Smooth parkour, brutal melee combat, and lots of shattering zombies – at first glance, The light of the dying beast It looks like what the Undead Doctor ordered: More Die Light. The thirst for the zombie-adorned Open World Series has been immeasurable over the past decade. That third mainline entry is almost there to us. Planned as the DLC for Dying Light 2, starring Kyle Crane, the beloved protagonist of the first game, the beast has mutated into something more ambitious. Ahead of the launch months later, summer Gamefest was able to play around 40 minutes of Beast slices, but while not far from Techland’s victory formula, some new additions and shake-ups will be a more isolated, focused, survival-oriented experience.
Dying Lights take place in more rural destinations in the Beast Forest, but in contrast to vast cities like Wilder in dying Lights 2, my time in the open world zombie game starts in the built urban areas. Although there are no towering skyscrapers, this gorgeous yet devastated hillside town offers enough verticality to immediately sing to the series’ trademark parkour movement. As I expect and hope for The Techland, the standard parkour movements didn’t have other advanced movement mechanisms like the grappling hooks and paragliders in previous games, but the standard parkour movements feel very smooth.
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All surfaces can be grabbed by pipes and even metal fragments that protrude from the sides of fallen buildings as they run up the wall and jump over the roof. Staying high is still an invaluable tactic, and while some zombie and human enemies may reach you, it is by far the safest way.
Leave town and head to the dense forests that dominate the setting sunlit scenery – franchise director Timon Smectarra says the goal is to create a “beautiful zombie apocalypse,” and Techland is nailing that particular short one from what I’ve seen.
In the wilderness, it feels like a beast dies a changing light. There is more built-in area to discover (industrial gardens are my destination), but verticality takes a short pause as I move between points of interest. Now, bringing you to play more deadly zombies of dying light, especially at night, that’s creeping up (or running as quickly as possible). When the flashlight cuts through the darkness, it feels like a proper horror gaming experience.
After stumbling on the Safe House and completing a short environmental puzzle to restore power, I just settled down in the night, woke up and saw some intensive rain outside. The atmosphere created by this dynamic weather is impressive, turning the world almost into grayscale. However, the weather cannot postpone my main purpose – I infiltrate a lab on the road, where I hope to find a chimera, a super powerful mutant zombie. Here I get a taste of the first battle and clean up the zombie lab and the baron’s mercenary, the main antagonist of the game.
Dying Light’s heavy, crispy melee combat still feels great in the beast. A bladed weapon leaves a tear and cuts off the limbs, while a blunt weapon can cause severe wounds on the zombie’s flesh. The firearms return following the inclusion after the launch in Death Light 2, with the shooting still punching and my assault rifle being kicked hard. On the other hand, my shotgun has a generous bullet spread that allows me to hit multiple zombies with a single shot. And of course there are evacuations, blocks, and sparkling air-flying kicks, rushing the enemy backwards with comfortable knots.
The battle crescendo comes with the power of Kyle’s beast. Once active, he can knock down zombies like bowling pins, and ground slams can fly multiple enemies and crush their heads like grapes. If you find yourself cornered without a quick and easy parkour escape route, it’s a fun and brutal card that’s a great card to get you out of the jail.
After learning that the chimera has escaped, I need to use a gas canister to invite it out. Loading the canister behind the pickup allows you to try out one of the beast’s biggest innovations: its driving system. There is a switch between the first and third parties behind the steering wheel, and with Techland’s new focus on survival, each vehicle’s health and fuel focus is limited.
The rain has sadly settled, but it is said that rain will also affect the traction and grip of the car. Overall, driving feels energizing – not innovative, and not particularly far from the next buggy, but welcome in a more rural setting of the beast.
My final task is to face a chimera escaped in the Scrappy Dream. It’s a pretty simple boss fight, and although it’s not particularly challenging, I’m still forced to dodge, hide and save ammunition. The fight also ends with a willing and brutal finishing move. There are a lot of these main enemies all over, and defeat them and inject blood into Kyle to unleash the power of the new beast.
I was surprised at how few people met during the demonstrations. Yes, the Baron’s army is a significant portion, with friendly survivors who occasionally bump into and interact with the Raiders gangsters, but overall, Casterwoods feels that there hasn’t been much of a human footprint since the disaster first struck. As Smektala explains to me in my practice interview, Dying Light the Beast is “more zombie-centric” compared to Dying Light 2.
With the dying light, the Beast’s release date isn’t far away, so based on what I’ve played, I think it’s in a great place. The increasing prevalence of vehicles and firearms and the dying Light 2 will slightly undermine the Core Parkour and Mary’s experience, but Techland does not ignore the series’ decisive features. Plus we pumped Kyle making his comeback. But I think the biggest benefit is that setting. Casterwoods is a breath of fresh air and is a great place for more survival-driven, isolated zombie adventures.