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Just recently, I found myself installing Dying Light 2 to get up to speed with this parkour survival horror series before Dying Light: The Beast, which has been on my radar for quite some time. If I didn't do that, my time with Dying Light: The Beast would probably be more enjoyable. Why? Well, it all feels a bit too familiar. I know, I'm complaining about more of the same parkour and zombies in a game that is all about parkour and zombies, but after three games, you'd expect Techland to come up with at least a new coat of paint.
My general feeling throughout my time with Dying Light: The Beast is that the game feels more like a big expansion for Dying Light 2 than a full-fledged title. That probably has to do with the fact that The Beast actually started off as a DLC for Dying Light 2 and was later turned into a standalone game when Techland realised they had a beast too big to fit into a downloadable content box.
But I really don't care if the game started as a DLC, a mega AAAA project or a tiny game mode - It's what it is when it launches that matters and Dying Light The Beast does not feel like a true Dying Light 3 that we've been waiting for. Yes, there are a couple of notable additions like vehicles and the new Beast mechanic, which I named "rage mode", but I don't think that's enough.
Perhaps my expectations were set unrealistically high, but I really didn't find anything that The Beast does significantly better than its predecessors. You'll still clear buildings for scraps and precious materials, craft and upgrade weapons, kill zombies and parkour on the roofs and streets of a densely packed city.
And don't get me wrong -It's totally fine to be excited by that. If you're a die-hard fan of the Dying Light franchise, you're gonna love this. The Beast packs the movement you love, the horror and the atmosphere of the first game and a stunning (albeit smaller) open world crawling with creatures to kill. I doubt Dying Light fans would want anything different.
The game is undoubtedly fun - the years of fine-tuning Dying Light's parkour, survival aspects, and crunchy combat really come together in Dying Light: The Beast. While you'll still find inconsistencies in the world design, which will break the flow of your parkour, the rooftops and streets of Castor Woods' City are a joy to run and jump around.
Smashing zombies' heads and limbs with bats, axes, hockey sticks, machetes, hammers, sickles and pretty much every melee weapon you can think of is still pure fun. This time around, the zombie models have more hit areas than ever, which means you can now target specific parts of their bodies for quicker kills. Going for the head usually does the job, unless you find an undead wearing helmets, ski masks or something else to protect his hollow skull.
The annoyance of weapon degradation is back, too, and unfortunately, it feels more pronounced than ever. Weapon durability is so low that you'll be constantly repairing them, but the good news is that weapons and repair materials are abundant, which makes the degradation mechanic a bit more tolerable. Generally, I was never a fan of the mechanic, and this extends to many other story-driven adventure games as well. More often than not, searching for materials to repair weapons and armour feels like a chore rather than something meaningful and immersive.
One thing that Dying Light: The Beast absolutely nails is the art direction and the setting. Castor Woods is an incredible place that feels like a living, breathing world wherever you go. Be it the narrow, dark alleys of the city, swamps and farms crawling with zombies, scenic mountains or majestic castles, the area is truly breathtaking. I found myself stopping my roof parkour several times just to witness the stunning, sprawling vistas of the region. Castor Woods is really a chef's kiss of game worlds, and it's a perfect fit for a game like Dying Light.
The art direction is fantastic too, mixing a bleak, dirty look with vibrant swaying trees and pink flowers growing over buildings, which gives the game a unique look. Things do get a bit overblown with all the lens flares, light shafts, noise and chromatic aberration, which I toned down as soon as I started playing. It results in a much cleaner image, but one that still retains the visual identity the game is aiming for.
From a graphics perspective, Dying Light: The Beast is a bit outdated. The proprietary engine which Techland used for Dying Light and Dying Light 2 will soon need a substantial upgrade since textures, human models and lighting in particular make The Beast look like a last-gen game.
It's a shame since the level of detail found in some spots on the map, especially in the city, is on par with the best-looking games on the market.
One change that feels terrifying and immersive is the darker nights. Dying Light fans were pretty clear that those bright nights in Dying Light 2 were not something they were keen on, so Techland made the best possible decision to make the nights darker, akin to the original Dying Light. Basically, you can't see anything in Dying Light: The Beast unless you have a flashlight.
It's nearly impossible to parkour or walk around without a flashlight, which could be the game's way of telling you that you're better off in your bed until the morning. Even when I found the courage to explore during the night, the Volaties are around every corner, waiting to rip you apart.
And while I can understand Volaties being deadly when the sun sets, spawning them during the day was very frustrating during my playthrough. This was a known bug for many reviewers, but it does seem like Techland have managed to fix this in the first post-launch hotfix.
I didn't spot many other bugs, to be fair, and the optimisation was quite decent, albeit without ray-tracing, which was missing from the options menu even though it was promised in pre-release trailers.
Overall, Dying Light: The Beast is a good game that will give you a fair dose of fun, especially if you like zombie games and open-world playgrounds that scream parkour. It wasn't what I hoped it would be and it feels too similar to its predecessors but I'd definitely recommend you get this on a discount or if it ever comes to Game Pass.
The Good
Castor Woods is a stunning new setting- Combat feels better than ever
- An abundance of weapons and upgrades
- Driving is a welcome mechanic, but...
The Bad
...it's not enough to make this feel like a true Dying Light 3- The graphics engine looks a bit outdated
