Dying Light 2 release date announced: Gameplay trailer shows different factions and world-altering choices

Dying Light 2 is going to be released on December 7, 2021, on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC, and it has a new subtitle - “Stay Human.”

Techland also premiered a new gameplay trailer that showed off the game world and the story's gist. Players would be taking on the role of Aiden Caldwell, who is an outcast and a part of a faction named “the Pilgrims.”

At a personal level, Aiden is on a quest to find his only living relative, which will reveal who Aiden really is as a person.

The game world of Dying Light 2 is just as poignantly beautiful as its predecessor. The sequel is set 20 years after the events of the first game. The first game saw an exclusion zone to isolate Harran from the rest of the world, and it worked for a while to offer solace to humankind.

But in 2021, which is between the events of Dying Light 1 and 2, a mutated strain of the Harran virus escaped, and 98% of the human population succumbed to it. Dying Light 2 takes place in the last bastion of mankind - “Villedor,” which is also referred to as “The City.”

Dying Light 2’s gameplay trailer shows off different factions, choices, consequences, day-night cycle, the improved combat, and parkour system

Dying Light 2’s world, The City, is inhabited by many different factions. The first of them, Nightrunners, are former Special Force officers who had cynical views of the army for their apathy toward the common man’s suffering.

Then there are peacekeepers, loyal soldiers, renegades, ex-prisoners trying to please their colonel. While people fight desperately in Dying Light’s world for very limited resources, Aiden would be able to join hands and work for them. However, bandits, thugs, and outlaws will give no chance of alliance.

These choices will shape the world in an unprecedented way. Techland explained the structuring of the complex system regarding player choices and consequences. It is a three-layered system:

• The choices taken during story missions will cause “big changes” in the game world.
• Choices made during side quests will affect the outcome of the quest itself and not much else.
• Then there is the city alignment system, which will let the players decide the fate of small districts from its power structure to how it looks.

The combat in the game has also been designed to feel more visceral, and players can take different approaches to combat, from going headfirst or parkouring their way to victory to a crafty one.

City alignment system of Dying Light 2 (Image via Dying Light)

The parkour system of Dying Light 2 has also been improved from its predecessor, which was already one of the best among the open-world games. Dying Light 2 doubles the number of parkour moves and introduces 3,000 different parkour animations.

Monsters of night in Dying Light 2 (Image via Dying Light)

The nights of Dying Light 2 seem to be even more intense and scary than its predecessor. Hordes of infected pour into the night streets like lava. Players can use rooftops to avoid them, but the swift and deadly virals will pose an even greater threat. However, Dying Light 2 will reward players greatly who can explore the world braving the horrors of night.

The world of Dying Light 2 (Image via Dying Light)

Dying Light 2’s map will have two huge regions along with several zones. With the quintessential verticality of Dying Light, players will have a lot of places to explore. There are chemically active areas around the city, which have also affected the groundwater and rendered life on the street level impossible.

The street level, in essence, is a corpse of the lost civilization. But Dying Light 2’s new world sees rooftops filled to the brim with the greenery of plant life and amidst them, humans who are trying to live their lives again.

Dying Light 2 will offer a co-op experience for up to four players. According to the developers, players willing to play Dying Light 2 can essentially play the sequel without playing the first part. But they announced the sale of the first game’s Platinum Edition on all three platforms for those who wanted to catch up.

While it remains to be seen what the game will finally look like, fans now have a definite release date to wait for.