Dying Light: The Beast, the latest installment from Techland, continues the studio’s tradition of open-world zombie survival games. This standalone game emphasizes first-person parkour and offers a 20-hour story with side missions for completionists.
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The game takes place in the valley of Castor Woods, combining rural areas and a city with stone structures to climb.
Players control Kyle Crane, transformed into a half-man, half-beast monstrosity after a series of gruesome events. The thin plot revolves around seeking revenge against a generic villain and mad scientist.
More grounded parkour. More brutal combat.
Dying Light: The Beast has been unleashed today: https://t.co/UfMZGsY5Qg pic.twitter.com/99mCeIcrjd
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New mechanics include the ability to hulk out after charging up a rage meter, shoulder-charging through zombies, and using a grapple hook for mid-air direction changes.
However, these tweaks are fairly small, and most of the gameplay will feel familiar to Dying Light veterans.
New mechanics enrich familiar gameplay
Boss fights against genetically modified zombies called Chimeras unlock new abilities.
Play Dying Light: The Beast on launch weekend for at least 4 hours to receive a special gift: the Burning Wolf Axe! Just head to Dying Light Outpost, make sure your gaming platform is linked and claim it. But don't wait around, you've only got until 6PM CEST on September 22 to… pic.twitter.com/qkHktB722X
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These encounters introduce new enemy types that appear in the world, like fast-moving skeletal zombies and invisible brutes. While cool at first, the bosses start to feel repetitive by the end of the campaign. Techland has made The Beast the most technically sound Dying Light game yet, with few major or consistent bugs.
The game offers an entertaining return to the series’ signature blend of parkour and zombie-smashing action. The gimmick of amping up into a scary monster to fight other monsters mostly makes up for the generic story and unsurprising map. However, aside from the new rampaging abilities and freaky boss fights, The Beast sticks close to what worked in the previous games.
