Dying Light: The Beast

Parkour, zombies, and horror vibes. When you boil it down, the Dying Light series has a great core premise, which is likely a core reason for why it continues to thrive and remain a fan-favourite.

After the recent Dying Light 2: Stay Human, the next chapter serves as more of a stop-gap, as Dying Light: The Beast isn't a numbered threequel, isn't a full-scale adventure, and picks up and concludes the story of the series' original hero. Yep, we're talking about Kyle Crane, who in this game manages to escape the captivity and torture that he has been surviving through for the past 13 years, ultimately tying together the events of Dying Light: The Following and expanding the timeline beyond Dying Light 2: Stay Human.

Techland originally envisioned this game as an expansion for Dying Light 2, but ultimately decided that it can blossom into something bigger and its own, and while you can see how this came about in a narrative and story sense, in a gameplay manner, it does feel a bit rudimentary and limited at times.

As for the plot premise, after escaping captivity and the grips of the cruel villain known as the Baron, Crane finds himself in a lovely European area called Castor Woods. There's a striking and architecturally beautiful old town, various camp sites, glistening rivers cutting through the land, dense forest and woodland polarising the urban elements, and as you would expect, all of this is undermined by hordes of savage and murderous infected roaming the land. Crane escapes into this conflicted haven with the intent of first surviving and then seeking revenge on the man who has caused him so much pain for over a decade.

Getting revenge on a man who controls a small army is no small feat, so Crane allies himself with other humans and soon learns that his own survival is tied to defeating powerful infected strains known as Chimeras, which when overcome Crane can take samples of their blood and inject himself to become more dangerous and unlock new abilities. How, you might ask? The Baron's experiments on Crane turned him into a sort of half-human half-infected creature that can act like a regular person but then also 'Hulk-out' and become an unstoppable monster fuelled by rage.

So the narrative loop basically forms around this idea of tracking the Baron, defeating Chimeras and getting stronger, and ultimately looking to seek revenge, all while occasionally detracting from the core path to complete side objectives and learn more about what the Baron's experiments have created and how Crane fits into the equation. It's a story setup that works and for the time you will spend following the main events, you will remain entertained even if it is laden with telegraphed betrayals, obvious twists, and all of the other typical action story elements that we're so familiar with.

As for the gameplay, it's very much Dying Light as you know it. And that's not a bad thing. The parkour and movement suite is everything you wish that Assassin's Creed games were, serving up excellent movement that when mastered feels rewarding and thrilling. The combat is demanding and requires strategic thought (as Crane is one man against an army of threats) even if it also has that great bone-crunching melee action too, which while gruesome is also everything you want from a zombie experience. There's crafting and survival elements but they're not overwhelming and overbearing to the point where you don't want to take risks. Plus, there's a fear-factor here that can't be ignored, an element that when the sunlight fades or you enter claustrophobic and dark tunnels, you begin to fear what horrifying creatures inhabit where the light cannot reach. It's an excellent balance that combines Zombieland-like action with moments that invoke the same fear as 28 Years Later did when it introduced its Alpha Zombie.

Also, I do appreciate how Techland doesn't waste your time with unnecessarily complex progression. There's two skill trees that Crane can work through, where the first is tied to typical experience progression earned through completing missions and open-world activities, all to unlock better moves and abilities that affect Crane's human side. Then there's the Beast element, where each time you slay a Chimera in boss-battle action, you earn separate points that can be used to improve this half-infected side of Crane. This could be new abilities or even simply getting the option to activate Beast Mode as and when you see fit, instead of it instantly activating when the Beast Bar fills up. The streamlined progression also applies to gear improvements, as there's not much complexity here either, it's a very straightforward gathering of resources and scraps and using them to craft gear or improve the quality of gear. If anything, it better resembles an action-adventure game skill tree and crafting system to what you often find in RPGs.

For those unfamiliar with Dying Light games, you will likely appreciate the Beast Mode mechanic as it's almost a fail-safe for survival, where when things get tough, Crane becomes this infatigable monster that rips infected to pieces without remorse. Veteran fans might wish there was more of a pro-and-con system to this mechanic, as it is very powerful, so perhaps a mechanic where the more Crane uses Beast Mode the more of his humanity he loses, or something similar, would be of benefit. As it stands, it's a great tool for fighting bosses and clearing a room of infected threats and what not.

During my time playing Dying Light: The Beast, one area that didn't really wow me was the open world. Again, it's a beautiful and stunning environment to explore with plenty of urban and natural locations to visit, but it's also quite boring and lacks variety. Beyond visiting the places that the story and the side quests want you to visit, you'll often be left with simply unlocking hideouts - typically after completing a parkour traversal puzzle - exploring dangerous Dark Zones to find rarer resources, ticking off random world encounters that offer very little reward, or looting military convoys. After an hour or so exploring the world, you realise that Dying Light: The Beast is best experienced following the beaten path, as there's not much reason to venture into the wilderness all things considered. Sure, this does mean there's no checklist mentality of completing a Ubisoft-like open world, but it doesn't change the fact that Castor Woods is also a bit one-dimensional.

But this is just the thing with Dying Light: The Beast, as keeping all of these thoughts in mind, it's still a fun game to play. The thrill of learning the map and finding your own parkour routes to follow, the fear of being chased by Volatiles at the zenith of night, smashing a zombie's skull to pieces with knuckle dusters, and hulking out and ripping a Chimera's head off, all of these are elements that keep you engaged and entertained. Is it a massive improvement on the Dying Light formula or a step up on what Dying Light 2: Stay Human recently offered? No, not at all. But is it still a blast to play, a simple, easy to pick-up title that has enough depth to make you want to return and continue playing. Yes, without question. The Dying Light formula remains a highlight, even if it is getting closer and closer to requiring big innovation.