Remember when renowned game writer and designer Chris Avellone stood on the stage of Xbox's E3 2018 showcase to unveil Dying Light 2 and its choice and consequence system?
That was the main way developer Techland signaled the shift from the first game's action-adventure genre to an action RPG. Avellone is famous for having written and/or designed some of the best Western RPGs, including Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, and Torment: Tides of Numenera.
The goal was to create a narrative sandbox that would respond to the player's choices in meaningful ways. However, the end result wasn't that great in this regard, and Techland returned to a non-RPG structure and a linear narrative with its more recent game, Dying Light: The Beast.
Now, in an interview published today on the website 80 Level, Avellone says none of his designs made it into the final version of Dying Light 2. After criticizing the continuous shifting lore at the base of the game and the fact that ideas were only accepted if they came from certain leads, he added that he wouldn't work with Techland again.
I love designing reactivity in characters, factions, companions, locations, and anything that allows the player to make a mark on the world. So the design of the lore was to create factions that could change over time, had different agendas, had different approaches to the "survival" theme, and the setting was designed to allow for the introduction of new factions and enemies at points in the game based on clear, player-inspired actions.
That said, none of these designs made it into the game. I recall doing several treatments for a branching, reactive story, but none of them seemed to land, and it became apparent that unless the idea came from particular leads, it wasn't going to gain any traction. Ironically, some of those same leads expressed similar frustrations with trying to build lore and the story, to the point that at least one of them quit the lead role in the later stages (this was after I left). The lore process was also compounded by the fact that there was a rotating queue of writers that seemed to come onto the project and vanish. While I lasted the longest, it made keeping a consistent lore and tone approach difficult.
Techland and the Dying Light 2 team had great developers in the trenches, some of whom I've worked with on later projects and others who are friends to this day. That said, due to the other difficulties mentioned, I wouldn't work with Techland again.
Perhaps the fact that Techland was among the studios that quickly cut their ties to Avellone when he was accused of misconduct and sexual harassment is still not insignificant in his viewpoint. Around three years later, the sexual allegation claims made against Avellone were retracted.
Nowadays, the game writer and designer is keeping very busy with four different projects, although the main one is the dark fantasy RPG in development at Republic Games. Avellone adds that it's perhaps the project he's enjoyed working on the most so far, and that's saying something given his track record.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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