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Dying Light is an open world first person action-adventure survival horror video game developed by Polish video game developer Techland and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Announced in May 2013, it was released in January 2015 for Microsoft Windows, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game was once planned to be released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but was later cancelled due to hardware limitations.

The game revolves around an undercover agent named Kyle Crane who is sent to infiltrate a quarantine zone in a city called Harran. It features an enemy-infested, open-world city with a dynamic day and night cycle. The day-night cycle changes the game drastically, as enemies become more aggressive and more difficult to deal with during night time. The gameplay is focused on weapons-based combat and parkour. The game also features an asymmetrical multiplayer mode (originally set to be a pre-order bonus); and a four-player, co-operative multiplayer mode.

The development of the game began in early 2012. Prior to the game's official announcement, several reports claimed that Dying Light was a sequel to Dead Island, another franchise created by Techland. The rumor was later denied. The game's parkour system puts emphasis on natural movement. To implement that, Techland had to abandon most of the story elements, and had to build them again from scratch. The music development was handled by Paweł Błaszczak. According to him, the soundtrack was inspired by movie soundtracks of the '70s and '80s.

At release, Dying Light received positive reviews from critics, with praise mainly directed at the combat, graphics, co-operative multiplayer, navigation and the day-night cycle, while receiving criticism regarding the story, difficulty and technical issues. The game was the best-selling title for the month of January 2015 and broke the record for the first month sales for a new survival horror intellectual property. Techland announced that they would be committed to the game after its release. As a result, in May 2015, they put another project on hold to concentrate on the post-release development of Dying Light. The team released numerous updates, and two downloadable content packages, namely Cuisine & Cargo and The Bozak Horde. An expansion, titled Dying Light: The Following was announced as well and was released on February 9, 2016.


Dying Light is a first-person zombie apocalypse-themed game set in an open world. Players traverse an expansive urban environment overrun by a vicious epidemic, scavenging the world for supplies and crafting weapons to defend against the growing infected population with a heavy focus on parkour mechanics, allowing players to perform actions such as climbing ledges, leaping off from edges, sliding, jumping from roofs to roofs and zip-lining.Parkour mechanics also applied on combat. Players can perform action such as drop-kicking when engaging combat with enemies.A grappling hook is also featured in the game, allowing players to climb up buildings and travel between places quickly.

The game is mostly melee-based with the majority of fighting using melee weapons. There are more than 100 weapons that can be used and more than 1000 weapon possibilities when players begin crafting new weapons.[7][8] The melee-weapons have a limited lifespan and will be degraded and eventually broken if the player uses them for combat for a long time. Players can repair a weapon a limited number of times. Crafting weapons require crafting ingredients such as gauze and metal parts and a blueprint, which can be scavenged or purchased from a shop. Guns are also featured in the game, but players will only gain access to it in the later half of the game. However, ammo is often very scarce. The variety of guns consists of two types of assault rifles and a variety of small firearms and shotguns. Gun customization is very limited but guns don't break or become unusable after an extended amount of use.

Dying Light contains a dynamic day and night cycle. During the day, the player has to go out and scavenge for supplies to send back to the safe zones. They can set up traps, save random survivors, and make their way to airdrops. The infected are slow, apathetic, and easily visible, allowing the player to simply make their way past them, but their danger grows in numbers.Players can also use environmental traps, such as spikes and electrified fences to kill the infected.Lead game designer Maciej Binkowski stated that day time will last for approximately 64 minutes, while night time will last for approximately 7 minutes.The game also features a physics-based lighting system and a dynamic weather system, which includes a variety of conditions such as fog, rain, and wind.

At night the infected transform to become much more dangerous. Without daylight, the senses of the infected become more acute and accurate. They gain the ability to sprint after the player and have increased damage, as well as the ability to jump and climb buildings like the player. In order for players to avoid contact, they need to use their 'Survivor Sense' to locate the infected in the dark to stay out of their way.If spotted and trying to escape their pursuers, players can use distractions and traps to lower their numbers. Players can use sound to lure the enemies. The player's main defense against the infected is ultraviolet light, which slows them down.

A variety of actions in Dying Light can help players to earn experience points. Engaging in combat with enemies will help players to earn Power points, while performing parkour movement can earn Agility points. Completing missions, challenges and quests will help players to earn Survival points. If the players earns experience, they can spend skill points on a skill tree and upgrade the playable character with new skills. During daytime, if the player's character is killed, survival points will be deducted. In contrast, no survival point will be deducted if the player's character is killed at night. All experience points will also be boosted if the player explores at night.

On 1 October 2014, Techland announced that there will be over 50 hours of gameplay in the full version of the game including all downloadable content.