They say this is the season of giving, so this winter, we’ve prepared an extra special edition of Dying Light 2 Stay Human that’s perfect for those who are looking to carry on from Harran or are venturing into our universe for the first time. Featuring the base game, the Winter Tales Edition also features the Bloody Ties Story DLC and the festive-themed Nutcracker Bundle.

With updates, events and more planned throughout 2024, it’s the right time to jump into Villedor and take on the zombie infestation. Grab a few friends and have fun wreaking havoc around Villedor or take in the story of the base game, as well as the first DLC that comes included in the package. This edition will only be available until January 4th, so treat yourself, it’s Christmas!

Three new bundles just landed that will make you primed and ready for battle! Which is the right one for you? Well, only your inner warrior can tell you that!


Berserker Bundle contains:

• Berserker Outfit - Viking armor, animal pelt and all
  
• Berserker’s Hand Axe + Blueprint - Make your enemies bleed and take their heads to heal yourself
  
• Warlord’s Shield Charm - Decapitate your foe and you won't consume stamina for the next 10 seconds
  
• Viking Faction Paraglider - For when the odds don't look to be in your favor

Kensei Bundle contains:

• Kensei Outfit - Dress for the job you want, not the job you have
  
• Kensei’s Nodachi + Blueprint - Razor-sharp, it slices through flesh like it's paper and it heals when you take your foe's head
  
• Hitokiri's Mask Charm - Arms, legs, heads. They're all more likely to come off when this charm's equipped
  
• Samurai Faction Paraglider - Down from the sky! Get the jump on your adversary

Warden Bundle contains:

• Warden Outfit - A knight in shining, albeit possibly bloody, armor
  
• Warden's Longsword + Blueprint - Cut your rivals wide open... or just chop their heads off
  
• Footman's Flail Charm - The increased stamina damage will make it easier to stun enemies and perform finishers
  
• Knight Faction Paraglider - Sometimes you just need to retreat and regroup

So, can we hear your warcry?

Hey, it’s Tymon here. Today, I come to you in a contemplative mood, as recently, I got a bit of time (yeah, I know, crazy right?) to sit down and take a look back at the year that has passed. Obviously, it’s not over yet, but I think it’s the right time to give a moment of attention to the huge amount of work we’ve done this year as a team to make Dying Light 2 Stay Human a better game for you. And we’re committed to at least 5 years of post-launch support, so there’s no slowing down!

We’ve just recently released Community Update #3 and judging by your comments, you seem to enjoy the content we put out there. Thank you for your feedback, by the way, it really helps a lot! Because of it, we have more clarity when it comes to adjusting the game. And, if you remember, 2023 started with a bang that was the Anniversary Update, when we introduced plenty of changes… let me grab a helpful image, because it sure was a lot:



We’ve also been busy with a new way to present our work to you: live streams. Each time was hugely stressful – I’m speaking for myself here, and also for my colleagues who performed live – but at the same time we were super happy to do something for you, especially as you react so favorably to us showing you what we do.

Since the anniversary, we haven’t stopped for a moment! Next came Gut Feeling Update, where we focused on increasing brutality and juiciness of our combat, but also added numerous other options, like Gear Transmog or Weapon Crafting. Below, you can see the before & after clip that takes “gut-wrenching” very literally:



Personally, I was the most excited about Good Night, Good Luck Update. On that occasion, we focused on increasing the physicality of our parkour – here a special thank you is in order to our Community Council as well as the content creators representation who tested this feature before the release in its beta stage and provided many valuable comments. Special shout out needs to go to Noviex, a long time player of Dying Light 2 Stay Human, influencer, and a true parkour expert, who always pushed us to achieve more in terms of traversal. Thank you!

But that wasn’t the end of it, as we went for a bold move and made the Dying Light 2 Stay Human nights even scarier, bringing back roaming volatiles and the dark and tense atmosphere that you loved in the first game. Obviously, the nights have become very scary now – I even heard some of you saying that they’re too scary – but isn’t that the whole deal with Dying Light? To feel the Volatiles’ breath on your neck?



