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Dying Light 2 was a blockbuster release last year, carrying on with the success of the first game. It's hard to gage how fast time flies, and the sequel is about to complete its first anniversary soon. It has been a year of many positives and a few negatives, as Techland has tried to keep the community engaged.
In a hearty chat, we spoke with Tymon Smektala, the director of Dying Light about how the journey has been so far. He also shared some of the vision Techland has for the upcoming period, and how Dying Light 2 will evolve beyond its first anniversary.
Dying Light 2 will have plenty to come once it completes its first anniversary
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Q. First, I would like to congratulate you and the Techland team in advance for Dying Light 2 Stay Human's upcoming anniversary. How has the journey been so far when you look back on the entire year?
Tymon: It has been all sorts of things, to be honest. We started with a bang, releasing the game to great commercial success. We have worked hard on a lot of free content and updates requested by our community. We have added new weapons, enemies, game modes, and tons of cosmetics. We released our first DLC, an experimental take on the arena format.
There were plenty of moments to celebrate, but we also realized that the work doesn’t stop there, as our community made us notice parts of the game that it felt needed improvements. We learned quite a few lessons over the last 12 months, and I believe we enter the second year of Dying Light 2 Stay Human post-launch support smarter and more tuned with our Players.
Good stuff is coming!
Q. The weight of expectations on Dying Light 2 Stay Human has always been huge after the first game's success. Did it create any additional pressure on the developers?
Tymon: Dying Light was a game not many people expected to be this good, yet it’s safe to say that it’s left its mark on a whole platform generation. Dying Light 2 Stay Human was different - the expectations were crazy high so the pressure was really astronomical.
Did it put pressure on us? Definitely, yet we tried not to get lost in it.
Q. Speaking about Dying Light 2 Stay Human and the Bloody Ties expansion, it is evident that the focus has been more on human enemies rather than mutated ones. Was this shift deliberate, or did it just happen?
Tymon: I’m not sure I agree. From the challenges of Bloody Ties, only some were actually human-centric. All of the Carnages, all of the Freaks, most of the Spectacles - these were events when you were fighting the Infected.
Maybe we focused too much on those during the narrative, but it’s hard to tell a story without any human-to-human interaction, even if the interaction is expressed with a machete.
I think I reassure our players that the next one will be focused on Infected. We’re listening to our community and actively shaping the new DLC to be exactly what they expect.
Q. A few fans have claimed that they expected more from the Bloody Ties expansion. Would you like to share your thoughts on that?
Tymon: Bloody Ties was an experimental take on the arena format and I’m proud of what we have achieved - we really tried something new, something unusual. However, it’s hard to argue with players’ feelings - our studio’s philosophy is based on listening to the players. So if there are voices in the community that expresses that they expect more, it means just that, there’s no arguing it.
We need to listen to our Players carefully and consider everything they say as we move forward.
Q. Dying Light 2 Stay Human is set to get at least five years of new content and support. With that being said, when can fans expect the next DLC, and has Techland started working on it yet?
Tymon: We’ll start talking about the next DLC2 in the not-so-distant future. Unfortunately, however, I have to keep being secretive just a little longer. What I can say right now is that it’s going to be an open-world narrative, focused on the infected, bringing some quite expected new toys for players to have fun with.
We’ve said already that the first year and a half of DL2SH support will be us experimenting with a bunch of different ideas and trying to see what excites our community the most. We already know a lot and we’ll not hesitate to use that knowledge!
Q. It's usually felt that Dying Light 2 Stay Human isn't as scary as its predecessor. As more content is added, will we see a gradual shift in the coming days?
Tymon: We teased it already - the night experience will be a focus of one of our big updates this year. Within a few days, we’ll start our Anniversary celebrations and you can expect to learn more details then.
Q. How hard has it been for you guys to develop the game amidst a global pandemic that saw severe periods of lockdowns?
Tymon: Of course it was, but I believe that life was more complex for everyone on planet Earth back then. To be honest, Dying Light 2 Stay Human actually helped us a lot during that time.
At its height, we were completing the alpha milestone, and having that common goal really connected us and motivated us to get through the stormy waters.
Q. With things returning to normal, can players expect faster content for Dying Light 2 Stay Human?
Tymon: Actually this year we want to focus on quality - so I can’t promise we’ll do more updates, more speedily. There are a couple of big, complex parts of our game that our community wants to see changed, tweaked, and improved, and we want to focus on that.
Please wait just a few days longer as we’ll reveal a lot of 2023 information during our Anniversary celebrations.
Q. As a studio, Techland has been future-oriented with its games, and we have seen it from you guys. What's your vision for the future of Dying Light 2 Stay Human and beyond?
Tymon: Right now we want to make sure that we see the game eye-to-eye with our community. We’ll engage them more in discussions about the future of Dying Light 2 Stay Human and we’ll focus on delivering exactly what the community expects. Of course, we have more future-facing plans… but first things first!
Q. As a gamer, how satisfied have you been with Dying Light 2 Stay Human? We have seen plenty of changes and new features. Do you reckon that the innovations have been delivered as per plans?
Tymon: Yes, but we also feel we could do more. This year, the improvements will be more targeted, aimed directly at what the community expresses about the game. This year’s going to be great!
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