Three years after the launch of Dying Light 2 Stay Human, Techland finally released Dying Light: The Beast. Originally made as a DLC expansion for Stay Human, The Beast eventually became a larger project. And while it’s still the shortest standalone game in the series, it still promises to be a proper new entry that will delight fans. After all, its gameplay promises to be more reminiscent of the first game; it even brings back the first Dying Light protagonist, Kyle Crane.
While Dying Light 2 had pretty positive reviews when it launched, some fans of the series didn’t particularly like the direction of Stay Human, both in terms of its story as well as the easier nighttime gameplay, at least when the game was first released (before Volatiles were tweaked). With that in mind, Dying Light: The Beast’s gameplay is more pulse-pounding, all while including a new twist to the combat system.
Going Beast Mode
The Beast brings back Kyle Crane, but as the game’s title implies, Kyle has taken a more beastly turn. After his transformation at the end of The Following (in one of the endings at least), Kyle was captured and subjected to torture and experimentation. Over a decade later, Kyle emerges with a mix of human and zombie DNA, enabling him to enter a “Beast Mode.”
So, Kyle is the titular beast, and in combat, he can enter “Beast Mode,” which powers up his bare-handed melee attacks, all while enabling him to endure more punishment. Players can activate this mode when the meter is filled up, and as you may have expected, this meter fills up whenever Kyle takes damage, or when he parries/dodges attacks and uses melee weapons.
In a way, this mode is kind of like Kratos’ “Rage of Sparta” in God of War, or any other rage modes in action games. While it’s not particularly new if you’re a fan of action games, it is a nice addition to get you out of trouble. You can choose to activate it against a particularly powerful foe, but we like it better as a sort of get out of jail free card, especially given how difficult some of the encounters can get.
As we mentioned above, Dying Light 2 at launch had nighttimes that some players found a bit too easy. Techland did eventually update this to make the night harder, though some players found the update to make night more tedious than tense.
For The Beast, nighttime is particularly tough, especially with the dangerous Volatiles. Even with Beast Mode, your best bet is still to seek a safehouse. Aside from the difficulty, what also makes night pulse-pounding is the Castor Woods setting. A forest at night with Volatiles on the prowl is something you wouldn’t want to face. Even with the difficulty, we found that the night parts in this game are better executed than in Stay Human.
Most of the zombie-smashing we did was done in the daytime, and even then, you still have to be careful, as enemies pack quite a punch (even at the standard difficulty). If you’re prepared though, you’ll have a fun time facing off against groups of zombies. By preparation, we mean having a good arsenal of melee and ranged weapons.
Yes, this game has a bunch of firearms and other ranged weapons to discover. At many points during our 20-ish hour playtime, we made use of the game’s various ranged options, but because this is a Dying Light game, you’ll use melee weapons way more, as gunplay isn’t the big focus here, especially given that using guns doesn’t increase the Beast Mode meter.
Thankfully, using melee weapons feels great in Dying Light: The Beast, as the game’s sound design and visuals make for satisfying zombie-smashing action. It helped that you can see parts of zombies get chopped off or broken – a nice touch, as it doesn’t feel like you’re just mindlessly attacking, with the damage you deal having a visual effect. Of course, you can’t just attack them without thinking, as you still have to worry about depleting your stamina bar. In that regard, you still have to think actively during combat encounters.
Aside from combat, The Beast once again has parkour as a key mechanic. Jumping across buildings is still just as fun here as in the first game, but you can’t always rely on having a structure to jump to. After all, this game’s Castor Woods setting has more open areas, necessitating running across fields or driving a vehicle if you come across one.
Even with the open areas, Castor Woods still has plenty of more urban locales where you can put your parkour skills to the test. The open world balances giving you a wide area to explore while still having enough verticality to make parkour a key factor in gameplay and exploration.
Running for Your Life and Smashing Zombies is Still the Core Appeal
The core appeal of the previous Dying Light games is the combination of parkour mechanics and bashing zombie heads in. This is still very much what Dying Light: The Beast offers, as its movement and combat feel great. If you don’t like these aspects, then you probably won’t enjoy this game that much.
It doesn’t really help that this game’s story isn’t particularly memorable. Sure, it’s great to see Kyle Crane back as the protagonist, and the mystery behind his captor is intriguing. But for the most part, the story isn’t a major highlight. It’s not bad, but serviceable is a good way to describe it.
There’s also the game’s open world. While Castor Woods looks great and is well-designed gameplay-wise, it’s a fairly standard open world overall. You’ll be able to explore some interesting areas via side quests, but these quests are also fairly unremarkable in terms of story. They’re mostly there to give you more exploration and combat action.
Make no mistake though, we still had plenty of fun with The Beast. It’s just that the other elements of the game are just fine and not outstanding. Thankfully, the previous Dying Light games weren’t exactly known for telling novel-like tales, so this shouldn’t disappoint fans.
Dying Light: The Beast Final Verdict – 8/10
The Beast is a worthy addition to the Dying Light series. Even though it started as an expansion to Dying Light 2, The Beast’s length and content deliver a full game experience. It should also delight fans of the series thanks to its great combat and fun parkour, all while giving players more of a challenge, especially at night. And while the story and side quests are just fine, the game’s positives are enough to outweigh these overall.
[This article was made via a PS5 game code provided by the publisher.]