The second half of the year was also interesting. After moving our bundles to the in-game store and the admittedly bumpy start of DL Points – still working on improving that, no worries – we focused on User Generated Content. For example, we further integrated mod.io, making the maps created by our modding community accessible from the main menu of the game. Right now, everybody can play those awesome (and sometimes unhinged) maps – not just on PC, but also on consoles and Steam Deck.

My personal favorite is the “Return to the Slums” (image below), a great, great take on the Slums map from the first Dying Light. My advice to you is to set the FOV to a narrow 53 (as was the default setting in the first game), put on your headphones, dim the lights… and soak in the superb atmosphere.



Just take a look here to see how it looks when our great Modding Community takes over our dev tools.

To make maps even cooler, we released various asset packs, for example from the first Dying Light or even from Dead Island – and we’re preparing more surprises in this vein!

Later, our Community Update #3 also caused quite a stir – read more about it here – but it’s definitely not the last thing we have coming this year!

Apart from the updates, events were also happening on the regular – I’ve counted around 25 in total this year. They are a neat way to welcome you back to the game and encourage you to check how Dying Light 2 Stay Human is changing for you. Some of those events were crossovers, with Dying Light coming together with world-renowned brands, such as The Walking Dead, PAYDAY 2, Vampire: The Masquerade, or the latest one, For Honor.



Wow. Looking back at all of this, I have to admit that even I didn’t fully realize how much content we added to the game this year. Time flies when you're having fun, huh? As I’ve mentioned, we’re not slowing down, but rather lining up some new surprises for you. The next point on the agenda is the upcoming update, which will be released sometime this winter. It’ll deliver the next portion of changes promised in the Sneak Peak.

I’d like to give thanks from the bottom of my heart to our developers for their work on evolving Dying Light 2 Stay Human into the game it is today. Your recognition is our best motivation, so if you’re enjoying the changes we've implemented, I’d like to use this opportunity and humbly ask you to support us in this year’s Steam Awards. We’re all very happy to be able to share our passion with you – it’s the reason we keep working on our game. And if you like what we’re doing with it, you might consider giving Dying Light 2 Stay Human a shout out in the Labor of Love category by nominating us or leaving a review. It’s reserved for games that receive long-time support from its developers, so I think it’s quite a good fit!


Thank you all for your attention and please remember that you can share your thoughts and feedback related to the Dev Blog on the reddit channel. Maybe you’d like us to address something specific using this format? Let us know!

Pilgrims,

For those of you who haven’t made their way to Villedor yet, we’ve got you covered. Black Friday is coming and we all know what that means: SALES! For the first time ever, we’re releasing a special Black Friday Edition, which features Dying Light 2 Stay Human and the Bloody Ties DLC at an amazing discount! Simply put, you get the game for half price and you’ll receive the DLC as a bonus! It’s our best sale yet and will only be available during the Autumn Sales. And it’s perfect timing because…

It’s time for battle, Pilgrim! The For Honor crossover event is in full swing. The noble Kensei, Warden and Berserker warriors have invaded Villedor and it’s your job to fight them off. For your valiant efforts, you’ll be rewarded with all the items from the Berserker Bundle, including the unique hand axe and appearance, completely for free! So, let’s hear your warcry!

Pilgrims,

The Steam Awards are around the corner, nominations are coming in and we’d love to have your vote for the Labor of Love award! Since release in February 2022, we’ve dropped more than 10 free content updates and there’s many more to come over the next few years. In fact, we’re already hard at work on the next one that will drop just in time to keep you warm over winter!

We know how important open communication with our players is as they are the reason we are where we are, and their feedback proves vital when making Dying Light 2 Stay Human the best zombie game around! We hope that our continuous efforts to make the game better and better with each update are appreciated by every single one of you. So please, nominate Dying Light 2 Stay Human for this year’s Labor of Love award as just to be nominated means a lot to us. And if you’d like to go one step further, you can always leave a review. For everyone at Techland, our work on the Dying Light franchise has been a true labor of love!

