Dying Light 2 devs are working on New Game Plus and a Photo Mode

A rogue human in Dying Light 2, wielding a makeshift axe
(Image credit: Techland)

Dying Light 2 developer, Techland, is working on bringing a Photo Mode and New Game Plus Mode to the game.

In an interview with Game Informer, Lead Game Designer, Tymon Smektała, touched on some of the features that fans of the game request most. These include New Game Plus, a Photo Mode and even some additional difficulty tiers to choose between. According to Smektała, “those are definitely things that are on the table currently and that are being worked on.”

Smektała wasn't willing to give any additional details around these plans, telling Game Informer, “I don't want to go into too many specifics here”, but he did add that “very soon, people will start seeing those things being added in one form or another into the game.” 

“Very soon” isn't the most specific timeline we could have wished for but it is more specific than a tweet from the game's official Twitter account in early March, which said “NG+ is an option were seriously thinking about, but it's too early to promise anything yet.”

Dying Light 2 was released only last month, on February 4 2022, for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PS4 and PC. In our review, we gave it four stars out of five, calling it "without a doubt one of the most ambitious zombie games ever made".


Analysis: Plenty more to come

Techland has previously committed to five years of post-launch support for Dying Light 2, so New Game Plus and a Photo Mode are only a couple of many post-launch points of interest for Dying Light 2 players.

When announcing its post-launch support plans, Techland said it would include a mix of free and paid content, ranging across “new stories, locations, in-game events and all the fun stuff you love!”

We already know that there's a story DLC coming in June, with a second to follow at an unspecified date. In a recent interview with PCGamesN, Smektała told players to “expect the unexpected” from the DLC.

“This is something that we want to do with the post-launch support,“ Smektała said. ”We want to surprise people. We want to create an emotional anticipation for our players. ‘What will they drop next?’ The plan is to not make the content too formulaic. The idea is that every new one should surprise you, should feel fresh, should feel new, because we feel this is the way to engage players.”

Smektała expanded on this in his chat with Game Informer, saying, “We don’t want to fall into this repeating pattern where players will kind of know what to expect from us" and that, though there's been "a lot of speculation online about what it will be", none of it's been "close to the mark."

Smektała did confirm that the story DLC takes place “sideways to the main events” of the game, rather than extending the narrative past the end of the main game. 

That is, however, something that could change down the line, with Smektała saying, “at some point, we will actually start adding to the events that happened at the end of the game. We have some ideas. On paper, as they are implemented right now, it seems promising, but definitely, this will be a challenge.”

Emma Boyle

Emma Boyle is TechRadar’s ex-Gaming Editor, and is now a content developer and freelance journalist. She has written for magazines and websites including T3, Stuff and The Independent. Emma currently works as a Content Developer in Edinburgh.