Interested in what a free-running action game mixed with survival-horror starring the monster of the decade, the almighty zombie would look like? In WB Games upcoming Dying Light, you can expect the walking dead to become incredibly aggressive at night, and only a well-planned day cycle may keep you alive. It also promises to put you up to some pretty hard choices.
We also received a Q&A with Senior Producer Tymon Smektala from developer Techland – there simply are so many zombie games out there, we suggest reading through it to see their take on this popular epidemic.
Q: Tell us about the concept behind the “Humanity” trailer
A: Over the years, we’ve become accustomed to killing zombies. Films, television series, books, and of course games – no matter what the medium, zombies have become the cannon fodder of our times. Zombies are an easy and safe choice for in-game adversaries because they’re “already dead” and no one bats an eye when killing them.
The “Humanity trailer presents a deeper vision of what a zombie epidemic would mean for humankind. In Dying Light, “the infected” are just that—humans that have mutated as the result of an infection, just like the flu or pneumonia. So we’re asking in this trailer that fans think about the humans that these now “monsters” used to be. Is there a place for kindness in such a cruel world?
Q: Can you tell us more about the epidemic in Dying Light?
A: The infection spread so rapidly, that there was no time to confine, research or treat it before society fell. The infection makes victims aggressive and dangerous to anyone around them and, of course, makes them crave human flesh. Dying Light takes place in a quarantined city, just several weeks after the outbreak.
Q: What are we seeing in the “Humanity” trailer?
A: This trailer focuses on showing how people, who just two months or so earlier, had families, homes and jobs. Now they’re scavengers and hunters that do whatever they need in order to survive. Now their routines include gathering supplies, repairing barricades, fighting for medicine. Things we take for granted in this world—like a bottle of water. People struggling to survive and making choices like which of their children they can feed each day.
Q: Are there other survivors in Dying Light?
A: Yes. When traversing the city of Harran, players will encounter survivors in a variety of situations. You may find them hidden, trapped or surrounded by the infected in the most unlikely of places, always calling for your help. It’s up to you to decide to help them or not. Lending a helping hand is always a risk, though. The grim reality of Harran doesn’t allow any safe choices.
Q: What are some of the difficult choices players might encounter?
A: Living in Harran is a game of chance, as the infection is not limited to specific groups or social classes. Players should remember that not only the survivors were common people like you and me just the other month – so were the infected. In order to stay alive, you may be forced to shoot your family doctor, smash your neighbor’s skull, chop a colleague from your office to pieces, leave your best friend for certain death, or burn your favorite English teacher from the primary school alive. It’s either you or them. But you should never forget that they’re not walking corpses – they’re just ill, although there’s no cure to their illness.
While we don’t have a firm release date, you can look forward to Dying Light showing up on PC, PS3, PS4, 360 and Xbox One.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada, at a young age I was forced to decide whether the harsh northern winters were going to claim my fingers, or to turn to the safer pursuits of indoor activities. Little did I know that a little game called Ninja Gaiden would bring my digits more pain than frostbite ever could. Starting with Vectrex and C64 games and moving forward through the era of electronic entertainment, I sampled as much as I could in the different platforms, and began my interest in PC gaming from wrestling with DOS memory management.
While console games were a part of my earliest gaming memories and I certainly had played on most platforms including 3D0, all things Nintendo, PS1 and the like, truly the PC was my domain until the Xbox. As an old PC gamer, I ever chased the cutting edge technology. Eye of the beholder with CGA 4 colors was my first step down the the path of blowing thousands of dollars on PC upgrades over two decades. Ultima 7, with the Guardian talking to me through my monitor, still haunts my dreams and keeps me ever hoping for a decent Ultima 8 and 9. From the 3DFX SLI VooDoo2s and Aureal to today's GPU driven DirectX games, the new and shiny pictures seem to keep me going. My PC gaming has slowed down with the market shift though, and although I have choice games that will ever be on PC, I have found myself in console gaming with a bit of portable gaming in my life.
Back around the turn of the millenium (and long before fatherhood), I had fired off an email offering to help Ron with a little-known site called ConsoleGold. Little did I know it would be be a part of my life to this day. While I've seen my fair share of shovelware (thanks Ron!), I manage to try and find the fun in most games. Leaning towards sandbox and action titles, I've grown to love games for their potential to reach art. Console agnostic and excited for the progress of tomorrow, I fancy the latest and greatest, but still enjoy the good old classics ... as long as they've been revamped from their 8bit graphic roots.
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