News

Developer Techland, best known for the Dead Island series, has revealed a little more about its other upcoming openworld blockbuster. Like Dead Island, Dying Light pits you against a world full of undead monsters, but it has one important twist.

The game has a dynamic day and night cycle, and you'll have to use the safer daylight hours to find supplies and rescue fellow survivors, before night falls and the shuffling creatures become fast and agile predators. To help you stay alive, you'll be able to use free-running techniques to stay on the rooftops.

“We wanted to surprise gamers around the world,” explains producer Tymon Smektala in a new video which details the Natural Movement system the game uses. “When we took a look at other [first person] games, we noticed that what they lack is the ability to move freely and seamlessly. We decided we must change it.”

The result looks a lot like a first-person Assassin's Creed, or an openworld Mirror's Edge, with zombies and melee combat with customised weapons. “At first we tried placing objects that let you climb up various structures,” admits lead designer Maciej Binkowski. “Unfortunately, we soon had 50,000 of them and it still wasn't enough. We understood it was a dead end and had to come up with something completely new.”

That meant creating a game engine that offered complete freedom to run, climb, slide and fall wherever you wanted, with the speed of an action game. “We wanted to make chases smooth and exciting to get your heart pumping,” says Smektala.

Dying Light is currently slated for a February 2015 release on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Techland is also working on a first-person dungeon crawler, Hellraid, which will be exclusive to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.