Dying Light 2 narrative lead Pawel Selinger has left Techland after 22 years with the company. Selinger was a lead artist and art director at Techland prior to working on Dying Light 2, and was of the key voices in determining the upcoming game’s overall vision. Techland says that Selinger’s duties were taken over in October 2020 by Piotr Szymanek, a Polish TV writer who previously worked with HBO Europe.
“After over 22 years, I decided to end my cooperation with Techland,” Selinger says in a LinkedIn post, “I would like to express my gratitude to the company that has allowed me to develop and fulfill myself for half of my life. Techland, I will always be rooting for you, as well as the great people I have met thanks to you. I wish you that Dying Light 2 and subsequent projects will become world hits.”
“Paweł Selinger, who has been the narration designer for the last two years, decided at the end of 2020 to end his cooperation with Techland and to pursue his further career elsewhere,” a Techland representative tells us via email. “Paweł spent most of his professional life at Techland and he, among others, takes credit for the success of the series Call of Juarez.
“He left a large piece of himself with Dying Light 2, as he worked on the project from the very beginning. His duties, i.e. the narrative department, were taken over by Piotr Szymanek in October 2020.”
While Selinger had previously been art director at Techland, he had not served in that role on Dying Light 2. “We would like to reassure all fans of the upcoming Dying Light 2 that the position of art director is not threatened and has been held by Eric Cochonneau since November 2019,” the company says. “Eric has been taking care of every aspect of the upcoming production ever since and the team under his leadership is doing their best to offer players the best game possible.”
Techland additionally says “We will be sharing exciting news about Dying Light 2 soon!”
In a 2020 interview, Techland said that Selinger was one of the key voices in creating the game’s overall vision, alongside creative director Adrian Ciszewski and external writer Chris Avellone. (Avellone was removed from the project following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct from women around the industry.)
After impressive showings back at E3 2018 and 2019, Dying Light 2 has suffered multiple delays, leaving fans fearful for the prospects of hotly-anticipated sequel. The company has repeatedly pushed back on reports the game is in development hell, though 2020 did pass by without any meaningful updates on the game.
The first Dying Light managed to stand out even as we were drowning in zombie games, so here’s hoping the sequel manages to meet expectations.