| Dying Light The Beast | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Dying Light The Beast Review Overview
What is Dying Light The Beast?
Dying Light: The Beast is a single-player standalone zombie adventure game and is the third installment of the Dying Light franchise. While it was first planned as a DLC for Dying Light 2: Stay Human, the developer and publisher of the game, Techland, decided to turn it into a full game instead due to its scope. The game is set in Castor Woods, a rural settlement filled with small towns and natural landmarks, which is a stark opposite to the usual urban setting that the series is known for.
Dying Light The Beast features:
⚫︎ Open World Survival Horror
⚫︎ Kyle Crane’s Long-Awaited Return
⚫︎ Day and Night Dynamic Gameplay
⚫︎ New Setting: Castor Woods
⚫︎ Crafting For Tools and Items
⚫︎ Tons of Side Content
⚫︎ No Fast Travel
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Dying Light The Beast’s gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Epic |
 Playstation |
 Xbox |
| $59.99 | |||
Dying Light The Beast Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Intense Atmosphere and Tension Dynamic Night and Day Gameplay Map is the Perfect Size Good Amount of Side Content |
Beast Combat is One-Dimensional Not Much is Different From Previous Entries |
Dying Light The Beast Story - 7/10
The story of Dying Light: The Beast is pretty good for the most part, as it's a direct upgrade from the last release. With this being Kyle Crane’s long-awaited return, the cutscenes were greatly altered to have better cinematography to feature his expressions more. It can fall flat in some parts of the dialogue and some of the characters, but it’s a step in the right direction to return to the course of what they originally started with in the first game.
Dying Light The Beast Gameplay - 8/10
Dying Light: The Beast strips its gameplay back in a good way. It doesn’t reinvent the gameplay loop in any way but has upgraded its overall elements to recreate and outdo the first game’s intensity and horror feel. Certain parts of combat can feel a little too one-dimensional at times, but it never really turns into a slog.
Dying Light The Beast Visuals - 8/10
The overall visuals of the game remain solid, but nothing too spectacular. Castor Woods showcases a good contrast between the countryside and urban areas, the latter of which the series is known for the most. It’s not the prettiest game, but the upgraded animations and effects highlight the game’s improved brutality.
Dying Light The Beast Audio - 9/10
The audio design of the game is great. The sound effects, music, and voice acting make it a better experience because of how they emphasize and enhance the atmosphere and vibe. The chase music makes for heart-pounding experiences every time, while the voice acting is so good that it helps a lot in making the story a bit better.
Dying Light The Beast Value for Money - 9/10
For $59.99, Dying Light: The Beast is a worthy investment for those looking for an open-world survival horror game. The game can easily clock in more than 20 hours for finishing the campaign alone, but it also has enough side content to collect, explore, and accomplish. Although the content is not overwhelmingly large, it’s just enough and spaced just right to never make it lacking nor boring.
Dying Light The Beast Overall - 82/100
Dying Light: The Beast is the sequel that the fans have been waiting for. It builds on top of the already established identity and refines it to become the ideal open-world horror survival game. It’s the stellar example of not reinventing the wheel, as the foundation of the series has always been rooted in the atmosphere and its dynamic gameplay.
Dying Light The Beast Review: The Sequel Fans Needed
There has been no shortage of amazing horror survival games in the past few years. While most of them have stayed within the confines of being linear experiences, only a few franchises have been able to expand their horizons into the open-world genre. And only a few have been able to make something as dynamic as Dying Light. It was a first-person horror survival game that captures the perfect atmosphere of being in a zombie apocalypse with the added dynamic of using parkour to traverse around the world.
With Dying Light: The Beast, Techland builds on top of mechanics that they’ve already established since its first iteration, like the day and night cycles, parkour-oriented traversal, heavy combat, and tense atmosphere. The DLC-turned-standalone game also aims to bring back the series to its roots by emphasizing the horror aspects of the game again while introducing new mechanics into the fold.
While I’m not the biggest fan of any horror game, Dying Light was a franchise that I’ve paid attention to, mainly because of how different it was and how amazing the first game was. When they announced the release of Dying Light: The Beast and the return of Kyle Crane, I knew I had to face my fears and experience it for myself.
Castor Woods is The Perfect Setting
Set in a small tourist town located in the Western Alps, Castor Woods has the best of both worlds when it comes to the Dying Light exploration formula. The series is known primarily for navigating through rooftops using parkour, but this time the game introduces the countryside to expand on exploration.
It has its fair share of urban areas still, and the exploration is still reliant on parkour to move around. However, the new mountainous areas act as a new challenge since you can’t rely on the same amount of verticality as you would normally expect. You’ll need to move around on the ground a bit more and using cars to get around much faster.
On top of all that, the map feels way more compact since Techland opted for a smaller map size instead of larger open areas. I would say that this is a very welcome change, as it results in a denser open world where you can find something to do quickly if you’re not going for the main campaign.
