Welcome to your Nightmare, Pilgrims! Update 1.16 adds the highest difficulty level to the game, as well as a massive influx of DevTools functionalities, adjusted the nights with Infected tweaks, and some smaller, yet significant, changes. So without further ado — let’s see what we’ve cooked up for you!

Nightmare Mode
If you like challenges, we’ve got what you need. Nightmare Mode is our new highest difficulty for those wanting to truly experience the nightmarish reality of the Dying Light universe. Enemies are most cunning and brutal. They will put up even more of a fight now, which is important, as you’ll now realize everything you’ve relied on in previous playthroughs aren’t so reliable! And survival becomes essential with limited information and UI elements. To sum up the Nightmare Mode experience:

Level 5 Chase with Tyrants

• Being in a menu no longer stops the game — Watch out as you are crafting stuff in real-time! Luckily for you, the Pause menu works as normal though
  
• Flashlight now dims and flickers when in constant use, and can even cut out
  
• Lower immunity from each inhibitor
  
• Higher chance of looting rare quality items
  
• Survivor Sense shows only weapons and quest items
  
• Tactical Stamina — Regeneration takes longer to kick in, and when exhausted, you’ll only be able to shove until your stamina is full once again
  
• Player armor and resistance reduction
  
• Higher stamina drain when paragliding at night
  
• Volatiles have shorter sight, but Chases trigger faster
  
• Stamina regenerates at a slower rate
  
• Health does not regenerate automatically
  
• A larger amount of Legend Points is awarded
  
• Players lose all Legend Level XP towards the next level up on death at Level 50 and above
  
• Efficiency of Boosters has been reduced

Moreover, if you manage to finish the game (or NG+) on this difficulty, you’ll unlock the exclusive Waltz Outfit. Please note: This reward requires you to complete the entirety of the main story on Nightmare difficulty! Are you brave enough to enter the Nightmare?

Night Changes
The Nightmare Mode Update will also incorporate various changes to the night itself. We grouped these changes into two sections: all difficulties and Easy/Normal.

Changes made in all difficulties:
Lowering the number of Volatiles, mostly on the rooftops
Volatiles are also receiving these nerfs:
Vision arc decreased to from 100 °to 90°
Recognition time changed for 1-6s (min-max)
Lowering the number of Spitters in the night population on Difficulty Ranks 1-6
Reduced range of hearing player's footsteps for Biters
Reduced visibility of flashlight for Biters by 50%
Reduced vision range of Spitters and Suiciders

Changes made only for Easy and Normal:
Increasing the recognition time for Volatiles:
2 secs, if player is very close to a Volatile; up to 7 secs if player is 20 meters from Volatile
Removal of Volatiles from Chase Level 1:
No additional Volatiles spawn during Chase Level 1

Co-op for Community Maps
Grab your friends and wreak havoc together on maps created by you, our community, because co-op is here! Try to prove yourself as the best Pilgrim amongst your pals or just enjoy the crazy scenarios designed by our players as a group!

But what’s co-op on Community Maps without the Community Maps? That’s why we’re adding a whole bunch of new DevTools functionalities, so our creators can come up with even more creative, challenging and diverse maps. Your toolbox has been expanded with:

• Pixelated visual filter
  
• Additional prefabs in the Editor
  
• More gameplay scripts to be overridden
  
• Colorful rubber skins for meshes
  
• Bloody Ties assets!

And yes, we heard you! We’re also adding a low gravity functionality! We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Gear Loadout System
In response to your requests, we are introducing the Gear Loadout System to Dying Light 2! In the Inventory menu, you can now switch between 4 customisable loadouts to quickly equip the gear, weapons, consumables and accessories that suit your current needs and playstyle.

Cutscene Improvements
With the Nightmare Mode Update, we’ve updated over 70 scenes and dialogues to improve the overall quality of the cinematics. There’s a lot of changes in terms of improved lighting, smoother (or more advanced) animation, special effects, and many other qualitative changes that should be visually noticeable to the player!

What’s changed?

• Character animation improvements
  
• Refinement of camera animations
  
• Improved dialogue lighting
  
• FX upgrade
  
• Improved transition from dialogue to combat
  
• Numerous qualitative improvements to dialogue
  
• Interaction with some NPCs will be more immersive

Power Shot Skill Rework
We reworked the Power Shot skill to give players more agency. Now, when you charge a power shot, your reticle will begin to shrink. Release it at the right moment to fire a perfect shot for extra damage!

Tactical Stamina Management Mode
We’ve added a new stamina management mode - Tactical Stamina! An intrinsic part of Nightmare mode, with this turned on, stamina regeneration takes longer to kick in, and when exhausted, you’ll only be able to shove until the bar is full again. This preset can be selected via the Game Options panel. And no, you can’t switch it off on Nightmare difficulty!