Hi, it’s Tymon, your friendly neighborhood Dying Light Franchise Director – again! Today, I’ve brought two of my friends with me, so we can talk a bit about the upcoming For Honor crossover, which is starting very soon - November 21st!

But before we begin, let me start by saying that we’re constantly learning and trying to make these events better for you, as we understand there’s always room for improvement. We hear you on that one – and that’s why getting to know your thoughts is so important for us. If you share your feedback and ideas, we’ll definitely take it into account when planning a new happening in the beautiful world of Dying Light 2 Stay Human.

And right now we’re pretty excited, because our next collaboration is not only coming out very soon but it’s also a very special one! This time, we will delve into the quasi-medieval world, where we’ll clash with the iconic warriors of For Honor.

Why did we choose to team up with For Honor? Well, when we’re looking for potential partners, we take into account titles that are either very close to us in terms of the gameplay feel (horror vibes, night as a gameplay mechanic, etc.) or the IPs that we’re especially passionate about as gamers. With Vampire: The Masquerade it was the best of both worlds: dark, tense atmosphere of that universe and the strongest representation of vampires in modern pop culture. In the case of For Honor, it’s a win-win situation once again. This time, we’re dealing with a melee combat game that has similar mechanics to ours and, on top of that, we’re huge fans of the medieval fantasy created by the team at Ubisoft.

So what can you expect? Without spoiling the whole event, let me say that one thing I can reveal is that you can look forward to some new, tough enemies! For Honor is built on the foundation of grueling duels between seemingly invincible medieval warriors from different factions and cultures. We couldn’t possibly think to rob you of that thrilling sensation of clashing blades and battle frenzy!
Ok.. I will spill more beans… For this collaboration we worked on 3 new enemies and 3 skin bundles! A little sneak peek below:



We first started talking with Ubisoft about the event about 6 months ago. As the initial brainstorm and exchange of ideas went really well, we quickly moved to defining the elements of the event – and especially the For Honor heroes that we’d like to feature in our world. Clearly, we had to make some adjustments when it came to introducing these enemies into our game, because recreating each and every behavior would be far, far out of the scope of an event. But we came up with a smart solution, where we decided to choose several key movements, taunts, and attacks from the For Honor warriors, and combined them with the ones already existing in our game.

Dominik Wasieńko, our Lead Character Artist, remembers the preparations:
“We had a couple of challenges when it came to adapting For Honor characters into the Dying Light world. These characters had to align with our C-Engine, as the originals were created a long time ago, on a different engine. We had to modify the models themselves, their proportions, details, what we see as a player from the first person perspective – with For Honor being a TPP game. In our case, because Dying Light is in FPP, we know that we needed a good focus on hands, so we had to add the appropriate finishing touches and details, so that it could look as realistic as possible.
“A lot of the pieces were recreated in order to get the highest quality. We’ve modified or sometimes even re-textured the characters to be compatible with our technology and visually fit the world of Dying Light. For example, we couldn’t choose characters with long, flowing robes, because they would interfere with the locomotion animations.

“It was an interesting experience, to be able to adjust the characters coming from a totally different universe to our post-apocalyptic world.”

Just look at one of the For Honor heroes with the beautiful city in the background:



It all clicked thanks to the wonderful work of our animators, designers, and AI programmers – among others. What’s more, we also got huge support from the Ubisoft team – they provided us with visual assets, textures, character models as well as sound effects and tracks, such as shouts, taunts, and yells of the enemies. Obviously, we couldn’t hope to bring For Honor warriors to life in our game in their heroic entirety, but I, for one, think that the final effect is pretty, pretty cool. I’d like to see the looks on your faces when you go mano a mano with the Warden for the first time!

Naturally, like it is the case with every event, you can expect new weapons – medieval style, as you can probably imagine. But we won’t spoil all of them now, because the event is going live very soon. Be ready!

Below you can see a new weapon in the game. But can you see the mix of Berserker’s outfit and Warden’s sword? How cool is that?



