Dying Light: The Beast – A Brutal New Era of Parkour and Terror
After the pure delight that was GAMESCOM we surely have to shift our attention to some of the more outstanding titles we enjoyed there and Dying Light: The Beast is definitely one of them that stood out to us! The Dying Light series is making its come back very soon and for this one you are going to once again take on the role of Kyle Crane. After the long years of brutal torment and inhumane experiments performed on him, he barely made it out, but the shocking reality of things is that he may not be entirely “alive”, so now he is seeking to enact a well-deserved revenge onto his captors.
Developed and published by Techland the Dying Light: The Beast release date is nearly here as it is set to officially hit stores on the 19th of September of this year and we are mega thrilled for this, since it looks so incredibly spectacular and full of great action! At first this entry was conceived as Dying Light 2 DLC, but it has since transformed into a complete standalone entry, so get ready to experience this unique combination of open world dynamics and survival horror storyline as you are on the hunt for the man that transformed you into half man, half beast.
In this upcoming title, players are getting an intense action-survival horror with improved gameplay, an interesting narrative and exciting new mechanics to further enhance the experience. No matter if you are a long-term fan of the popular series or a complete newcomer ready to roam its open-world terror, you should definitely go to the already available Dying Light: The Beast steam page and pre-order it (after you finish reading this blog post, of course!), as we are going to prepare you for what is coming this September with an expansive review regarding everything you need to be aware of about the game. This entry of the series is going to implement a lot of updates to the gameplay and graphics, while at the same time retain and polish the main established mechanics and concepts that gamers like so much about the franchise.
Originally planned for August, the Dying Light: The Beast release got postponed with just a tiny bit (for final rework touches and UI improvements by the Techland team) and is going to initially be available for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5 as well as the Xbox Series X|S. Players on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One would have to be a bit more patient and wait longer, since those versions are also coming, but in the later months of 2025.
Ready to jump right in the action with us? Good! Let’s start immediately then!
YOU HAVE BEEN LEFT AS HALF A PERSON AND THE OTHER SIDE OF YOU IS AN UNCONTROLLABLE BEAST
We mark the return of the fan-favorite (and very much requested) protagonist character of Kyle Crane from the original Dying Light game! A tormented hero with the infused DNA of both man and beast, but this time he is not only back… he is hurt, broken, angry and perhaps much more lethal than the monsters he fights against.
After being in captivity for years and enduring all the painful experiments performed on him by the Baron, he finally managed to escape the horrific practices and terrible situations he was involved in unwillingly. But there is still a severe battle that rages inside your body: the zombie DNA has taken its toll over Kyle and he is barely able to handle the beastly urges within himself. He now seeks the ultimate revenge... but in order to do that, you must “assist” him in the process of taming the monsters both internally and externally. Switch between the two main playstyles and go deep into the fierce inner-conflict that ultimately leads you towards the acceptance of the monster that hides within him.
The story is described by the devs as much darker and seriously digging deep into the ideas of ultimate survival, harsh betrayal and absolute vengeance. The team at Techland also has described Dying Light: The Beast as a much more linear narrative experience, when comparing it to the one we got in Dying Light 2, with a focused narrative approach that would allow players to completely immerse themselves in Crane’s main mission, without distracting themselves too much (but you are more than welcome to, especially if you want to enjoy the stunning views or do some side-questing).
DISCOVER THE NEW WORLD, RUN THE ROOFTOPS, RULE THE ROADS AND PUSH THROUGH DANGER
As soon as you get to the packed with zombies Castor Woods region, almost every moment would be a fight for survival… especially during nights. You would have to take the combat typical in the Dying Light gameplay to the extreme as you crush skulls open, rip-off heads and shred enemies to pieces, since you would have to constantly fight with yourself to gain control over your ever-evolving beastly powers and the primal brutality that comes with them.
There are distinct experiences you would have to manage during the day and at night things become even tougher and dangerous as the enemies become stronger and have certain advantages. Explore the region and scavenge weapons and loot at day, but always keep in mind the timing, because once the sun goes down, the night releases unthinkable horrors that would leave you with a few viable choices only: run as far as possible, hide as best as you can or fight for your life with everything you got.
Techland has always tried their best to present immersive movement mechanics and Dying Light: The Beast is no exception to the norm, it takes players to Castor Woods, a once-popular tourist destination and rural region that was thriving, but is now under the rule of decay. Like its predecessors, the game emphasizes fluid parkour movement that lets you fully explore its open world in extraordinary ways.
While the rural environment in this entry consists of much more natural shapes and formations than the previous urban-based locations, players would still have to rely on the use of parkour moves in order to scale buildings, jump across cliffs and go through the areas. Unlike the cityscapes and human-made structures from the past entries, in Castor Woods the requirement is clever use of agility and strategy to survive both the landscape and the packs of infected zombie monsters inhabiting the biomes.
FEEL THE IMMENSE RUSH OF ADRENALINE IN THE FINEST POSSIBLE FIRST-PERSON SURVIVAL ADVENTURE LIKE NEVER BEFORE.