Main Menu Redesign
The latest update will refresh the design of the Main Menu by enriching its visual layer. Now, the character outfit will be better presented here. Additionally, we want to make the Events & Alterations, Special Offers, and Community Maps more visible by introducing a new information panel on the right side of the screen.

Scalable Player FOV Correction
After the Firearms update, many of you started asking about more FOV (field of view) flexibility and we’ve delivered. With the Nightmare Mode Update, we are adding a slider allowing you to reverse the distortion of the player character when changing the FOV. When set to the default (100%), the player character appears the same regardless of the FOV value and when set to zero, the player character scales accordingly to the FOV.

Grappling Hook Customization
The update also introduces a new skin type, a bespoke one made for one of the most important tools in a Nightrunner’s arsenal: their Grappling Hook! Be sure to visit the Pilgrim Outpost to grab the First Pilgrim Grappling Hook skin for free and swing through the Villedor in style!

Game Updates
Apart from all the big news from the Nightmare Mode Update above, we’ve also introduced the following fixes and improvements to the game:

CO-OP

• Fixed the issue disabling joining multiplayer via Quick Join
  
• Fixed the issue in the “Ferry Tale Endings” quest causing the generator to turn off and on when attacked by multiple Biters, resulting in failing the mission
  
• Fixed the issue where blunt attacks to the head counted towards the “Off With Their Heads!” Survivor Mission Bounty
  
• Improved accuracy of online status information in the Friends section of the Online menu
  
• Player icons on HUD are now differentiated with different colors
  
• Player icons on HUD are now properly hidden if the Immersive HUD option selected
  
• Player icons on HUD are now visible while using the extended HUD option
  
• Fixed and tweaked several TPP animations
  
• Fixed the issue with the “Boss Raid” bounty only progressing for the player who last hit the boss when in a full party in any Elite Survivor Mission
  
• Fixed the animation for Wall Run Kick in TPP
  
• Fixed the animation of swinging the weapon while the camera is pointed towards ground
  
• Fixed the missing swing animation upon attacking with the Grubby Bat

Gameplay

• Fixed Virals being able to successfully perform jump attacks by turning in mid-air towards players, even if they dodged. Additionally, the frequency of Viral jump attacks has been lowered
  
• Increased Firearms damage values:
  
• +25% of base damage on all Firearms
  
• Sniper Skill (Legend Levels) will now give +2% damage per each point, instead of +1%
  
• Addressed the issue with the Bounties tracker being stuck on 3/6 or 6/6 Bounties
  
• Fixed the Renegades not spawning properly during the “A Place to Call Home” main quest, blocking further progress
  
• Fixed the blocked by a car transition to the Central Loop
  
• Fixed the camera while unlocking a windmill cutscene
  
• Fixed the game still running underneath the credits after the alternate ending from the new story path
  
• Fixed the Adaptive Triggers sometimes not working unless a weapon with Adaptive Triggers was held just before
  
• Fixed the issue causing kills with explosive knives counting towards the Improvised Weapons Bounty progression
  
• Fixed the Alpha Demolisher not having damage resistance to headshots
  
• Fixed the issue with the “Drive By” Bounty completing by hitting Infected instead of killing them
  
• Added Combat and Parkour XP to the Firearms quest rewards
  
• Fixed the issue sometimes blocking the player from climbing the lamp poles
  
• Fixed the missing VFX fire for Molotovs when thrown from higher places in a certain location
  
• Fixed the prolonged black screen sometimes happening at the end of the "Now or Never" quest
  
• Fixed an issue where animations sometimes did not blend correctly after performing a vault jump with crossbow equipped
  
• Fixed the issue with Lawan sometimes changing her position right after the dialogue in the “A Place to Call Home” quest
  
• Fixed the issue where the Banshee’s jump attack cannot be dodged in the Prologue
  
• Fixed the issue where perfect dodge sometimes didn’t work during fights with Demolishers, causing player to get stunned
  
• Fixed the despawning NPC after finishing “The Black Widow” quest

Technical

• Fixed several rendering issues present on the ground, concrete, and lights in the Prologue
  
• Fixed the error that sometimes failed to load the audio voice-over metadata file after launching the game in the Bazaar
  
• Fixed the bug causing internal memory running out after a few minutes of gameplay
  
• Fixed the improper rendering encountered during 'Priceless' Elite Survivor Mission
  
• Fixed the graphical corruption occurring when several HUD icons aligned
  
• Fixed the graphical glitches that sometimes showed after changing video quality and the upscaler
  
• Fixed the textures that sometimes improperly rendered in a specific room of Central Loop
  
• Fixed the mural collectable clipping through the roof of a kiosk in Central Loop
  
• Fixed the projectiles' trails sometimes being improperly displayed
  
• Fixed the game sometimes crashing on the loading screen when starting NG+
  
• Fixed an issue that sometimes did not play death screams on enemies’ deaths
  
• Fixed the inconsistent LOD0/LOD1 materials in R02 overpass
  
• Fixed an issue blocking the selection of any sfx in audio prefabs in the DevTools Editor

