Despite delays and reported chaos at Techland, Dying Light 2 is not in dev hell, the Polish studio insisted last week. Now it has issued a slightly more substantial development update, though to call it an “update” is a bit of a misnomer: it’s mostly a request for patience. In the video above, Techland staff react to some of the more strongly-worded demands for the game to release ASAP, and there’s a short gameplay sizzle reel too, featuring all the gratuitous violence and body horror you’d expect from a zombie-slaying RPG.
There is one substantial piece of news to come from it, however. Dying Light 2 appears to be set for a 2021 release. At least, the text “2021” appears towards the end of the video. Perhaps the studio just thinks the numbers 2021 look really cool, but Techland’s message is otherwise pretty clear: the game is in development and it’s going to be special and one day, you’ll get to play it.
The studio admitted last week that the game’s 2018 announcement was too early, after increasing suspicions that not all is well with the project. Most of the worry is born of a February report by TheGamer, which painted an unflattering picture of the Polish studio’s progress on the game and its work culture in general. In its response to the report, Techland wrote that it takes all the complaints “very seriously.”
Whatever the case, this new update, aside from offering a wide release window of 2021 for the “huge and complex project”, is very light on details, though it promises that the studio is “ready to start talking about Dying Light 2 very, very soon.”