You would be able to jump from rooftop to rooftop and overcome many obstacles on your way and if this is not enough, you may opt to get behind the wheel of a nearby vehicle and go through the hordes of zombies mercilessly with maximum gas. The underlying ingenuity of Castor Woods hides in its diverse, yet rather compact world. Instead of crafting a massive world that could feel quite repetitive after 25 or so hours, Techland has made five very distinct biome areas that offer unique gameplay options and feature a range of new and different mechanics to exploit.
According to director Nathan Lemaire, the world of Castor Woods in Dying Light: The Beast represents the most diverse and carefully crafted environment to date in the franchise, it goes through an Old Town with multiple urban parkour routes for some classic verticality exploitation, a Mountain village with elevated terrain offering gliding options, industrial zones full of dangerous facilities and abandoned warehouses with a lot of hazards evenly spread across the environment, Swamps that would require water-based navigation and stealthy tactics and the Farmlands that allow for free roaming around with various vehicles, that all together create an unprecedented variety and nicely adds another layer of navigating on top of the action-survival gameplay. Let’s now examine a couple of these areas in more detail to better understand the concept:
The Old Town: Where classic aspects meet innovation
The Old Town district is definitely not like the flat and quite predictable layouts often seen mapped out in traditional zombie apocalypse games, this area has a multi-layered verticality to it, that would remind players of the best moments in the original Dying Light. The buildings are connected through improvised methods, rooftops are set in such a pattern that allows for long parkour traversal, while the alleyways under them would provide intense zombie fights when you inevitably fall down at some point.
The Industrial Zone: An area packed with danger
The industrial zone, is not just a rusty, old background – it is constructed much more as a playground of environmental storytelling and is ripe with deadly traps and hazards. The abandoned facilities show a story of high alert and quick evacuation that occurred in the past, while the still operational pieces of machinery create dynamic opportunities that could be used both in your favor or against you depending on how things go, plus it introduces new mechanics such as zip-lines and crane navigation.
The Swamplands: The tactical game-changer level
The swamplands stage represents something completely new for the Dying Light series. Water has always been avoided in previous titles since it is a place where mobility evaporates and zombies could get you much more easily. But in Dying Light: The Beast, the swamps introduce tactical navigation and stealthy mechanics. This stage is predominantly set as a high-risk, high-reward system, in which crossing through the waters of a foggy forest might be much faster but also more dangerous, especially when taking into account Kyle's unstable Beast Mode abilities.
Unlike the previously urban-focused world of Harran or the incredibly huge but also a bit seamless Villedor, Castor Woods absolutely puts emphasis on meaningful exploration and strong variety rather than just sheer proportion and world size. The in-game world most likely be packed full of hidden locations, secrets and different collectibles, meaning that while the main road could be relatively shorter, there would be plenty to discover if you do track off the beaten path. Based on previous Techland works, there would probably be multiple easter eggs and possibly even secret weapons to reward your exploration efforts, with unique equipment and interesting additional lore that would further enrich the general storyline.
ENJOY THE ENHANCED COMBAT AND POWERFUL MOVES COMING WITH THE “BEAST MODE”
The combat aspect in Dying Light series has always been intense and for this entry Techland brings it up with a few degrees. The Dying Light: The Beast gameplay offers players a generous variety of ranged and handheld weapons, from cutthroat knives and deadly blades to multiple firearm types and even some more advanced weapons such as strong bows with optics and powerful flamethrowers. Players are also able to go in hand-to-hand combat and make proper use of the environmental hazards around them in order to defeat foes in more spectacular ways.
With danger lurking around every corner, keep in mind that weapons degrade and break faster, resources are not so plentiful and every decision you make could be the deciding factor between life and terrible death. The supplies and resources are scattered around locations that could be difficult to get to (or require advanced movement), crafting important components would require careful resource management and it would generally not be too easy to pack yourself with tons of firepower and goods.
Naturally, things get far more interesting with the inclusion of Beast Mode and its properties of boosted skills and inhumane powers. This gameplay mechanic morphs the battles into a much more physical and gory spectacle, as it grants Kyle Crane zombie-human hybrid abilities and power on a much greater scale. These include increased strength, faster traversal speed and capacity, unleashing devastating and powerful attacks or throwing objects at enemies with great velocity and agility to inflict heavier damage to anyone or anything standing on your path to revenge.
It is not just about tearing through enemies and ripping them apart all the time, Beast Mode allows for environmental interaction on a whole new level that you would not normally have the options for in your regular human form. For example, in the Farmlands level, Beast Mode might allow you leap through whole fields in mere seconds, or to potentially manipulate heavy machinery in the Industrial zone. The mountain areas are going to become playgrounds for air dives and glides when you exploit your beastly abilities with the available gliding mechanics.
You will not have the option to use your abilities infinitely though, forcing strategic decisions in the process of when to best unleash your inner monster, as you gain more control over it. This is what creates the most memorable moments in the whole Dying Light: The Beast gameplay, when you are thinking about the possibility to make use of your beast side or to perhaps keep it for an upcoming dire situation that may be in the next area, thus maintaining the survival horror tension going on high gear. It all prepares you for the ever-increasing difficulty and the ultimate showdown with the main villain of the game. Speaking of… Let’s discuss “The Baron” a bit and his trusty elite guards.
