The craziness on the E3 is less every year. Boothbabes are still scarce and the stands become a bit more sober every year. Nevertheless, there is always a publisher or developer who gets something striking out of the closet. This year that was Techland, the Polish studio that released the zombie adventure game Dying Light in 2015. Since then the studio has been working on a sequel, which will be released by Techland itself under title Dying Light 2 next year. The studio had posted painted zombies in the entrance of the Convention Center. The zombies stood still and rocked back and forth at most. Occasionally, when someone was walking right past them, they shot out of their lethargy and flew off at the passerby. In many cases it was good for a strong shock reaction. Techland did not have a big stand at the fair, but still attracted a lot of attention.

Dying Light 2 was announced during the E3 by none other than Chris Avellone, who was hired by Techland as a narrative director . The main lines of the story were already put on paper by Techland, but it is up to Avallone to fill in the details and especially to write the dialogues for the game. With games such as Planescape: Torment, Alpha Protocol and Prey on his list of achievements, that should work out. The story is one of the improvements that Techland had noted for itself after the first Dying Light was released.

The zombies we described above are of course no zombies. Despite the fact that the genre is so hot, there is almost no developer who literally calls the shuffling creatures ‘zombies’. Techland is not talking about zombies, but about Infected. What these types are infected with is of little use, the fact is that the city where the whole takes place is forgiven. As befits zombie-like figures, they are especially active at night. So during the day you are reasonably safe, even if there is danger. Firstly, the Infected keep up during the day for a long time if they stay in the shade. They can not stand only direct sunlight. If they are exposed to it, they disintegrate. If you are being attacked by Infected during the day, flights to a spot with bright sunlight can be a solution.

Homemade ax
You can also attack the Infected, though you have few weapons at your disposal, just like in the predecessor of the new game. A hatchet made of a piece of wood and metal plate is already quite a lot. Dying Light 2 takes place again in a fictional city, which can be seen on the outside somewhere in Central Europe. It could just be Warsaw, where the Techland studio is nearby, although the city remains nameless. The setting has thus remained the same. You are still living in a world where the fight against the Infected was lost. That battle took place some 50 years ago and since then only a few small groups of people remain who have not been infected. There are too few to speak of an organized civilization.

That is also clearly visible in the city. It must have been a beautiful place, but now everything is falling into disrepair. Authority and facilities are no longer there, it is every man for himself. Nevertheless, some people have grouped together to build up some form of organization and authority. There are different factions in the city and with each of those factions you can do something. As with such groups, you can become friends with them or make them your enemies. That choice has far-reaching consequences in Dying Light 2.