As someone who has watched far too many zombie movies and played far too many zombie games, I can tell you that nailing the setting and aesthetic is key. Netflix’s K-drama Kingdom, for example, takes zombies back to feudal Korea, while All of Us Are Dead fantastically reinvents the classic ‘undead high school’ tropes. Of all the zombie games out there, however, the original Dying Light’s fictional Middle Eastern city of Harran ranks among the genre’s best settings. Tight streets ran red with blood; it’s oppressive, lived-in, dangerous, yet compulsively explorable. With Dying Light: The Beast, Techland is bringing back the OG game’s focus on survival horror and a seemingly grimmer, more down-to-earth setting.
Coming into Dying Light 2, there were elements of the world I liked, and others I didn’t. I loved Villedor as a location with its modern-medieval stylings, but gameplay-wise Stay Human at times felt more like a straightforward action parkour experience than the pure, survival horror zombie game I knew and loved.
Set 13 years after the first game, Dying Light: The Beast looks like a return to the original’s vibe. Kyle Crane is back – something that made me genuinely squeak when the trailer debuted during Opening Night Live – and we’re thrust into a forest setting versus the series’ staple cityscapes. From the jump, The Beast feels like a throwback to good ol’ Dying Light 1.
In an exclusive Gamescom 2024 interview, we ask Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektała about The Beast’s setting, given the mixed reception to Villedor.
“With each game we try to present a different take on the zombie apocalypse,” he tells PCGamesN. “Each one is slightly different, and it relates to the narrative, theme, world-building, and the balance of the game. The first game had this very good survival feel in the beginning, then as you progressed you basically became a semi-God because you were almost able to kill zombies with one shot. Then, Dying Light 2 was a little more focused on action and a little less on the survival aspect.
“With The Beast, we really want to bring survival back,” he continues. “I think it’s unfair to say it’s overwhelming, but it’s definitely difficult – not in a way that the enemies have tons of health, [but] in the way that you really have to switch your mindset to thinking like someone who wants to survive in the zombie apocalypse.”
“You can get a weapon, but it isn’t a guaranteed success that you’ll solve every problem with. Weapons have durability, so you’ll need to use them wisely, and firearm ammunition is scarce; even with vehicles, you can smash the zombies and that’s fun, but on the other hand the vehicle can get damaged. Even the beast-like powers, you can say ‘okay, you turn into a monster and kill everyone,’ but you don’t have access to them all the time so you need to find a good moment to use them. You ask yourself as a survivor: ‘should I do this, or should I not?'”
He discusses the change between different zombies, too. Using the slow-moving Biters as an example, he notes that in Dying Light 1 they’d often rush and surround you even if you were swinging at them. In Dying Light 2, attacking one would cause it to jump backward, allowing you to gap close and use more action-oriented tactics.
“We looked at [these differences] and decided to reintroduce them to increase the survival feel of the game.”
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t parkour – it’s a Dying Light game, after all. We ask Smektała how the team integrated free running into a forest setting, which, as you can imagine, is pretty lacking in buildings and infrastructure.
“You don’t really do parkour in nature that much, so we’re thinking of ways to ensure it’s there,” he says. “The big idea is that we use parkour to go from point A to B, so even in a forest we try to use structures that make sense – fallen trees, tourist benches.
“But then we wanted to use the parkour as a tool to discover secrets and explore the world. I think you can go into 98% of all of our structures.” He lists everything from abandoned malls to churches and factories, so there’ll be a lot of exploring to do.
As someone who reviewed Dying Light 2 back in the day, and has kept up with every update and every collab (hello, Vampire: The Masquerade, please come back) I am very excited about The Beast. While there’s no official release date just yet, you can now add it to your Steam wishlist.
In the meantime, however, we have a list of all the best parkour games if you love the feeling of pure, unadulterated freedom. Alternatively, if it’s the horror elements of Dying Light you’re into, here’s a rundown of all the best horror games.
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Additional reporting from Gamescom 2024 by Sam Comrie.