Not every Dying Light concept reached release. The original Dying Light launched in 2015 and Dying Light 2: Stay Human arrived in 2022, but several intermediate ideas were explored — one of which would have represented a dramatic shift for the series’ fans.
Between 2016 and 2017 Techland ran a series of experiments on Dying Light-related projects, one of which was titled Hellrunners.
Hellrunners was conceived as a runner-style game — built around procedural generation or an endless loop where the player continuously sprints, navigates obstacles, and gathers points, coins, tokens, or similar collectibles.
Techland emphasized that this was only one direction; the team also trialed a more traditional, level-based format.
As game director Tymon Smektala recounted, Hellrunners never progressed to release: after multiple prototypes it became apparent the project neither stood out nor introduced substantial innovation. The concept was archived while the studio concentrated on Dying Light 2: Stay Human.
There was no direct link between Hellrunners and Nightrunners — Nightrunners were developed later, during the production of Dying Light 2.
Source: iXBT.games