Since Dying Light 2 was announced, developer/publisher Techland remained mostly silent about the game's progress. Few updates, if any, were provided for the better part of two years and it appeared the sequel to 2015's Dying Light may linger in development like Dead Island 2. However, Techland broke its silence and provided the first in-depth update about the future of Dying Light 2 and what platforms will be able to enjoy the game.
Techland announced Dying Light 2 at E3 2018 as part of the Xbox press conference. The game is set in zombie-ravaged, post-apocalyptic city where players will need to survive the undead and navigate the hostile factions occupying the city. Like Dying Light, parkour will play a key part in player traversal and escaping the various living and undead threats they will face over the course of the game.
As part of the March 2021 update Techland provided about Dying Light 2's progress, Rendering Director Tomasz Szalkowski addressed a lingering question on many fans minds - will Dying Light 2 be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One? Szalkowski put fans' minds at ease and assured the game would be available on all consoles currently available.
Szalkowski said in an interview with WCCFTech the "main consoles" consoles were important to Techland and the studio wanted to assure the PS4 and Xbox One versions met the studio's standards. He said Techland had been testing on the "older generation consoles" since early in Dying Light 2's development and continued to do so even as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X's releases neared.
While the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Dying Light 2 would be of the "highest standard," Szalkowski said Techland was taking advantage of all the technical improvements the PS5 and Xbox Series X provided. He highlighted the improved CPU and GPU performance both consoles provide and how this will be reflected in game through things ray-tracing and 60 FPS performance. This will be offered in-game through a "Quality" mode offering improved graphical performance and ray-tracing, a "Performance" mode for 60 FPS gameplay, and a "4K" mode.
The assurance Dying Light 2 will be available on PS4 and Xbox One is sure to come as a welcome relief to fans of the first game who have not yet upgraded to the PS5 or Xbox Series X. It is a question that lingers over many multiplatform games during the first year or so following the release of new console hardware and becomes a question of when, not if, studios will halt development on older hardware.
Dying Light 2 is currently scheduled to release in 2021 and will be available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: WCCFTech