Narrative Isn’t the Best
Without spoiling the overall narrative, Dying Light: The Beast’s story definitely isn’t the greatest. While the return of the brooding hero Kyle Crane is very much amazing, the supporting cast doesn’t quite hit the mark they’re supposed to.
Also, to address the elephant in the room, they do explain how Crane got captured during the events of the second game and what has happened since then. The overall narrative doesn’t hit as hard as you expect it to, as the story boils down to a pretty generic revenge story that could’ve been so much more given Crane’s past.
Take the main antagonist, the Baron, for instance. He is quite similar to being a one-dimensional, over-the-top villain that you would find in the Metal Gear Solid franchise. But he does get the benefit of having more snarky dialogue in contrast to the rest of the cast.
Other characters like Olivia, the Sheriff, and the rest aren’t memorable due to how flat they are in terms of characterization and their dialogue. They’re mostly there to just help Crane get around for the most part, and I don’t feel as attached to them as the Harran gang in the first game.
However, I will have to credit Techland for also enhancing the cinematography of the game. It now features third-person cutscenes to showcase Crane’s expressions. He’s not the most personable or relatable character, but given that he’s been through so much and having witnessed his suffering more than enough, it feels right to see him react to things now.
Recaptures the Horror Element of the Series
One of the main concerns heading into the sequel was its horror aspect, as it had been greatly diminished in the previous game. Now, I feel that Dying Light: The Beast’s horror elements have been turned all the way up. And it’s not just for the scripted narrative segments either; nights are way more threatening than ever before.
Volatiles are Dying Light’s way of balancing the game’s exploration when it comes to nighttime. They are a stronger and more rabid variant of zombies that patrol more throughout the night. If you can freely explore as much as you can during the day, nights become an intense game of hide-and-seek where you look to hide from them until you can get to a safe zone.
When you do get spotted by Volatiles, you better hope that there’s a safe zone or at least some UV lights nearby because this is where the game amps up the horror. They are relentless in their pursuit, and they won’t stop until you’re either unreachable or under UV lights. I would go so far as to say that Dying Light: The Beast has the best horror elements in the series, and it’s amazing that they brought back that fear and dread that the series was originally known for.
Brutality is Turned All the Way Up
On top of the horror aspect, the brutality of the game has also been turned up. The new animations and effects are so bloody that I don’t think I can share some of the screenshots I took. This is especially true when it Beast Mode activates at the perfect time and you're up against a horde of zombies. The resulting bloodbath will definitely be a pile of broken and battered bodies after you're done with them. Not to mention the executions and finishers, as these are some of the bloodiest finishers I’ve seen to date.
Not Much is Different Other Than Beast Mode
While I give the game its well-deserved flowers for being the perfect intended sequel to the Dying Light series, the game isn’t much different from the previous entries. Dying Light: The Beast feels like the idealized version of what Techland wanted out of the first two games, and it shows with how good almost every aspect of the game is.
While there is a dedicated skill tree for it, Beast Mode feels more like a get-out-of-jail-free card than an actual combat mechanic for the most part. For context, activating Beast Mode turns you into a superpowered state where you can fight almost anything during that time. You can plan around the gauge by farming it from small fry, but I found it popping more on the tail end of fights instead of being able to plan it from happening.
Is Dying Light The Beast Worth It?
Yes. It’s Time to Unleash the Beast.
For the price of $59.99, Dying Light: The Beast succeeds in bringing the series back to its roots. With the amped-up horror, the tense atmosphere, and the exceptional brutality, it feels like the game is the sequel that fans always wanted all this time. It’s a great example of a sequel being great because it doesn’t fix what isn’t broken.
While this does mean that the game is mostly similar to its previous releases, it also means that the game was already great to begin with. The new additions definitely feel weak at this time, but given Techland’s reputation of constantly improving their games through patches, it’ll only get better from here on out.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Epic |
Playstation |
Xbox |
| $59.99 | |||
Dying Light The Beast FAQ
How Do I Get Dying Light: The Beast for Free?
Owners of Dying Light 2: Stay Human’s Ultimate Edition will receive a free copy of Dying Light: The Beast prior to the release of the game. This is due to the fact that the game was originally planned as a DLC for Dying Light 2 but turned into a standalone game after the scope became bigger.
How Do I Redeem the DLC From the Deluxe Edition of Dying Light: The Beast?
According to the official Dying Light Twitter (X) account, players on Steam and Epic must exit the application and restart it to be able to download the DLC. On the other hand, PS5 and Xbox owners must completely shut down their consoles and download the DLC after restarting.
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Dying Light The Beast Product Information
 |
|
| Title | DYING LIGHT: THE BEAST |
|---|---|
| Release Date | September 18, 2025 |
| Developer | Techland |
| Publisher | Techland |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic Games), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Horror, Survival |
| Number of Players | 1-4 (Online Co-op) |
| ESRB Rating | M 17+ |
| Official Website | Dying Light The Beast Official Website |
