The anticipated video game Dying Light 2 Stay Human arrives this month with actress Rosario Dawson voicing a new character, adding to a growing list of computer games performances by the award-winning voice actor.
Dawson plays Lawan, who the actress describes in a recent interview as “a warrior of sorts, a very tough woman who is fighting her past and looking to seek revenge on the people who wronged her.” Ultimately her role will be determined by each player of the interactive video game, including the possibility of a rage-filled killer or someone risking her life to save others in an apocalyptic world besieged by zombies of unique qualities, according to Dawson.
The original Dying Light came out in 2015 and has reportedly amassed more than 17 million players. It takes place in a fictional Middle East city but the sequel changes the setting to an enormous urban center in Europe. The dangers remain the same. The world is infested by zombies whose slow-moving daytime nature drastically changes when the sun goes down, turning into extremely aggressive creatures that feed on humans. In this survival-horror video game, players can fight or flight when facing the living dead, trying to stay alive with the use of combat weapons or a military/martial arts-like athletic technique called parkour.
Dawson is an award-winning actress known for her roles in movies like Cesar Chavez, Rent, Josie and the Pussycats, The Lego Batman Movie, Eagle Eye and Unstoppable. She has won two Alma Awards, a Rising Star Award from the American Black Film Festival and a Special Jury Prize from the Sundance Film Festival. Most recently she has been featured in two TV series, Disney+'s The Mandalorian and Hulu's Dopesick and the animated film Space Jam: A New Legacy.
Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian (Photo: Disney+)
Dying Light 2 will be the ninth video game that the New York-born actress lends her voice to, according to her credits on the trade website IMDb. She worked on the video games Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Syndicate and Lego Dimensions. Her performance in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and Ratchet & Clank earned her nominations to the Behind the Voices Actors Awards.
In the new sequel, Dawson joins a cast led by Jonah Scott (Beastars) who plays the sequel’s protagonist, parkour expert Aiden Caldwell. Other cast members include Alex Cain, David Belle, Alex Jordan and Peter Brooke. Incidentally, Brooke plays a character named Juan.
The new video game is produced by Techland, the Poland-based company behind the computer game franchises Call of Juarez, Dead Island and Chrome. The story is penned by three writers who have worked in other video games, Chris Avellone (Prey), Kelsey Beachum (Spider-Man) and Jerrold Brown (Dying Light).
Starting Feb. 4, Dying Light 2 will be available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 consoles, Stadia, Steam, and for PC on Techland and Epic stores.
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