Fans got to see a lot of Dying Light 2 in the presentation on May 27th, but one of the major takeaways was the complete overhaul of the parkour system. Traversal of the city was a major part of the original Dying Light, so it makes sense that developer Techland would want to expand on that, but few could have expected just how much that expansion could change. According to Piotr Pawlaczyk, the Lead Level Designer for the game, the number of parkour moves that players can see within the game has doubled from the previous title.
Dying Light 2 replaces Crane as the main antagonist with Aiden Caldwell, a character that has almost no memories from before the fall of mankind. Growing up in this nightmarish world has forced Aiden to become a master of parkour, and fans will get to see all of that in action. The trailer below offers a brief glimpse, but there's still so much more to discover.
Pawlaczyk explains that there will be over 3000 different unique animations that players can experience as they run, jump, and climb their way through the rooftops of The City. The parkour of the original Dying Light with its 1500 different animations or so was already a topic of praise among fans and critics, so this will certainly be on an entirely different level. It also seems that players will be able to unlock specific moves depending on their choices, with things like the trampolines shown in the trailer being learned from certain factions.
While Dying Light put an emphasis on staying on the rooftops to avoid the infected, that is taken to the extreme in Dying Light 2. It is explained that a chemical attack has rendered the ground practically unlivable, and the devs describe it as though the ground level belongs to the infected and the rooftops belong to humanity. Players will need to use these diverse parkour skills in order to get around and escape enemies, especially if they find themselves out and about during the nighttime when tougher variants of the infected come out.
The developers emphasize that "the iconic Dying Light 1 parkour is essentially there, [they] improved it." There will be a wide array of standard moves, a chance for players to show off with tricks during parkour, as well as what Pawlaczyk describes as "small little tasty details." It seems as though killing the infected will be only half the fun in Dying Light 2, as players are sure to get drawn in by its detailed parkour system.
Dying Light 2 releases on December 7th, 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.