UI

• Redesigned the Audio Output menu to make it more clear
  
• Fixed the text on "Bacon's Cipher" going outside the UI frames
  
• Added the “Buy Max” feature, allowing players to buy all the available items without choosing the amount
  
• Corrected typo in the “Split The Marrow” Bounty description
  
• Fixed the issue sometimes incorrectly showing negative values or previous statistics during the Survivor Missions ending screen
  
• Fixed an issue sometimes incorrectly showing a death screen when dying by leaving the mission area and due to lack of immunity

Hi, it’s Tymon here! Good to be back so soon. Last week, we shed some light on our Community Ideas initiative. I told you a bit about our approach and methods of getting your suggestions included in the game. I think it’s a fantastic project and your input in the constant shaping of Dying Light 2 Stay Human is incredibly valuable to us.

Today, I have the pleasure of letting you know that another one of your ideas goes live in just a couple of days! I’m talking about Nightmare Mode, also known as Nightmare Difficulty, which will provide the most challenging experience in the world of Dying Light 2 Stay Human. It requires total concentration and extreme caution on the part of the player and, in turn, delivers the highest level of immersion yet.

The main inspiration for this feature was, of course, a similar mode from the first Dying Light game – but we wouldn’t be ourselves without adding a lot of new and refreshed elements on top. Also, while implementing the changes to health stats and mob toughness, we paid attention especially to Volatiles, because we wanted to make sure they retain their status of the ultimate night predators.

To get you even more immersed in the terrifying world of our game, Nightmare Mode removes the majority of HUD elements. To notice an enemy, you will need to rely on your eyes and ears, instead of checking the UI markers. Additionally, we rebalanced some of the gameplay aids, such as Boosters, so that their use could become more tactical and involve a level of consideration on the player’s side. We took great care in making this mode as immersive and atmospheric as possible, so we borrowed the flickering flashlight from the first Dying Light. By the way, it’s another feature you asked for in Community Ideas that now lands in the game!

As I’ve mentioned already, we’ve built this new difficulty in Dying Light 2 Stay Human on the foundations of the first game – but there are updates and upgrades. The first noteworthy change is the stamina management system, which we called Tactical Stamina. It motivates the players to approach it more deliberately, as the repercussions of using it all up are more grave – it also gets restored more slowly. Additionally, we took a closer look at the chase mechanics and altered them considerably, so that every pursuit and escape can be even more terrifying and high-octane. So, you’ll notice the chases getting more intense pretty much right off the bat – and if you manage to evade the zombies for long enough, you’ll get to a new, 5th level, where Volatile Tyrants join in on the fun. Night roaming will get harder in general – for example, the inhibitors are going to grant less immunity.

Jan Rajtar-Kruczyński, our Game Designer, talks about the hardest difficulty co-op:
“Nightmare Mode overhauls a lot of settings that work differently in other difficulties. For example, normally, playing in co-op makes the game easier, but here it is quite the opposite – the fights are scaled to be very challenging. The idea here is that through good cooperation and communication, you will be able to overcome even the toughest enemies. During development, I had the most fun playing Nightmare in co-op – ever since the game’s launch!”

There is much, much more! I’ve listed the biggest changes, but bear in mind that while working on implementing this mode, we applied loads of smaller modifications – I hope you notice and enjoy them all. Actually, to make sure we deliver on your expectations, we carried out two rounds of playtests with some of our community pals and influencers. As I always say, we’re open to your feedback, so please be sure to share your thoughts on the Nightmare Mode on our social media channels.

And I almost forgot about the most important thing! You might be asking yourself why play in Nightmare Mode if it’s such a… nightmare? I’m not going to lie, this feature is mostly aimed at our most dedicated and hardcore players who are out there, reaping the Legend Levels. Janek explains:
“We’ve been noticing with each update that the players' characters grow, often outpacing even the newly added challenges. The goal of Nightmare Mode is to add a demanding yet fun layer to the game, addressing the needs of those who feel that they are too overpowered. In the end, we want Dying Light 2 Stay Human to allow players to be creative again.”

Additionally, all players who complete the game on this difficulty will be rewarded with a super unique outfit – can you guess whose? You’ll be pleased, I tell you!

One more thing – introducing Nightmare Mode to the game is another example of how we're making an effort to listen to the feedback that our players give us via the Community Ideas initiative. It’s the best way to get your voice heard. I’m pleased to let you know that we have just opened the next round of submissions – send us new ideas and vote for your choices on Pilgrim Outpost! And, as usual, let us know what you think on Reddit.

Enjoy Nightmare Mode and other features coming with the Nightmare Mode Update this week!
Stay safe, Pilgrims!