, sometimes even painful ones, with which we will have to deal with for the rest of our adventure, accepting all the consequences. According to the statements of the developers, at the end of the game a normal player will see more or less only 50% of the total content, which makes us understand the incredible amount of "roads" that can be traveled to reach a goal that will be different from player to player.
We are still talking about the sequel to Dying Light, so everything that was good in the first chapter is taken up and enhanced with new abilities, new parkour moves, new weapons and items such as UV lamps which are now much better and more flexible from a gameplay point of view. Since 15 years have passed since the first chapter and then the beginning of the infection, in Dying Light 2 we will learn about the evolutions of the enemies, which now have completely new characteristics.
In the demo we find ourselves in the role of Aiden inside the Fish Eye, a tavern where the survivors gather, and who is suddenly alerted by his friend Frank about an extremely important matter: the water in the city is almost gone and people are on the verge of collapse. Frank informs us that the only person capable of resolving the water crisis is "the Colonel", a man with a bad reputation at the head of the "Renegades", a group located near the water pump that we must reactivate.
Frank, as a man of the people, believes that a compromise can be reached, which is why he uses his status to call a meeting between Renegades and the officers of the two main factions present in the city: Juan for the Scavengers and Jack for the Peacekeepers. Aiden in all of this is inside the tavern and is ready to participate in this meeting when suddenly he hears a shot.
From this moment the real gameplay begins, which sees Aiden reach the shooting site via some fluid and spectacular sections of parkour. Reached the square of the meeting we notice the men of the Ranegades intent on attacking our comrades and we then decide to defend ourselves using one of the new and powerful weapons introduced: a handcrafted blade characterized by the possibility of generating a strong electric shock to the enemy thanks to an electric cable wrapped around the blade. After the fight we see Frank slumped to the ground ... he was hit by a bullet and our friend Matt suggests we chase the remaining Ranegades who fled in a van.
At this point we will be asked to make our first and fundamental choice: Stay with Matt or chase the van. Our choice was to chase the van and during this phase we were able to appreciate the renewed parkour system which is now combined with new and interesting objects such as ropes to reach distant targets or the parachute to land more gently from the heights.
At the same time as the chase we also faced some undead after falling from a roof, finding ourselves in the dark and surrounded by zombies. It is at this stage that we appreciate the functioning of the new UV system, which can be used for ward off zombies around or it can be left on land to keep them away. Another important parameter of the gameplay of Dying Light 2 is the Stamina, which we will have to dose both in fast movements on buildings and for actions such as forced opening of doors or the destruction of environmental elements. In the demo we witnessed we were able to see how in the absence of Stamina it was impossible to open a closed door forcing our Aiden to find an alternative way out to escape from the zombies.
After chasing the van, we are asked to make another choice: kidnap the driver or let him go. We have chosen to kidnap him so that he can accompany us to the colonel's fortress in the hope of being able to reactivate the water pump. Also in this case we will be able to act in various ways, there will be the possibility to reach the room of the boss in stealth mode or by facing enemies openly. Reaching the colonel's room we are approached to some facts of the game through an exchange of dialogues that open a new choice for Aiden: follow the colonel or not listen to him and reactivate the water pump. We chose to put people's needs first and therefore reactivated the water pump. This choice meant that the pump reactivated, but above all it allowed the discovery of new places, previously hidden by the water. In fact, according to the statement of the executive director of the game during an interview with us, some areas or secondary missions may remain completely hidden unless you make certain choices.
An example we are given is that during our search for the colonel, Frank dies from that damned wound, which would not have happened if we had originally decided to stay by his side. Obviously in that case Frank would have survived but we would not have been able to reactivate the water, putting all our people at risk.
In Dying Light 2 we will also have access to a complex skill tree which will allow us to enhance and improve our style of play, whether it is focused more on pure combat, stealth or parkour based activities. We have also confirmed the presence of elements of enhancement regarding weapons and especially for Aiden, of which we will have a special menu to enhance its equipment, with the aim of improving certain statistics that unfortunately have not been revealed to us due to the development not yet completed.
As already anticipated Dying Light 2 is set about 15 years after the events of the first chapter and no, there is no continuous thread with the first chapter, which is therefore separated by the second. If you played the first Dying Light you might encounter some lore references, but in terms of plot the two campaigns are absolutely different. We tried to ask the developers for an indicative value of the campaign duration in terms of hours and we were confirmed that the duration will presumably be around 15-20 hours, which can reach hundreds of hours thanks to the many contents present. Although they are not yet planned, the team hopes to also be able to release additional content in order to further enrich the game's offer.
Dying Light 2 in this new contact seemed to us in better shape than ever. An extremely satisfying parkour system and a renewed combat system perfectly in line with the style of the game establish the basis of what will surely be a very fun title to play. The big news of the game, however, is the strong will to make the choices made to the player, thanks to changes that will impact both the characters and the game environment itself. We are confident in Techland's title and can't wait to experience the game first hand in Spring 2020 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
► Dying Light 2 is an Action-Horror game developed and published by Techland for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, The release is scheduled: TBA 2020