FACE AGAINST THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR CONDITION AND HIS ARMY OF ELITE ENEMIES
In the previous Dying Light games, we had tough antagonists such as Rais, who was the embodiment of true and uncut brutality, Waltz was all about the manic obsession over power, but the Baron represents something different, he is cold, nasty and ruthless to the point of precise brilliance. A scientist that completely dropped his sense of ethics and wished to freely experiment over subjects, as humanity was on the verge of extinction. The Baron looks quite distinctly striking with his expensive coat, golden jewel ornaments and a pair of surgical gloves he keeps sanitized at all times — he manages to combine luxury sophistication and merciless attitudes, much like the ones of a James Bond villain, like no other character we have ever met before in the Dying Light franchise.
Even though for the big part of the game, he is not very present in the action, he ensures to make your life as hard as possible by sending his elite private army and deadly monsters after you. While doing so, he examines you from a safe distance, always observing the ways in which you react and fight back, thus increasing the urge for players to want to get to him even more. All of his moves are calculated with staggering precision and even though you are out of the torture room, you are far from actually escaping the experimentation he puts you through, as all this could be a part of his grander plan and secretly he might have experienced some sort of satisfaction from letting you loose…
On the other hand, the human enemies in Dying Light: The Beast are designed in a way that they could perform complex tactics and actually compete with the infected monsters in terms of threat level and fierceness. When working on human enemies, the team behind the game had two primary goals: make these soldiers as smart as possible and for them to be fully capable of using various firearms as elite soldiers would. The squads sent after you would use suppressive fire, know how to effectively flank and not allow you to stay and cover for long in the same spot. Their behavior patterns are made in such a way to keep you moving for a couple of reasons: first, it makes them even more dangerous and threatening and second, it would make players exploit more of the parkour abilities in an authentic manner through the gameplay.
SHARE THE ADVENTURE WITH FRIENDS IN THE THRILLING CO-OP MULTIPLAYER
There is good news for the fans who are looking forward to take on the challenges the game offers with their friends. Dying Light: The Beast online coop includes a thrilling four-player multiplayer mode, just like the previous installments of the series and you can team up to coordinate different tactical aspects, share the discovered loot and supplies as well as to go against the vicious zombies together.
Experience every encounter and discovery as a team with the shared progress integration of the Dying Light: The Beast online coop and roam the diverse biomes in Beast Mode as the cooperative gameplay offers many new possibilities to go through the full campaign. You simply must have a go at the 4-player vehicle action features and have a ton of fun as the whole team jumps inside the ride. One of you is the designated driver, while the rest take out their best firearms and you go on a deadly zombie hunt together. While the rest of the team shoots the undead around, the driver has the option to choose between first-person camera view to fully take in the vehicle driving mayhem or switch to a third-person view in order to enjoy the carnage around better, just like you would in the typical single-player mode campaign.
TECHNICAL INNOVATION STACK AND SOME OF THE NEXT-GEN FEATURES INCLUDED
This entry in the series is running on an improved version of the C-Engine and Dying Light: The Beast has implemented significant technical and visual improvements, some of which have been directly inspired by its predecessors, while others are completely new to the series.
All of the levels are not just visually unique - they also feature different systems for the physics and lighting models. Persistent world events would also be added in Castor Woods and the whole world would remain active, even when you are not doing the main storyline missions. Think in terms of side quests between levels, NPC conflicts or time-trial challenges that would have an effect on access to specific areas.
As for movement dynamics the Dying Light: The Beast gameplay takes what has proven best in the physical aspect for parkour moves from the original Dying Light game, but also makes use of some systems the deemed as very successful in Dying Light 2: Stay Human, such as more precise and smooth ledge detection, greater level design for the maps, properly spaced geometry, better day/night cycle mechanics and new methods of traversal.
>AVAILABLE GAME VERSIONS AND PRE-ORDER PERKS FOR THIS TITLE
The Dying Light: The Beast steam page already offers Pre-order bonuses for the Standard Edition such as the exclusive Hero of Harran Bundle, which contains the Ultimate Survivor Outfit, Harran Combat Knife (+ Upgradable Blueprint), The Follower Crossbow (+ Upgradable Blueprint), the “In Jade’s Memory” Pistol (+ Upgradable Blueprint) and the Castor Woods Patrol unit.
As for the Deluxe Edition of Dying Light: The Beast you would get to experience things on another level with the Official Soundtrack, Wallpapers and Artworks, as well as the Castor Woods Prepper Bundle, with a detailed tourist map that highlights various locations of interest that are worth exploring and the Survivalist SMG, skins and Roadhog in the items department
Dying Light: The Beast definitely makes a bold step in the overall evolution of the popular franchise and it chooses compact but potent gameplay over grand scaled size, with its fresh design choices and focus on more innovation, Techland is offering a captivating zombie survival experience in a magnificent and visually stunning world that we would probably remember fondly for years ahead.
With this we conclude our review of this thrilling, upcoming title and will head on to new frontiers with more interesting news, reviews and promotions for you to enjoy in our blog, stay tuned for more and best wishes!