Dying Light: The Beastwas announced during the recent Gamescom Opening Night Live ceremony, where it stole the show for many fans of Techland’s previous work. An 18-hour open-world zombie adventure,Dying Light: The Beastwill see players once again take control of the series' first protagonist, Kyle Crane, though this time he has a wealth of new abilities thanks to the decade-long experiments he’s been forced to endure.
ButDying Light: The Beastwasn’t always a standalone game. In a recent interview with Game Rant,Dying Lightfranchise director Tymon Smektala discussed the origins ofDying Light: The Beast.He explained how a leakedDying Light 2DLCended up bringing Kyle Crane back and becoming the fully-fledged game that fans recently laid their eyes on. In short, the combination of a prior leak with the DLC and the feeling that it should be Kyle Crane’s story saw the game grow beyond its initial scope.
How Dying Light: The Beast Went From Leaked DLC To a Standalone Release
Released in February 2022,Dying Light 2had an ambitious post-launch roadmap planned out from day one. Techland’s vision is to supportDying Light 2for at least five years, which is still ongoing. This plan included immediate balance and performance patches, as well as plans for content drops much further down the line. In this initial roadmap forDying Light 2’s post-launch support, Techland promised that two paid story DLCs would be coming to the game, with the first one set to hit the sequel in 2022 and the second one initially planned for a 2023 launch.
WhileDying Light 2’s Bloody Ties story DLCwould launch in November 2022, the sequel’s second story DLC never materialized. For a while, it was rumored thatDying Light 2’s second story DLC had outgrown its original scope and become a much bigger project, and Smektala essentially confirmed that during his recent interview with Game Rant, saying,
[Dying Light: The Beast]started as a DLC for Dying Light 2, but fans were so eager to learn about the DLC that they managed to leak the story for DLC 2. This made us start thinking about bringing Kyle Crane back as a protagonist.
According to Smektala,Dying Light 2’s second story DLC suffered a major leak some time ago, resulting in some very sensitive story details making the rounds online. This eventually led to bringingfan-favorite character Kyle Craneas the protagonist and expanding it into the full standalone title it is today. What’s more, Techland is still givingDying Light 2: Ultimate EditionplayersDying Light: The Beastto fulfill its promise of DLC 2 - a notable consumer-friendly decision. While leaks can be detrimental to the development process, it seems Techland took it on the chin and looked to make it bigger and better than before. This, combined with the fact that it felt like Kyle Crane should be playable, all played their part in making this game its own entity. Now fans have a lot of surprises coming up, and Kyle Crane being back is likely just the tip of the iceberg.
How Dying Light: The Beast Has Been Shaped by The Community
But those leaks aren’t the only way fans have ended up shapingDying Light: The Beast. In the same interview, Smektala went on to discuss the importance that fanfeedback has on Techland’s development process, saying:
The feedback we received from Dying Light 1 and 2 changed the balance of gameplay elements that make up Dying Light: the parkour, the combat, and the day and night cycle. All of this has evolved based on player comments.
Techland has always listened very closely to its community, and it’s great to hear that the development team has not only taken all of that feedback from the last decade on board but carried those lessons forward intoDying Light: The Beast. HopefullyDying Light: The Beastends up being the most balanced, mechanically sound game in the franchise when it eventually launches.
