Since players have been able to get their hands on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, developers have been keen to show off how the new tech improve game performance. Things like better graphics or faster load times are regularly shown off to highlight the benefits of the new consoles versus older systems. However, Techland has gone the other way in its latest trailer for Dying Light 2 and is highlighting how well the game runs on the last generation of systems for any players who have yet to upgrade.
Dying Light 2 is a sequel to the 2015 open-world zombie game Dying Light and set 20 years after the events of the first game. Players will take the role of Aiden Caldwell, a survivor inside a desolate, European city who must survive both the undead and human factions vying for control. Like the first game, players will need to implement parkour to quickly traverse the city while armed with a variety of weapons to battle zombie and human, alike.
The latest trailer for Dying Light 2, as mentioned above, highlights the game running on PlayStation 4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One, and Xbox One X. The first half of the trailer features a montage of random gameplay running across the four consoles, jumping from Dying Light 2's parkour sequences to combat at random. To drive the point home, the trailer then features two extended parkour sequences running on PS4 and Xbox One to truly show how smooth the game is running on older hardware.
While there may be some players who ask why highlight the game running on last-gen consoles instead of the new ones, it makes sense given Dying Light 2 is a cross-gen game. There are likely plenty of players interested in the game who have not been able to upgrade to Xbox Series X and PS5 due to high demand and a lack of availability.
That said, another reason players can argue it is worth highlighting the game running on last-gen hardware like the PlayStation 4 is to see the full potential of these platforms. The last two generations of consoles have seen some of the best games, from a performance standpoint, release at the end of their respective lifecycles as developers are transitioning to development on new hardware. While developing for new hardware plays a part, it is fair to say devs have spent enough time making games on the older platforms to know what their limitations are and how to best work within those limits to get the most out of said consoles.
Dying Light 2 is scheduled to release on February 4, 2022, on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.