Daily Briefing: Friday 28th May

Dying Light 2 finally has a release date

The game, now officially titled Dying Light 2 Stay Human, is set to release December 7th on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Players control an all-new protagonist attempting to survive in the City - a new area that the devs describe as "mankind's last stronghold in the fight."

• Developers Techland made the announcement during a livestream earlier this week called Dying 2 Know - a riff on the fact that Dying Light 2 has been notoriously MIA these past few years. The game was originally set to release in spring 2020 before being delayed indefinitely amid widespread rumours of development hell and internal strife. It'll be interesting to see what the game is actually like, and if it does really release in December.

Blizzard take aim at Diablo II: Resurrected modders

Blizzard recently held a "technical alpha" for the upcoming remake which offered a limited but informative look at the game's single-player content. The test quickly spawned a wave of mods that involved unlocking previously unavailable classes and accessing the game without an invite.

• It's the kind of thing that always happens, and now Blizzard are sending out cease and desist letters. One creator reports a private investigator turning up at their house to serve an in-person warning. The various tools and tutorials involved in hacking into and modding the game have been pulled from the relevant websites, and Blizzard will likely be on the warpath again as the full release approaches.

Cyberpunk 2077 has a new game director

Gabriel Amatangelo took on the position this week and is now tasked with leading development on Cyberpunk 2077's future expansion content. Amatangelo has been with CDPR since January 2020 when he joined the Cyberpunk team as creative director and has previous experience with games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

• Amatangelo takes over the mantle of director from Adam Badowski, who will now focus on wider leadership duties at CDPR - including assisting with the studio's 2.0 transition. The appointment also comes shortly after former quest director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz left the studio amidst a months-long investigation into harassment and bullying complaints.

Horizon Forbidden West development is "on track"

Yesterday's State of Play stream showed off 14 minutes of the gameplay for the upcoming sequel, and developers Guerrilla Games took to Twitter afterward to confirm that development on the project is going well and they will be able to share release date news "very soon."

• While it was great to have an actual gameplay reveal so long after Horizon Forbidden West was announced, a lot of folks were disappointed that yesterday's presentation didn't include a release date. The news that development is progressing smoothly is reassuring and hopefully also means that the game's previously announced 2021 release window still stands. Things can, and do, change of course - but let's keep our fingers crossed in the meantime.