"Thousands of different variations" in Dying Light 2

Dying Light 2 is a game that fans of the series are very much looking forward to, having just received a new gameplay demo, and when speaking with lead game designer Tymon Smektala at Gamescom we talked about the parkour that'll be springing into action in this game.

"We tried to add more gameplay elements to the parkour," he said. "In the first game, people kept telling us that they really felt the freedom, the fluidity of parkour movement, but to be honest, the challenge wasn't really there. You could basically traverse through the whole city just by pressing one button."

"You can still do that in Dying Light 2, because we want this to be accessible, but then you start realising 'okay so I have a lot of those skills, and the place, the city, has a lot of different objects, a lot of different geometry, so if I start using the specific skills on specific objects in the environment', you realise 'okay so now I get faster, I get more effective in moving through the environment'."

"The other way we improve this is by introducing, or upgrading, the gameplay tools known from the first game. So for example, the grappling hook is something we have spent a lot of time to connect, to gel with the existing parkour moves."

"Also paraglider, another new tool. There are parts of the city with huge gaps between buildings, like very broad streets, so now you want to find something that will allow you to traverse from one rooftop to another."

We also talked about how the choices in the game shape the experience, which extends much further than just the narrative, as Smektala explains:

"It's not only about the story, as I said. What's very unique about Dying Light 2 is that you not only change the story but also change the world around you, the sandbox around you. So when you start to look at, well there are that many different versions of the story, there are a few dozen different versions of the city, there are a few dozen versions of let's say availability of different gameplay mechanics in the game like new enemies, new encounters, new blueprints - basically everything is connected to choices and consequences - you suddenly start to realise that if you really want to calculate it then you come up with numbers like, woah this game has like thousands of different variations. And this is something we really, strongly believe in. We believe this is something that makes Dying Light [2] a unique, standout title."

Did you enjoy parkour in Dying Light?