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Published on October 5th, 2025 | by Lander Van Poucke

Dying Light: The Beast Review (PC)

10 years ago, Kyle Crane was dropped into the quarantined city of Harran after a virus originating from there infected 99% of its population and turned them into violent monsters. It was yet another zombie game, but Dying Light would break the mold and make history as one of the most successful zombie games – if not the most successful – and one of the most original. With parkour, fun melee combat, tons of different weapons with customization and effects, Dying Light was an absolute hit. Its many updates and DLCs kept the game’s momentum going for a full 10 years, even beyond the sequel’s somewhat botched launch, which received updates of its own. The original Dying Light has received updates until today, for a whole 10 years, so when The Beast brought back the original protagonist after he went missing – I was fully on board.

BEASTLY REVENGE

Turns out, Kyle had been captured shortly after his adventures in Harran. Having been infected, he left Harran as a mixture of a human and volatile infected, struggling to hold on to the last of his humanity. When The Beast opens up, Kyle has been held in captivity and experimented on for 13 years. Slowly losing his will to live, Kyle is on the verge of giving up and accepting his fate. But when things at the underground facility where he is held go awry one day, he manages to use the confusion to escape captivity together with some outside help. However, by now most of the world has fallen to the zombie apocalypse.

With his freedom regained, Kyle sets his sights on the man responsible for all the horrible experimentation he has undergone: The Baron. The man who exerts control over the Swiss Alps region of Castor Woods, where Kyle finds himself. The Beast does not tell a particularly deep story. Kyle spends little time being bothered by his years of captivity or experimentation, nor does he struggle with his new abilities or the monster he may be on the inside given his new power set, besides a dialogue line or two. Few questions are asked about his circumstances, and instead the game quickly devolves into finding allies and people in settlements, helping them out with whatever they ask, and hunting escaped creatures from the facility called Chimeras to power up Kyle’s own abilities, regardless of any risks.

The story is nothing groundbreaking, but that’s not what Dying Light is best known for anyway. However, the fact that it’s not trying to do anything big keeps it simple and straightforward, and Kyle’s return together with that of actor Roger Craig Smith is enough of a boon to the story on its own. Besides that, the second half of the game brings in an interesting faction which all leads to a well-done wrap-up which would satisfy fans of both Dying Light 1 and 2’s narrative, I’d say. Roger Craig Smith and others, like the Baron’s actor, deliver a very enjoyable performance with a simple script. On top of that, for the first time we have full-on cutscenes instead of just a first-person perspective, and we get these commonly throughout most of the game. The Beast is a beautiful game, and Techland manages to make some really nice-looking cutscenes as well.

The whole experience is set over an OST that really, really sets the mood well. If there’s a best part to The Beast, it’s its soundtrack and sound design in general. The familiar hum of “Horizon” from the first game comes back, although used a bit too commonly perhaps… and night looks and sounds scarier than ever, but more on that later. Also, smashing in zombie skulls has a real gory crunch to it.

RUNNING AND RIDING

If there’s anything Dying Light is best known for as a series, it’s the component of parkour. Climbing buildings, running and drop-kicking zombies adds a very interesting element to the slow deletion of the eternal horde of zombies you find everywhere. The Beast is a more grounded approach to parkour, taking what worked best from both previous games and letting Kyle keep most of his old tricks, with some iconic ones locked behind the skill tree. Castor Woods is a decent but mostly woodsy playground with a town or a few notable buildings spread around the map. It’s nothing like Harran or Villedor, and has more in common with the Countryside found in Dying Light 1’s DLC – The Following. In fact, a lot of the game seems to have things in common with The Following, like the return of vehicles. Ranger pick-up trucks can be used to traverse Castor Woods faster. Very handy, since despite the many safe houses and zones you can unlock across the map, there is no option for fast travel at the time of writing. And with most of the map lacking buildings, it’s either a long run or drive around points of interest.

Castor Woods’ beauty makes up for these long treks, though. Located in the Swiss Alps, its architecture is notably European. Woods, mountains, old ruins, factories, towns, villas, farmsteads, fields with combines, train tunnels, rail yards and more make for a fresh new map to slay zombies in, rather than another city like Harran. However, it is a shame that many of the parkour system’s best features really can’t be put to use in the woods. Wall-running, pole climbing, or leaping through a window don’t hit the same when you’re not busy traversing a whole city.

