INTERVIEW: Dying Light 2’s Push Into UGC with ‘The Breach’ Update

Techland has unveiled The Breach, a new long-term UGC initiative designed to enhance the heart of Dying Light 2: Stay Human, while staying deeply connected to the community that still supports the 2022 zombie apocalypse title. This initiative will encourage, source, and promote the best community-created content elements, keeping Villedor alive for years to come.

In an interview, I sat down with Rafal Polito, the UGC Program Manager at Techland, about the importance of The Breach and how user-generated content is shaping the future of player retention and longevity in live-service games.

Dying Light 2’s Future Rests With The Players

I opened my conversation with Rafal Polito by asking about the base introduction of a UGC push in Dying Light 2. Why is it now that the team has decided to step in this direction?

At Techland, we have always tried to be innovative, there are not many games that give players a way to connect so many game features with UGC – and we see a unique opportunity for us here. We provide the framework and tools, enabling players to expand the game within the world we’ve built.

We have open-world maps with co-op gameplay and support for gameplay mods. There are not so many games that connect maps and mods so easily like we’re trying to introduce in Dying Light 2: Stay Human.

It’s intended to become part of the ‘overall experience’ as an expansion layer of sorts, empowering fans to get involved with the game they love and appreciate and pushing it further in their own image.

Polito put it perfectly:

It’s about letting Dying Light 2: Stay Human become a place where weird, fun, unexpected ideas can exist alongside the main game while remaining closely connected to it through challenges, reward tracks, and even dedicated story content. Sometimes serious, sometimes chaotic, and sometimes completely different from what you expect Dying Light to be.

To accommodate newer creators, Techland has assembled video tutorials and guides, but the community has largely been teaching others how to shape Dying Light. Polito explained it’s all relatively simple, and while Techland moderates the content, the creation of it is limited only by the depth of players’ imaginations.

These mods will be hosted and accessed via mod.io, which is one of the best repositories not just for holding, but also for searching for and interacting with this content.

Initially, it’s about delivering new experiences faster while being ‘more open to creative and experimental ideas.’ Players will be able to lean on returning characters Tolga and Fatin to secure bounties linked with UGC, allowing for tangible rewards to be unlocked and retained for interacting with UGC.

Polito wrapped:

My vision is to turn Dying Light 2: Stay Human into a platform that is open for everyone, where players can create and share content within the world and systems of the game as defined by Techland.

It goes beyond simply responding to requests on the internet and allows us to work with players in a more proactive way.

If they want something – let’s do this together. Period.

Do you think you’d participate in The Breach when it goes live in Dying Light 2: Stay Human? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.

For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Fallout 76 is getting roaming companions