One of Dying Light 2’s greatest surprises was the involvement of RPG veteran Chris Avellone, who took to the stage at this year’s E3 to discuss the project’s narrative changes.

In a new interview with Digital Foundry, lead designer Tymon Smektala stated that Avellone has been involved since the beginning of development, having a significant hand in the game’s backstory and script.

Expanding directly on Avellone’s influence, Smektala stated:

“He helped us to define the idea for modern dark ages, a unique setting that we have in the game. It’s a setting that explains, presents a world where the civilisation has gone back to [the] dark ages. But everything that you see around is quite modern.”

In order to aid these new narrative goals, Techland has doubled the amount of character and facial animations compared to Dying Light, allowing for more immersive, natural story moments. In addition to animation changes, NPCs will now react to the situations they are in, allowing for consistent changes in behaviour.

Dying Light 2 will be released in 2019 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. For more on the game and the world of single-player, be sure to follow OnlySP on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.