Our Game Designer, Daniil Shek, talks about the process:

“After our dev team agreed with Ubisoft which characters we were going to use, I started to play For Honor to come up with a list of moves and behaviors that are the most typical for them. I recorded some combos in the game – those references were later used for motion capture sessions. The actors did a really good job of capturing not just the moves themselves, but also the spirit of For Honor warriors!

“There were a bunch of things that we had to work out, like the fact that each warrior in For Honor has their own distinguishable fighting personality. We approached it by boiling them down to certain traits. For example, Warden is heavily armored, but slow, while Berserker is a furious warrior who attacks rapidly, using cheat tricks to break the flow of the fight – but it all comes at the cost of his survivability. Below, you can see a short clip showing Berserker in action!



“Even so, for me, the most challenging thing was balancing these enemies. Dying Light 2 Stay Human has a pretty diverse player base, with different skill levels, but I, personally, love to challenge players of all kinds. And the only way to cover as much player needs as possible is through playtests. This aspect of balancing involves reaching as many players as possible and collecting their feedback and data meticulously.

“One more thing for you to know: For Honor warriors are not always hostile to players. For example, if you help one of them in their duel, there's a chance that he won't attack you. These honorable moments can happen in the For Honor game as well, I love them! So, if a situation like that takes place, I’d say don't kill the non-hostile warrior – show them some mercy!

Once again, please let us know what you think of this event as soon as you have a chance to participate. To be completely honest, working with Ubisoft – similarly to our previous partners – has been a whole lot of fun, so we’re not-so-quietly counting on more! We already have some very exciting projects lined up for the next year, so keep your eyes and ears open.

Don’t forget to share with us your opinions on Dev Blog on our dedicated reddit channel.

This update adresses:

• several crashes for Playstation and XBOX platforms
  
• fixed several scenarios where COOP games couldn't connect to each other
  
• added LODs (Level Of Distance) variants to recently added Community Maps models
  
• fixed crash on Run Boy Run Community map challenge start
  
• fixed an specific issue with unavailable Bloody Ties content after loading the game
  
• fixed an issue with game freezes and eventual game crash
  
• fixed specific crash after loading the save file
  
• fixed specific crash after trying to join another player in COOP session
  
• fixed connection and inviting issues between STEAM and EPIC platforms
  
• fixed an issue where player could kill GRE Aberration with one hit during spawning animation
  
• fixed and issue with Cricket Bat/Scrapper Hammer/Buccaneer fail to appear in the user's weapon wheel making the challenges impossible to finish
  
• fixed an issue with Player who does not receive any damage by most enemies when wearing level 9 outfit with Toughness Booster activated
  
• added changes in Biter's stamina balance to make performing Finishers on them easier
  
• decreased LP for GRE Aberrations to 750LP on easy difficulty, 1000LP on normal, and 2000PL on hard difficulty

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/534380/Dying_Light_2_Stay_Human/

Your enemies will reap what they sow. Strike fear into the hearts of the corrupted souls of Villedor as you gather crops with the powerful harvest blade. Any intruder that refuses to stay out of your way will be turned into a rotting corpse.



Take on the identity of the fearmonger with the burlap hat and the scythe of death could be yours. Visit the Store via the main game menu to buy the Scarecrow Bundle.

Let death follow in your wake as you resort to unconventional methods for treating the disease plaguing the zombies. Put them down before their infection spreads any further. The Plague outfit, gear items, paraglider, and special cane weapon alongside its blueprint will serve you well on your expedition at no additional cost for The Frightening Part II.



Plague Bundle is free for the duration of the The Frightening Part II event. Claim it before November 16 in Dying Light 2 Stay Human via the in-game store.

Fight back the dark forces that have invaded the City. Take on Halloween-themed enemy variants like Pumpkintiles, Haunted Biters and Witch Banshees to obtain Treats. Find Baka the Unfortunate and exchange the candy for the Venom Sting knife, the Nightmare Claw, scary masks, or other weapons and special items. Remember about the Trick-or-Treat effect that will come up when fighting enemies or when eating chocolate bars. It can bestow powers upon you or make your life hell. Watch out when you're out there, for the oncoming nightmares could lead to your downfall.