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Dying Light 2 lead designer discusses the game's delays

Dying Light 2 is finally out, but it was a long road getting there, as noted by lead designer Tymon Smektala.

Ozzie Mejia

May 9, 2022 4:50 PM

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Dying Light 2: Stay Human finally arrived earlier this year after several rounds of delays. Now that it's been in the wild for a few months, it's worth taking a look back and seeing how Techland got to this point. What ultimately led to the game's numerous delays? Video Editor Greg Burke asked lead designer Tymon Smektala about some of the issues that Dying Light 2 had in getting to the finish line.

"Of course there was a pandemic that happened, of course maybe at some points we were a little too optimistic with projecting release dates," Smektala told Shacknews. "But I think the most important reason, which we were open about, is the fact that we created a game which is non-linear, not only in terms of the narrative, but also in terms of how the environment, how the city, how the level itself, how the world itself can look. I think this kind of surprised us how difficult it makes the work of QA guys, of testers, of us fixing those bugs when you have an open world, which is constantly changing, which has so many different states. That was definitely the biggest challenge and I think that's the reason why we had to delay the game."

Dying Light 2 suffered a multitude of delays over the course of its long development. When it finally released, it still had a slew of technical problems, which is partially what led to it receiving a 7 here at Shacknews. Bug fixes have been coming in over time, as Techland continues to support the game through post-launch content.

Dying Light 2: Stay Human is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. For more interviews like this one, be sure to check out Shacknews and GamerHubTV on YouTube.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?