author: Bart Swiatek
Dying Light 2 Coming to PS5 and Xbox Scarlett; New Info
Wccftech talked to devs working on Dying Light 2 - several employees of the Polish team at Techland and independent creator Chris Avellon. Thanks to the interview we got to know new information about the discussed title.
IN A NUTSHELL:
- Dying Light 2 will also appear on PS5 and Xbox Scarlett;
- The game will work in Full HD resolution on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X;
- The main character will be a clean slate - his character and goals will be determined by the player;
- The world of Dying Light 2 will be four times as big as the one in the first part;
- New types of zombies will appear in the game.
Wccftech conducted an interview with the creators of the pos-apocalyptic action game Dying Light 2 - devs from Techland and independent developer responsible for the game's story - Chris Avellon (known from Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment and Fallout: New Vegas). Thanks to the conversation we got to know some new details about the upcoming game.
Console resolutions and next-gen
One of the most interesting threads of the conversation was the one devoted to technical matters. It turns out that the demo of Dying Light 2, which was shown at the E3 2019 fair, ran in 1440p. Interestingly, developers want Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro to display the final version of the game in.... Full HD (1920x1080). What does this mean for weaker models of Microsoft and Sony hardware? It's hard to say.
The demo you saw was running at 2.5K (2560×1440). For Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, we want to run at full HD (1920×1080). It’s too early to specify exclusive features for more powerful consoles, but our top priority is a smooth gameplay experience (parkour, combat, etc.), noted Pawel Rohleder.
This is a rather unusual approach - most developers are trying to one-up the resolutions available in current-gen hardware. The smoothness of gameplay is undeniably essential in a title such as Dying Light 2, but it cannot be ruled out that the game may simply require a lot of computing power - especially that, as the developers have confirmed, it is also created for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett.
"Techland always has an eye on the latest new toys! To be more specific — yes, the plan since the beginning of production has been to make Dying Light 2 a cross-generation title," said the developer.
In case of a PC release Techland does not exclude implementation of ray tracing and DLSS - however, support for the first technology is more likely.
"We have always been keen on new technologies, especially when it comes to photo-realism and graphical fidelity. Ray tracing has been the holy grail of real-time computer graphics for years, so of course we are looking into it. Regarding DLSS, we are a bit more skeptical, but we are conducting research in that area as well," added Rohleder.
An interesting solution was also added to the sound layer - developers implemented a system that dynamically adjusts the music to the situation in which the player's character is at the moment.
The main character, the choices and their consequences
Speaking of the player character... The developers want the main character of Dying Light 2 - Aiden Caldwell - to be a kind of clean slate that will be filled with content by the choices made by the player.
We have created our playable character with a certain goal in mind. We want Aiden to be a mere vessel, a shell that the player fills with their decisions. The Aiden that emerges in the end will be shaped by the player’s own moral compass," said Kornel Jaskula from Techland.
"We don’t want to give away too much about Aiden’s background and his arc at this stage, but it’s safe to say his goals aren’t static. They shift throughout the game as he learns more about himself, the City, and the inhabitants. And aside from Aiden’s personal goals, his agenda is also influenced (or aligned with) various other factions in the City – and they also depend heavily on what the players themselves want to accomplish in the landscape of the City," added Chris Avellone.
In the game we will not find any dualistic system of morality, nor mechanics of karma similar to Fallout: New Vegas. It's the player who needs to be forced to judge their own choices... and their consequences.
There’s no traditional morality bar or a Karma system like you’d find in other games – you are the judge of your own actions. Ultimately you know why you’re making a choice, what the intention was behind your choice, then you face the consequences of your choice. Even if you had the best of intentions, it’s entirely possible to make a choice that will cause others to regard you as a villain or an enemy – and choices you may have made for selfish reasons may end up causing the inhabitants of the City to interpret it as an act of goodwill. Ultimately, the player is their own moral compass, but the world around them may pass judgement on the player’s actions based on their own agendas, perspective, and motivations." Avellone said.
"Dying Light 2 is designed to allow the player to play any number of roles – helpful benefactor, selfish looter, ruthless pragmatist, betrayer, or even a trickster if they wish, and you can definitely turn the factions against themselves and individuals against each other. There may be many instances where such behavior earns rewards, both expected and some unexpected… but unexpected consequences as well. While you can orchestrate chaos, there’s also the danger of being swept up in it as well," added the creator of Planescape: Torment, answering a journalist's question about whether it is possible to become a character similar to the Joker.
A good example of choices made by a player is to be one of the scenes presented on the demo shown during E3 2019. A decision made may result in some part of the city remaining underwater or being revealed. Both options enable you to explore this area - but in a completely different way.
The big world and new types of zombies
The world in Dying Light 2 will be at least four times bigger than the world known from the first part of the game. There are seven different areas with various degree of urbanization. Players are to be given the opportunity to get to virtually any place - both horizontally and vertically. There are two main factions in the game - Peacekeepers and Scavengers. There are also numerous smaller communities in the city.
The creators have also confirmed that new types of opponents will appear in the game. Unfortunately, it is too early to say anything more about them.
"I don’t want to share too many details just yet, but I can say that Dying Light 2 takes place 15 years after the original game, so it only makes sense that the infection creating these monsters has evolved. You can expect new enemies and new ways to fight them as well," said Jaskula.
Dying Light 2 will debut on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Below you will find a trailer from the E3 2019 fair (the gameplay, which was referred to several times by both developers and journalists talking to them, unfortunately, is not available online).
