Dying Light (series)
| Dying Light | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Developer(s) | Techland |
| Publisher(s) | Techland Warner Bros. Games |
| Composer(s) | Paweł Błaszczak Olivier Deriviere |
| Platform(s) | |
| First release | Dying Light 27 January 2015 |
| Latest release | Dying Light 2 Stay Human 4 February 2022 |
Dying Light is a series of survival horror games developed by Techland. The franchise started in 2015 with Dying Light. A sequel, Dying Light 2 Stay Human was released in 2022. A standalone game, titled Dying Light: The Beast, is set to be released in 2025. The franchise sold more than 30 million copies upon release.
Common elements
[edit]Dying Light is a series of survival horror games played from a first-person perspective. Both games are set in zombie apocalyptic-themed open world locations that are free for players to explore.[1] Gameplay focuses mainly on melee combat and transversal, with the protagonists in both games being able to use parkour-like movement to quickly move between locations. Dying Light and Dying Light 2 are set in a dense, urban environment, while Dying Light: The Following and Dying Light: The Beast are set in a rural environment where players also have access to a dune buggy.[2] The game features a dynamic day–night cycle, in which zombies are slow and clumsy during daytime and extremely aggressive at night.[3]
Games
[edit]| 2015 | Dying Light |
|---|---|
| 2016 | Dying Light: The Following |
| 2017 | |
| 2018 | Dying Light: Bad Blood |
| 2019 | |
| 2020 | |
| 2021 | |
| 2022 | Dying Light 2 Stay Human |
| 2023 | |
| 2024 | |
| 2025 | Dying Light: The Beast |
Dying Light (2015)
[edit]In Dying Light, Kyle Crane (Roger Craig Smith), an undercover Global Relief Effort (GRE) agent, is airdropped into a fictional Middle-Eastern city called Harran to retrieve a sensitive file which contains vital data on the virus, which could potentially lead to a cure.
The core team of Techland, which had previously released Dead Island in 2011, commenced development on Dying Light in early 2012.[4] Due to creative differences with Dead Island publisher Deep Silver, the team decided to turn Dying Light into a separate game. The team partnered with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to release the game.[5] The game was released in full on 27 January 2015 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It received mixed or average reviews upon release.[6] The game had sold more than 20 million copies and achieved the highest-selling first month of sales for a new survival-horror intellectual property (IP).[7]
The Following (2016) and Bad Blood (2018)
[edit]As the game became a commercial success for Techland, they suspended the development of other games such as Hellraid to focus on further developing the Dying Light IP.[8] Techland released numerous updates for the game, and released an expansion pack for the game, titled Dying Light: The Following, in February 2016. In The Following, Crane must venture to the countryside of Harran to investigate a mysterious cult which may be essential for curing the zombie virus. On the same day, Techland also released Enhanced Edition, which bundled the base game, The Following and several DLC packs, and introduced numerous gameplay updates to the game.[9]
In September 2018, Techland released Bad Blood as a paid early access game. Bad Blood is a battle royale game in which twelve players must compete against each other to be the first one to reach the last helicopter out of town.[10] It failed to gain a large player base, and Techland made the game free for all Dying Light players in 2020.[11]
Dying Light 2 Stay Human (2022)
[edit]Set 15 years after the first game, much of the world's population has been wiped out.[12] The game is set in the fictional walled European city of Villedor, one of the last human settlments. In the game, the player assumes control of Aiden Caldwell (Jonah Scott), who travels to Villedor to search for his lost sister, Mia.
Dying Light 2 is an action role-playing video game, in which Aiden will meet different factions and have to make decisions that fundamentally change the state of the game's world and the fate of various non-playable characters.[13] It was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S in February 2024 and received mixed reviews.[14] It sold more than 5 million copies in its first month of release. Collectively, the franchise had sold more than 30 million copies by February 2023.[15]
Dying Light: The Beast (2025)
[edit]Kyle Crane must seek revenge on "The Baron", who had experimented on him for 13 years.[16]
Originally intended as the second downloadable content pack for Dying Light 2, The Beast was spin-off into a standalone game after its initial premise, including details of its story, was leaked in 2023. It was envisioned as a smaller game in the franchise. The game is set in Castor Woods, described by the team as a "rural, forested valley" inspired by Twin Peaks.[17] It was set to be released in mid 2025 for Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S.[18]
Future
[edit]Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the franchise, Techland revealed that they were planning to expand the franchise with board games and a webcomic series.[19] .
References
[edit]- ^ Phillips, Tom (June 9, 2022). "Techland celebrates "grand finale" of Dying Light DLC, seven years on". Eurogamer. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
- ^ Livingston, Christopher (August 21, 2024). "Dying Light: The Beast is a standalone game starring Kyle Crane that started out as DLC, and will be free for owners of Dying Light 2 Ultimate Edition". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 25, 2025.
- ^ Kelly, Andy (June 14, 2021). "How Dying Light 2's day/night system completely transforms the city". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
- ^ Turi, Tim (23 May 2013). "Techland Discusses Differences Between Dead Island & Dying Light". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 26 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
- ^ Pitt, Russ (16 July 2014). "From Dead Island to Dying Light". Polygon. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
- ^ "Dying Light launching earlier than expected". Polygon. 15 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
- ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (12 February 2015). "Dying Light tops US retail sales for January". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^ Phillips, Tom (21 May 2015). "Dead Island dev dumps Hellraid development, Techland doubles down on Dying Light". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (5 December 2015). "PSX 2015: Dying Light: The Following Release Date Announced". IGN. Archived from the original on 17 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
- ^ Knezevic, Kevin (August 22, 2018). "Dying Light's Battle Royale-Style Mode, Bad Blood, Release Window Announced". GameSpot. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
- ^ Priestman, Chris (January 28, 2020). "Dying Light: Bad Blood Is Now Free to All Dying Light Players". IGN. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
- ^ Peppiatt, Dom (January 10, 2022). "Dying Light 2: 5 things you need to know about Techland's massive open world sequel". VG247. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
- ^ Chiodoni, Johnny (2019-06-11). "Your choices can wipe out entire settlements in Dying Light 2:Stay Human". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
- ^ McWhertor, Michael (September 14, 2021). "Dying Light 2 delayed to 2022". Polygon. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
- ^ Carter, Justin (February 2, 2023). "Techland's Dying Light franchise hits 30 million copies sold". Game Developer. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
- ^ Carter, Justin (August 22, 2024). "Turns out Dying Light: The Beast started out as leaked Dying Light 2 DLC". Game Developer. Retrieved January 25, 2025.
- ^ Parijat, Shubhankar (November 8, 2024). "Dying Light: The Beast Interview – Story, Map, Parkour, and More". Gaming Bolt. Retrieved January 25, 2025.
- ^ Phillips, Tom (August 20, 2024). "Dying Light: The Beast is a new 18-hour standalone game that began life as DLC". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 25, 2025.
- ^ Wales, Matt (January 28, 2025). "Techland teases "multiple" unannounced Dying Light projects, including board games and a webcomic". Eurogamer. Retrieved February 21, 2025.