Here We Go Again; 'Dying Light' is the Next Game from Techland [New IP]

E3 week is upon us which means pre-e3 judges are getting their first glimpses of games that will make their big debut at the big event in mid June. Sometimes, new games are unveiled just prior to the show, giving us an idea of what to expect from the famous gaming event. Techland, in partnership with Warner Brothers, has taken this opportunity to pull back the curtain on their next game, Dying Light; another romp through a world infested with the living dead.

Dying Light is currently in development for the Xbox One and Playstation 4 (with scaled versions of the game also coming to Xbox 360 & PS3). The game features a fully developed open-world (set possibly in South America) that can be traversed with Mirror's Edge like free-running mechanics. The world will feature a full day-night cycle (a personal favorite feature of mine) in which zombies become stronger and more aggressive at night. Throw in some improved melee and shooting mechanics and you have an infininitely more exciting iteration of the concept that gave birth to Dead Island. With the power of the next gen hardware already bearing fruit, Dying Light looks gorgeous (at least in these stills) and the zombie designs certainly look a hell of a lot more frightening than their Dead Island counterparts.  With that said, temper your excitment and let's take a look back at Techland's previous efforts.

Since the beginning of the last generation of gaming hardware, Techland has been responsible for both the Call of Juarez and Dead Island franchises. They have worked on other titles here and there but these two franchises serve as the apex of their portfolio. Unfortunately, both of these IP's have been plagued by inconsitent levels of quality. For instance, the long-running Call of Juarez franchise has run the gamut with games that have been solid to games that have been downright abysmal or completely forgettable.

Something like Dead Island certainly had a lot to live up to following such a strong marketing push before release. It was a game that had a LOT of things that I absolutely adored. The world was beautiful and haunting and the scenarios they put the player in were often times terrifying and over whelming. Unfortunately, it was flooded with technical issues and terrible writing. On the flip side, Techland has demonstrated that they are capable of delivering a clever narrative and technically impressive games but on a much smaller scale with the newly released Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. 

The question now becomes whether or not Techland can be trusted to deliver a game that is both technically sound and mentally engaging while at the same time delivering a game that is "Triple A" in scope. Given the abundance of similarities to Dead Island, it seems to me that Techland is hoping to capitalize on their original vision without tainting the game with a controversial brand name. Either way, the game looks promising and I certainly am eager to see a demonstration of the game at E3 next month.

How do you feel about Techland taking another stab at the open-world action game?