While talking about the upcoming release of Dying Light: The Beast, franchise director Tymon Smektala spoke about how studio Techland didn’t expect the original Dying Light to become as popular and beloved as it did. Speaking to GamesRadar, Smektala mentioned how Techland was a smaller studio at the time and saw itself as an underdog.
Smektala said that “when we were releasing Dying Light 1, we were this underdog studio that no one expected to do such a kickass game as Dying Light was.” Further in the interview, he also acknowledged once again that the studio had left behind some of the aspects that made Dying Light so beloved when it came to working on Dying Light 2 Stay Human.
While Dying Light 2 Stay Human “was a commercial success,” Smektala went on to talk about how “maybe we made some missteps.” One of these missteps, he noted, was trying to get a wider audience for the sequel by making the game more accessible, but he also admits that the studio “sacrificed some of the Dying Light DNA.”
“Our fans were telling us ‘that’s not it, that’s not what made you so special,'” Smektala said, referring to the studio wanting to provide a more polished AAA experience with Dying Light 2 Stay Human. Ultimately, however, he notes that the studio is now aiming to provide players with both aspects – polish as well as the core Dying Light DNA.
“We want to deliver both,” he said. “We want to deliver the AAA quality, but at the same time, we want to deliver proof that our mojo is not gone, that our mojo is not there, and we know what makes Dying Light, Dying Light. And if players say ‘wow, this feels like Dying Light 1, and it looks so amazing, it’s such a polished game’, then I think we’ll be very, very happy.”
These recent comments echo what Smektala had said earlier this month about some of the decisions the studio made when it came to making Dying Light 2 Stay Human. “With [Dying Light 1], we really managed to create a game where every piece fit together, and maybe we didn’t appreciate it enough,” Smektała said.
“Dying Light 1 was a game for our core community. It was a hardcore survival horror, open world, action adventure with very strong survival aspects. For Dying Light 2, we forgot about it. The game was a commercial success, but the players who should be closest to our hearts said we kind of lost the edge, we lost the threat, we lost the horror, we lost the tension.”
He also spoke about how the studio sees Dying Light: The Beast as more of a proper sequel rather than a spin-off, despite the title’s origins as an expansion for Dying Light 2 Stay Human.
“Maybe the project started with a slightly smaller ambition, but we got so excited about Kyle Crane returning,” he said. “We got so excited about, actually, what we can do with this new iteration of the engine, how confident we feel about the gameplay mechanics.”
Dying Light: The Beast is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on August 22.
