One of the bigger releases that was delayed earlier this year was Techland’s Dying Light 2. Originally slated for Spring 2020, it’s since been pushed forward to an unspecified date. The development team is still working on it though and looking for various ways to enhance the overall visual experience. This includes employing ray tracing and other effects, as revealed by rendering director Tomasz Szałkowski.
Speaking to Official PlayStation Magazine, Szałkowski said that ray tracing will help with ambient occlusion effects. “Thanks to this technology, our shadows in sunny weather look like they really would (among other reasons, because they take into account the size of the sun in the sky). Ambient occlusion effects have gained spatial stability and no longer suffer from compromises tied to the specifics of effects affecting screen space (they operate only on what is visible on the screen, meaning the floor under a table doesn’t affect the displayed image when we look down at the table top).”
Dark Zones will also benefit from secondary illumination from artificial light sources like the flashlight. In the previous game, a Dark Zone was used to describe an area with very little to no natural sunlight (making it a prime source for infected). So the flashlight is imperative to enhancing the mood. “Dark Zones are an important element of our game, which is why we are experimenting with secondary illumination (reflected off surfaces) from artificial light sources (such as the player’s flashlight), which will make the experience of exploring these regions even more intense,” said Szałkowski.
Dying Light 2 is currently in development for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It’s also coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X though, again, there’s no release window for those releases either. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.
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