Talk about a lot of zombie slayers.
It’s been nearly 5 years since the original Dying Light debuted on consoles and PC. Since then, the post-apocalyptic zombie survival game has amassed a rather impressive audience, which means good things on the horizon for next year’s Dying Light 2.
While speaking with the Official Xbox Magazine about development on the sequel, game designer Tymon Smektala revealed some updated player numbers for the original game. Upon last report back in 2018, the game had sold more than 13 million copies. But that number has risen quite a bit since then.
“The first Dying Light was a huge success for Techland, garnering a huge following of over 17 million players,” Smektala said.
It doesn’t hurt that Techland continued to support the game with free updates, as well as expansions like The Following. Its most recent update in October introduced an unlikely crossover with Valve’s classic Left 4 Dead.
Smektala went on to discuss the three pillars in which the game built its success—natural parkour, brutal first-person melee action, and the day/night cycle.
These pillars will remain intact with Dying Light 2, with even more parkour moves and improved combat with brutal tactics. But there will be more to the sequel than that.
“Choice permeates everything you do within [Dying Light 2], from character progression and dialogue options, to the actions you perform, or indeed don’t perform,” he said.
The sequel is set to arrive sometime in early 2020 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC; and releases for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will likely follow later in the year. That could open up the audience for the franchise even further.
