Dying Light: The Beast preview: survival horror with far more teeth

Dying Light: The Beast already feels like the best Dying Light game to date, which is saying a lot considering it’s not as expansive as the previous titles.

When I first played Dying Light back in 2015 I knew we were onto something special, I mean who could argue a zombie infested city and parkour weren’t a match made in heaven for a video game?

Years later, the series isn’t as successful as I once imagined, mainly due to Dying Light 2: Stay Human missing the mark with both players and critics.

After recently playing Dying Light: The Beast at Summer Game Fest though, I can confidently say the series is back on course, and its developer reckon this is the best title to date.

Partly why is because Kyle Crane, protagonist of the first game, is back with a vengeance, literally the story is about him seeking revenge on The Baron, an individual who’s tortured our poor parkour expert for a whopping 13 years since the events of Dying Light.

My demo took me through the new overworld set in the real-life Swiss Alps. It’s a picturesque setting that serves as the perfect backdrop for amusing zombie kills and blood-chilling survival horror.

Along the way I navigated through a sea of infected, met some of the locals, and fought a titanic boss that seriously tested my reaction speed, all good fun, but frankly terrifying.

That’s right I’d argue Dying Light: The Beast is the scariest Dying Light game we’ve seen so far, as sprinting through the nighttime woods in torrential rain gave an atmosphere you’d expect to find in a Resident Evil game, not one where you can humorously dropkick zombies.

Kyle Crane’s back with his usual tricks but he’s been forever changed by The Baron’s experiments, as he now has super-strength beast powers he can call upon when his blood-pressure reaches unhealthy heights. This is an ability that you only use with enough charge, but sets off an uncontrollably bloodlust in Crane that’ll see him rip off heads and tear off limbs, so I really hope he gets a good therapist after the game’s story ends.

I had a great time exploring the new map, and it feels like the gameplay has struck a good balance between Crane’s parkour skills and his more aggressive beast playstyle.

Guns are also back in full-force, after being patched in for Dying Light 2: Stay Human, and while they’re an effective tool for mowing down both hordes of infected and human interferers, they’re a sparse one at that.

Nevertheless it was good to see them return, and players will want to get acquainted with all of the game’s firearms for their best chance of survival.

Dying Light: The Beast feels like it ticks all the boxes for what a sequel should be, so far. It brings back a beloved protagonist from a previous title, introduces fun new gameplay innovations that feel both familiar but mechanically different to what we’ve seen already, and sets us loose in a new environment just dying to be explored.

I’m looking forward to seeing what else the game has in store, and of course drop kicking more zombies off rooftops, it never gets old.