Dying Light: The Beast review — Revenge is a dish best served bloody

I liked the original Dying Light, but it never pulled me in. However, when I reviewed Dying Light 2 Stay Human in 2021, I became a full on fan of the series. Like many, I've been patiently waiting for Techland’s follow up, The Beast, which was planned as an expansion. Now that I've rolled the credits, I can confirm this is no DLC. This is a full-fledged entry in the Dying Light saga, and it cements Techland as masters in the undead genre.

Everything opens to Kyle Crane stuck in a lab somewhere underground. He’s been here for quite some time, being experimented on by The Baron, our current nasty antagonist. In a stellar intro sequence, Kyle escapes with the help of Olivia, someone on the inside, who’s trying to get away from The Baron herself. After the brutal conflict with the combatants inside the lab/prison, Kyle finally gets a look at sunlight for the first time in years, although his arrival in the Castor Woods is anything but a vacation.

Narratively, Dying Light: The Beast is fine, but can be disjointed. It reminds me of a CW show, with a lot of flair to it. There are quite a few threads that aren't tied together, but it’s entertaining, and even epic in plenty of spots.

As someone who quite literally no-lifed the game over the last bit, I cannot tell you much on where the substance lies in the main story. I enjoyed watching Kyle and the characters he meets along the way find their way through each beat, but a lot of things felt like they happened, and that was it. For instance, about halfway through the narrative, you’re put on the trail of a tribe in the mountains that could help your cause. I spent a lot of time with them, and while I appreciate a lack of backtracking, it’s like the community in the main town from the first half of the game was forgotten about until all of the sudden The Baron was about to bomb them. 

After saving them, they were forgotten about again until The Baron tries to assault them using a new toy to turn the zombies on them. Suddenly, a character known as The Sheriff from said community reappears, who left following a “falling out” with Kyle earlier. Again, someone I’d forgotten about and who never gets a good explanation on their return. It’s a bit jarring to the flow of the story, making each chapter feel like TV episodes that eventually lead to a final conclusion.

It also struggles in the mystery of The Baron himself. Throughout the game, Kyle wants revenge. That’s an understandable desire given what he’s been through. But, as the story progresses, we spend all our time in Kyle’s POV and The Baron appears all of three times. These occur at the beginning when he's in the room with little to say beyond that you’re not useful to him any longer, in the middle when he springs a trap, and at the end in your final confrontation. He gets the most development in the last moments of the game. Even that doesn’t save his character, although his “master plan” is undoubtedly worth the wait and quite the grand reveal, strengthening the story behind Kyle’s efforts over the past twenty-five hours. What’s disappointing is how interesting The Baron should be, and how much more could have been done with him had Techland explored more of him.

While The Baron takes a backseat, Kyle is front and center, and makes the most of the spotlight. It’s no surprise that a beloved character would be the best one, but Kyle’s journey is truly special. Although he can come off as a bit uneven (screaming about revenge to suddenly being a softie regarding a dying woman throws me off), his care for others resonates throughout the narrative. When he gets those moments to be empathetic, even with his rough exterior and aggressive tone, it’s really good. Roger Craig Smith demands your attention with every word, and earns it with a phenomenal performance as Crane.

Even with all of that in mind, the bombastic moments that occur, alongside some great side missions, raise the level of Dying Light’s storytelling. The most memorable missions of Dying Light: The Beast are the huge set pieces, like a mission where I had to sneak into a Volatile nest to secure samples from ones that were sleeping. Another example: outstanding boss fights that are simply a blast to play.

Side missions were well done in Dying Light 2 Stay Human, and these change-of-pace missions are the heart and soul of Dying Light: The Beast. From tracking down a dementia-ridden father filled with regret, to rescuing one of The Baron’s employees who aren’t who they seem, each one has its own twist and emotional angle that is well orchestrated. Not every one of these ends well either, and some choices you’ll have in dialogue will leave you wondering if you made the right choice in the end. They’re just so excellently crafted: bite-sized interactions that speak for the world they’re made for.

Speaking of the world, let’s talk about the Castor Woods. This is a lot different than Villedor, which featured a ton of verticality being a developed city. I’d label Castor Woods more of a European countryside, with old buildings that have a lot of medieval-esque character. Surrounding it all is, of course, plenty of forests and foliage, alongside rocky crags, giving Dying Light: The Beast its own atmosphere compared to the previous entries.

I also love the scaled down map. As much as I enjoyed the expansiveness of Stay Human, it became tiresome to traverse such a big map. Thankfully the fast travel system mitigated some of it, but in the end, you could argue it was too large. Castor Woods is literally perfect in scale, just big enough to be fun to explore with multiple types of zones, while small enough to not need a fast travel system. Even if you tire of sprinting around, there are trucks you can jump in and drive to your destination; provided you have the fuel and the vehicle doesn’t take too much damage.

Although the map is smaller, there’s plenty to do. Beyond the main and side missions, Dark Zones give you opportunities to get some good loot. These aren’t anything special, but the volume of available ones, along with some great, one-time items to gain like new gear/clothing for Kyle makes the trips worthwhile. They do in a pinch if you’re looking for specific crafting items (they respawn), and aren’t too in-depth of tasks; I cleared them in only a few minutes. Add in a few other quests like clearing new safe zones, resetting power stations, and saving random civilians along the way that pop up in a bind, and The Beast feels like it has enough meat on the bone without being bloated.

