Of the games being released this year, few have had development cycles as storied as Dying Light 2. The game has had a turbulent build-up to launch, but it’s inching closer to its December release date. For those that have been waiting for updates on the project, the development team revealed new Dying Light 2 gameplay during the Xbox Gamescom Opening Night Live stream.
Clocking in at just under three minutes long, the trailer is similar to what fans have seen of the game before, offering a look at Dying Light 2’s zombies and human enemies. According to the developers, players will spend more time duking out with humans this time around, as 20 years have passed since the events of the first game. In that time, humanity has become bolder – except at night – which will have a tangible effect on the game thematically.
The trailer opens with some gorgeous shots of Villedor’s skyline and scenery, showing off dilapidated buildings, lush greenery, and streets littered with refuse and wrecked cars. As the trailer presses on, there’s a look at some of Dying Light 2’s overhauled parkour mechanics. Parkour was the first game’s defining feature, helping to separate it from Dead Island by injecting a fair bit of verticality into the mix. Doubtlessly, parkour will be a deciding factor for Dying Light 2’s success too.
Finally, the trailer also shows a healthy sampling of Dying Light 2’s characters and factions, which have been marketed pretty heavily in previous trailers. Dying Light 2 will put a special emphasis on player choice, according to the developers, going so far as to block off parts of the map depending on a player’s actions. Fans still don’t know what the specific junction points will be, and likely won’t until the game launches, though it does seem like it will add some replayability if it shakes out well.
While the look at Dying Light 2 is interesting, Gamescom is usually home to a bevy of announcements and new trailers. With that in mind, fans can look forward to a bunch of news over the next week or so, mostly revolving around upcoming games. The pandemic has thrown a wrench in a number of triple-a games’ release plans, though Gamescom is one of the biggest shows of the year, and therefore, a great place to offer updates for some of the industry’s question marks.
Dying Light 2 releases on December 7, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.