Open world design has dominated videogame settings for over a decade, and you can learn more about that history by reading our feature beginning on p62. However, more goes into building your favourite spaces than slapping Caspar David Friedrich’s painting ‘Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog’ on the mood board.
When it comes to immersive worlds, we’ve never had it so good. Recently we’ve crashed through the material plane of Faerûn, run through the zombie-infested streets of Villedor, duelled with Fatui Harbingers across Teyvat, popped wheelies all over New Island, and disappeared into the seedy underbelly of Night City. Losing ourselves in these spaces, we emerge to seek the insight of the master world builders behind them, asking what exactly goes into setting the scene.
“Above all else, immersion and engagement reign supreme,” says Tymon Smektała, the franchise director for Dying Light. “A vast world means little if players don’t feel compelled to explore its depths and uncover its secrets. It’s not just about filling the map; it’s about creating an experience that captivates players from start to finish.”
2022’s Dying Light 2 Stay Human takes place in a world nearly two decades on from a zombie outbreak, while also offering what remains a fairly unique means of getting around: parkour. In creating Villedor, situated somewhere in Europe, Techland built upon everything it had achieved with the previous game’s smaller-scale Middle Eastern city setting, Harran. Full of dilapidated structures and still-towering skyscrapers, Villedor has greater verticality – so much so that you’ll use a paraglider in addition to your own two feet.
“A VAST WORLD MEANS LITTLE IF PLAYERS DON’T FEEL COMPELLED TO EXPLORE ITS DEPTHS AND UNCOVER ITS SECRETS.”
The sequel’s geographical shift was for a few reasons. For one, much of the series’ audience hails from America and Asia, so a European setting offers something novel. Villedor takes cues from real-world cities such as French capital Paris and “some mid-sized northern German cities,” as well as Techland’s Polish home city. (Villedor’s water towers are modelled on similar structures found in Wrocław.)
“As Europeans we’re good at all things European, then for our players Europe is this place which a lot of them want to visit but [don’t always have] the chance to. So we’re [inviting] them to our continent,” Smektała says, joking, “We just didn’t mention it’s full of zombies, hahaha.”
GOOD MORNING, NIGHT CITY!
CD Projekt Red also hails from Poland, with studios in Wrocław, Warsaw, and Kraków, though Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City is far from that comfort zone. Expert environment artist Krzysztof Kornatka shares: “Since most of the team comes from Europe, a significant challenge was adjusting to the scale and