Something Dying Light has always been good at is a notable selection of side quests. The Beast does this amazingly well, lacking the bounties of the first game or constant fetch quests of the second. It has a selection of a few side quests that certain residents of settlements will ask your help for, each with a unique story attached and carrying better writing and twists and turns than the main story itself. The writing manages to really shine in some of these, and provides a very memorable experience. Dialogue options return but don’t carry much choice, besides a selection of what extra dialogue you do or don’t want to hear.

HACK AND SLASH

The second most notable component of Dying Light? Its brutal combat and how you engage with the infected. The Beast possibly has the best combat yet, with brutal finishers, a better dismemberment system than ever, a whole host of unique weapons to use to carve or bash the infected any way you’d want. On top of that, Kyle has access to a new powered-up state, tapping into his Beastly powers for a moment to take on any zombies bare-handed.

To make his Beast state even stronger, he will have to find and fight a special form of infected: Chimeras, which were experimented on by The Baron using Kyle’s DNA to create unique breeds of infected. These serve as interesting boss fights throughout the game with unique mechanics attached to them and were some of the most original parts of the game. Defeating these will make Kyle stronger in his Beast form, unlocking new abilities like being able to leap higher, smash the ground, dash at insane speeds and ram through infected, or pick up heavy objects and toss them at any unlucky zombies in your way. Though most of the Beast form just comes down to punching things while you’re a bit stronger.

Weapons work as they have in the past, needing to be repaired eventually until they are no longer able to be fixed. There are several upgrades and mods available that add status effects like fire & shock – something series veterans are likely familiar with. To gather some of these upgrades you may have to enter a dark zone, spread throughout the world. Buildings with valuable loot and crafting materials in them, but stuck in constant darkness, leading to a whole host of dangerous infected inhabiting them.

And as for dangerous infected… good night, good luck, as they say. At night the Volatiles come out, and night has never been scarier. Even after all these years and with Kyle having a new powered-up state, the night’s infected are not to be trifled with. I remember trying to confidently take them on when first facing them, tapping into The Beast, but quickly being annihilated by several of them. The Volatiles of today can match Kyle Crane, so it’s best to avoid them or run away. And when you’re stuck in the woods or a constrained little town… that can be difficult.

TECHNICAL LAND

For a game that is not on Unreal Engine 5 like most others, The Beast gave me somewhat of a worse performance experience than similar titles. With stutters, hitches, some weird visual bugs and getting stuck a time or two, I did not have a completely smooth experience – but nothing game-breaking. I’ve been playing the game post-launch, and Techland has been quick to patch bugs, visual issues, performance issues and even rebalance the game. I was dealing with quite an annoying amount of grabs by infected, which got patched out and improved in the middle of my playthrough. Techland is known to improve and add on to their games for years, Dying Light 1 has received updates until today, so I’ll be curious to see how this spin-off will be treated.

The Beast was originally meant as a DLC for Dying Light 2 to bring back Crane, then turned into its own game. Playing the full game this is definitely noticeable. The game feels like DLC while at the same time being deserving of its title of “full game.” It’s a smaller, more grounded and simpler experience, and no Dying Light 3, but it is Dying Light, alright.

FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, The Beast is a simpler, safer experience, to the great benefit of its launch. It doesn’t make the mistakes and missteps Dying Light 2 made upon its long-awaited launch, and provides a leaner experience while bringing back a fan-favourite character as its protagonist. On top of that, by the end of its story, it sets up a new direction for the series that has me cautiously excited for what might come next, and is sure to excite fans of both Dying Light 1 and 2. On the gameplay and parkour front it also manages to avoid a lot of mistakes, possibly providing us with the best combat yet, and while the Beast mode doesn’t add anything extremely new it does add something. Parkour’s only flaw is the lack of a real city to really flex its potential. But Kyle Crane is back, baby, and I couldn’t be happier.

Techland is a lofty, passionate studio, that has managed to handle most of the mistakes Dying Light 2 made and get the series back on track. I’ll be very curious to see what an eventual Dying Light 3 may look like.

About the Author

Lander Van Poucke Lander is a passionate gamer from Belgium with a flair for the dramatic. Valuing storytelling & narrtive in games, he favours single-player games, RPG's & fighting games for their lore and vast character rosters.

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