What makes Dying Light: The Beast extraordinary is Techland’s gameplay. They have seriously delivered their finest pacing, movement, and combat in this sequel. Jumping around buildings with the parkour system has always been great, and hacking off limbs with an axe made from a street sign is awesomely brutal – the level of polish to these mechanics in The Beast makes them the best they’ve ever been.

Parkour is a Dying Light staple, and it is amazing in The Beast. Some of this can be attributed to minor tweaks, like making more of the outsides of buildings climbable – mostly in making sure what looks climbable actually is. Even though I’d occasionally over press a button and accidentally jump off of a building or cliff to my demise, the flow of parkour is flawless, allowing you to sprint across and up and down rooftops or cliffsides with incredible speed. It felt like I could pick it up faster as well. With no stamina required for it, but a heavier feel that feels more lifelike, Techland has truly nailed parkour. In my opinion, Dying Light: The Beast is on par with Assassin’s Creed in terms of parkour in a game, if it hasn’t already surpassed it.

Combat is as vicious as you’d imagine it to be. There wasn’t much that needed change, and that’s true here. It’s just so fun to run around and shred zombie after zombie with the random weapons you come across, along with a lot of ways to modify what you’ve got in hand. My go-to was usually some kind of blade, with a preference on one-handed weapons because of speed. Adding fire and ice mods was pretty neat, allowing me to inflict extra damage based on critical hits. I still don’t like weapons having durability, along with a limit on how many times you can repair them, but the system does work and it forced me to play differently and use new weapons.

Slicing, dicing, bonking, and donking are great, but you also have guns now. The Firearms update in Dying Light 2 was a good one, and Techland brought that same balance back here. While guns are powerful, gunfire will draw additional infected. Bullets are also quite limited, requiring you to fork over a lot of cash for a small bump of ammo or scouring military convoys surrounded by undead. I’m glad bullets aren’t a part of the crafting system, while things like arrows and grenades are either similarly limited or not nearly as broken as a gun could be.

If all of that fails, Kyle can also just rip everyone to pieces with his bare hands via the new skill tree: Beast abilities. Kyle is obviously a bit messed up after years of experimentation, and he has new skills to use as a result. This “rage” is not unlike other game ideas (a.k.a. Spartan rage in God of War), but it is just as fun. Ripping and tearing through zombies, especially the bigger ones, is much easier because of Beast mode, and there are some great extensions of it within the skill tree, like being able to jump further, do a spin attack move, or scream so loud it stuns everyone.

Other skills are also in play outside of Beast abilities, but these are much more ancillary in nature. Learning how to craft a grenade launcher is in there, and while not really a “skill” is quite useful. Being able to upgrade your stealth to be harder to hear is nice, and things like knocking down zombies if you’re in a dead sprint, or crafting a grenade launcher come in real handy. It’s nothing to write home about, but works. Similarly, the crafting system does what it needs to, and I’m really happy that I never found a cap on picking up materials in the world to build my much needed items with.

Using all of these tools to take on the hordes of zombies is the real treat. The grunt zombies are everywhere, and take a couple of good hits to take down. If you make a lot of noise, drive, or activate Beast mode, it’ll bring in a few runners, which are annoyingly fast, but go down a tad quicker. The real threat are the special zombies known as Chimera, and these are the stars of the enemy show. These are key to the story, and your ticket to the skill points needed to upgrade your Beast tree. Taking them on in the “official” story boss fights is insane, with several extremely well-crafted, majestically savage encounters with grotesque and imposing monsters. As someone who wasn’t as big a fan of Stay Human’s final confrontations, this hit every mark, and these are both plentiful and perfectly spaced throughout The Beast.

Night still brings on more terrors, with Volatile zombie variants roaming around. These suck: they will wreck you in no time if you aren't careful and chase you relentlessly until you manage to break the line of sight. I appreciate the addition of a multiplier that gives you a tad more experience for braving the night, but unless you're a glutton for punishment, sleep until morning. Fans of the horror side of Dying Light will be happy though.

You may not picture Dying Light when asked about some of the best graphics, sound design, and soundtrack, but The Beast certainly should be included. The foliage looks outstanding, really driving home the overgrown environment zombie games tend to have. I've been nothing but impressed with the lighting as well, which manages to make each section of the map pop. Behind it all are the sounds and music, which both are expertly curated. The swish of grass as you run through it, the guttural groans of the undead, the ceramic tiles of a rooftop underfoot as you land on them: all immerse you in this world and make it feel real. Olivier Deriviere composes a fantastic selection of tracks for the background as well, which upgrades your journey through the Castor Woods. I especially like the guitar-focused ones, they give you that post-outbreak vibe that hits hard.

Equally impressive has to be the polish of Dying Light: The Beast. While I would occasionally get a weird lighting or clipping bug, the game runs smooth as butter. Without a crash to speak of, it's clear the extra three weeks Techland took was worth it.

Co-op feels like more of a bonus for The Beast, but it's not an afterthought. From the menu you can quickly join a friend right where they are – even in the middle of a fight against a Chimera. Although you're tethered together in story missions, outside of them you can run around and do anything you wish. That said, if you're too far away from a partner, getting revived might be tricky. On the technical side, everything functioned wonderfully in my sessions, so seeing this on par with Dying Light 2’s excellent co-op is great to see. Another plus: story missions are shared; no need to repeat them when you're playing on your own.