Set 15 years after the initial zombie outbreak, Dying Light 2's post-apocalyptic setting moves the action into more fantastic direction, which is a big departure from the vaguely Middle-Eastern setting of the first game. But this time, the world around you will change depending on your in-game decisions, so you'll need to choose wisely while trying to stay alive. For example, you can choose to free up a water control point to help a nearby city or team up with people you meet rather than brutally killing them.
Techland, the studio that's currently working hard on Dying Light 2, has decided to build the survival game on a brand new engine titled C-Engine. The first entry in the zombified series, the Call of Juarez and Dead Island games were running on different versions of the Chrome Engine, but "times are changing" and the old tools couldn’t keep up with the Polish studios' ever-growing ambition.
Thanks to the C-Engine power, Techland is able to add a new “moral system” that sees AI trying to get the best of players and attempting to “survive” when put in danger, similarly to I Am Alive, but more advanced. According to Tymon Smekłata, Dying Light 2's lead designer, Techland is aiming for 60fps across the board, but the chances to play Dying Light on PS4 and XBO that way are almost non-existing.
Smektała also explained that the studio was fortunate enough to hire people from Ubisoft who worked on animations and parkour for the Assassin’s Creed and Ghost Recon games. Be sure to check out Digital Foundry's analysis of Dying Light 2's E3 2018 demo and interview with Smektała down below: