I’m a simple man: if you tell me that a video game has parkour, I want to play it. That brought me toDying Lightsometime after its release in 2015, but what kept me a fan of the franchise wasThe Following. It built perfectly on top of the original title’s gameplay loop, adding interesting new twists, characters, mechanics, and more, and it seems likeDying Light: The Beastis almost the exact same thing. I say almost because whileThe Followingwas a DLC for the first game,Dying Light: The Beastis an exciting standalone zombie adventure game. It is connected to the first and second game, brings back Kyle Crane, and expands on the franchise similarly to the way thatThe Followingexpanded on the first title.
At Gamescom, Game Rant got to see a demo ofDying Light: The Beast, and all we could think throughout it was how much it looked likeThe Following. Both Harran and Villedor do a lot to set the tone of their respective games, and they are significantly different fromThe Following’s countryside and nowThe Beast’s Castor Woods. The more rural elements of the latter two help recontextualize how players are fighting zombies, exploring the environment, and engaging with the story, and in that the two feel incredibly similar.
Dying Light: The Beast’s Demo
We watched a member of Techland’s QA team play about 40 minutes ofDying Light: The Beastat Gamescom. The mission returning protagonist Kyle Crane was on seemed simple: break into a facility and learn about the Baron’s experiments on the Infected, all under the guidance of a new character named Olivia. Fitting toDying Light’s nighttime gameplay, the Infected were extremely dangerous, but the demoist managed to sneak through and get to a safe house, completing a small puzzle to set it up. It was something anyDying Light fan should be familiar with, but the vibe was on par withThe Followinginstead of the safe houses of Villedor. The woodlands were very dense, and that played to the advantage and disadvantage of the demoist. The danger felt very real, despite there being no controller in my hand.
Afterward, Crane proceeded to one of the Baron’s facilities, taking out his men silently before breaking out into a full-blown gunfight. Both sections showed stealth and parkour were just as vital to the gameplay as the game’s melee and weapon-based combat. Notably, the demo did showcase a lot of gunplay, but franchise director Tymon Smektala assured us that, while it was an option for players, the heart ofDying Light: The Beastis still melee. He explained that obtaining ammo was difficult, honing in on thesurvival elements ofDying Light, although it’s worth noting that Crane seemingly had plenty during this demo. On the inside, Crane was also able to interact with this new gas that could lure the infected. There were a lot of loud roars heard from the facility throughout this infiltration, with Crane finding the equivalent of a jail cell busted to pieces. As Crane finds one of the scientists, he learns that the Baron was experimenting and testing a new strain related to Chimeras/Freaks.
Crane must then carry a gas container to a truck and go out near the woods to lure out this Freak. The truck gameplay was short, but it was clear that gas was limited and so was its durability. Still, players will no doubt enjoy being able to run over zombies. Each bump looked like a lot of fun, as running over zombies always is. The final boss of this mission was a gigantic Freak lured out of the nearby woods, with Techland using the change to show offKyle Crane’s new Beast Mode. Obtaining by building Fury (from melee combat), this sees Kyle Crane become much stronger and violent, capable of getting up in the Freak’s face and meeting it blow for blow—despite being on death’s door many a time so far. Crane’s Beast Mode also lets him pick up heavy objects nearby, like giant rocks, to throw at enemies, and it helped bring the fight to an end. Notably, it seemed Crane extracted a blood vial from the Freak when all was said and done, but why was not explained.
Throughout this demo, we also saw new environmental interactions, new immersive updates to its graphics and lighting, and one dynamic encounter, ensuring that Castor Woods retains its own identity when posted up against Harran and Villedor. While a lot of the excitement around the game is because Crane is back, it seems the overarching story and gameplay are going to be the ultimate payoff ofDying Light: The Beast’s transition from DLC to a full standalone game. There are still a lot of questions left to be answered: how does Beast Mode grow and change from this point, how does the Beast Skill Tree modify the entire game, and how do all the new story elements, characters, and gameplay components fit into the larger world ofDying Light. However, given the game was just announced, this demo served as an incredible appetizer.
Dying Light: The Beast’s Development Also Feels Like The Following
I’m not alone in thinkingThe Beastseemed a lot likeThe Following, as I asked Smektala and art director Katarzyna Tarnacka if my intuition was off-base or not after the demo. It was not. As Smektala explained, a huge part ofDying Light: The Beast’s development team also worked on the first game andThe Following. He explained thatThe Followingwas “the best project"because some of the pressure was off as the core elements of the franchise had already been proven in the first game. With the numbered titles, Smektala explained that expectations are higher but smaller titles let them “breathe more easily and have more fun working on the game.”
When Tarnacka said that working onThe FollowingDLCfelt more like fun and less like work, Smektala added,
“I think that spirit is here as well. We don’t feel as much pressure. Of course, it’s still something you have to pay respect to and pay homage to because of the expectations of players, but it feels different. It feels really liberating, less restrictive, and like there’s more freedom and more fun. Hopefully, that feeling will be conveyed to players when the game’s released.”
This spirit is no doubt what I felt when I watched theDying Light: The Beastdemo, and that’s very promising for the game. Tarnacka eventually summed up her feelings aboutDying Light: The Beastas getting to see an old friend again in Kyle Crane and that overall “it feels like coming home.” It remains to be seen, of course, but I can see this homecoming feeling spreading comeDying Light: The Beast’s eventual release.
