Looks like Dying Light 2 is doing badly [or not?] (Topic)

That cannot die dead ... Or can it still be? As much as I would like to say this about Dying Light 2, the game may be in crisis. The other day on the Polish site PolskiGamedev.pl there was an anonymous interview with the developers from Techland about the serious problems the project faced. Based on it, we can conclude that we will see the game no earlier than at the beginning of 2021. Recall that at the beginning of this year, like many other major projects, Dying Light 2 was postponed indefinitely. The main reason for the transfer, as in most cases, is the polishing of the project and bringing it to perfection. However, if other projects with a similar fate had a new release date, Dying Light 2's problems apparently do not allow us to talk about specific dates at the moment.

Burnout and Chris Avellone

One of the most important news related to the game was that Chris Avellone was on the development team. For those who don't know - one of the most famous game designers and screenwriter of many top RPGs [and not only] of all time, starting with the classic Fallout [later also New Vegas], Planescape Torment and KOTOR, ending with the recent Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Divinity: Original Sin II.

One of his names as a screenwriter and consultant has already encouraged the media and gamers after the presentation of the game at E3 2018, making it clear that the project is in good hands. However, ironically, the collaboration between Avellon and Techland did not work out and now the scriptwriter is in conflict with the creative director of the project Adrian Tsishevsky and the founder of the studio Pavel Markhevka.

As one of the anonymous developers says in an interview, Avellone set himself the goal of developing a large, multi-layered universe with lore and an abundance of characters in the plot. Plus, he decided to pay great attention to factions.

Recall that the world of the game at the time of the second part is divided by different factions, which can be helped by the main character. Depending on his decisions, which factions to help and which ones to fight - the fate of the city, its appearance and conditions for survivors depend.

This approach would be great for an RPG, but Dying Light 2 is an action / RPG, and not vice versa, and it does not need such complexity. As a result, it turned out that Avellone wrote a big script, but it turned out to be too difficult to implement, and some elements are generally superfluous for the game. If you believe the words of the Polish developer, there is a battle in the studio to introduce factions and characters into the game, as well as their characteristics. The battles do not subside over the quests. A studio employee says that for one location Avellone came up with quests, as if they were made for Fallout: New Vegas, and not Dying Light 2.

Plus, those same Tsishevsky and Markhevka are constantly trying to get into the script, who want to rewrite it or make edits. In general, Adrian himself is a separate problem in development. He's been compared to Dan Hauser during the creation of Rockstar Red Dead Redemption 2. Like Hauser, Ziszewski walks around the studio and constantly tweaks the work, telling everyone what to do and how, insisting that he knows exactly what the project should be. Behind his back, he is even called a preacher [in a negative context] who carries his own truth.

The problem is that due to constant changes and lack of agreement on a single concept, developers get tired of redoing the same areas of the game, which is why many burn out.

So is everything good or is everything bad?

Although the title of the article reads "It looks like Dying Light 2 is doing badly", it is worth making a reservation that everything is not as bad as it seems at first glance based on the above. As one of the developers says, from the technical point of view, the game is doing well. The graphics, basic mechanics and combat system work. In general, the game is really frozen at the stage of finalization and polishing, but it is ready.

At the same time, in the same interview, another developer says that due to the fact that the concept is constantly changing, and they redo different elements of the project, its basis has not been formed. According to him, vertical gameplay is lame, and it is the main feature and an important element of Dying Light 2.

And then you don't even know which of the two people to believe. The fact that there are problems with verticality is bad, because many people love the game just for parkour. One thing is for sure - constant changes are clearly bad for the game.

Rumors have also begun to circulate that Microsoft is going to acquire the studio, but many employees deny this. These rumors emerged amid Techland's financial difficulties. The manual suggests that the game can still be released at the very end of this year, however, the developers remain of a different opinion and assure that, most likely, this year we will not see Dying Light 2. Perhaps the release will take place in the winter or spring of 2021.

PolskiGamedev.pl inquired about the fate of the fantasy RPG, which was announced by the studio's next project and should be released 2-3 years after Dying Light 2. The portal's interlocutors expressed the opinion that in the light of recent events they will not be able to meet this deadline, and we we won't see a new project before 2025. They also revealed that although there will be many Dying Light mechanics in the game, it will be a completely different project.

Avellone says all is well

Despite the fact that the picture looks rather sad, PolskiGamedev.pl concluded that everything is not so bad, and after interviewing the developers, they sent an email to the studio asking them to comment on everything.

Avellone himself spoke first. According to him, there are situations with a constant change in the script, but this is not a problem, since this is part of the creative and work process, in which there is nothing unusual. In addition, this is already in the past and is not relevant, and he had no conflicts with the same Adrian.

Dying Light 2 Chief Programmer Bartosz Kulon said that there are no problems with vertical gameplay either, and it was ready a year ago. Plus, the writer calls Coulomb someone who actually leads the process and is quite successful.

And in the interview itself, the employees speak warmly of Mark Albinet and Eugen Harton. Both are in leadership positions. By the way, they helped organize the interview portal.

That which is dead cannot die?

As a result, the situation is twofold and the objectivity of the anonymous developers can be doubted just as well as doubting the statements of the studio management. Although it seems to us that the truth, as always, is somewhere in between. But even if there are any problems described by the developers, the studio promised to fix them, as reported by Gamepressure, who sent an email to Techland asking them to comment.

The Topic of Article: Looks like Dying Light 2 is doing badly [or not?].
Author: Jake Pinkman