Dying Light: The Beast – Restored Land Review (PC)
Summary: Restored Land's titular new mode could be better, but the improvements made to the rest of the game leave this version of Dying Light: The Beast a better and more expansive one than the one it launched as.
4.5
Restored & Improved
A little over half a year after Dying Light: The Beast‘s original release, Techland has dropped a surprise update bigger than any they’ve done in the last 10 years of the Dying Light franchise as a whole. Dying Light: The Beast – Restored Land adds a new mode which overhauls the gameplay experience. Zombies that are taken out across the map will not respawn when killed, giving players the ability to remove zombies from farmsteads, regions or towns altogether – letting humanity settle back in.
That’s the pitch, at least. Restored Land sounds like a wonderful, fresh new way to play Dying Light. Honestly, clearing zombies, letting civilisation settle back in, dealing with survival mechanics like hunger or finite resources sound like the intended way to play Dying Light: The Beast. It is unfortunate for that reason that Restored Land is a solo‑only mode, meaning you won’t be able to have your friends join in and help you clear Castor Woods of any infected.
I tried clearing several areas of zombies, like farmhouses, lakes, farmsteads and other areas on the edges of the map in the Farmlands and Villa areas. Besides a few extra clean-ups being needed, eventually there were little to no infected to be found. But no humans coming to settle back in, either. These features might be relegated to the bigger hubs like Old Town, but I was unable to clear the whole town in time to investigate if humans would settle back in like Restored Land’s trailer promises.
Each area of the map has a threat level, presumably showing how many zombies are still left around that area as a whole. Lowering it enough should, theoretically, get people to move back in to hubs like Old Town. But it’ll take an entirely new playthrough for you to figure that out – alone and without zombie‑killing companions.
The solo‑only cut‑off for Restored Land may be due to the optional Permadeath mode, where you only get one life to finish a playthrough of the new mode. That is obviously something that wouldn’t function with multiple players running around. But Restored Land would be such a better experience with friends by your side.
Restored Land also adds new survival mechanics like hunger and limited batteries, causing you to have to scavenge for food to keep that stamina bar in tip-top shape. Otherwise climbing, sprinting and more will be far more of a struggle. These new survival mechanics toe the line between needlessly annoying, and fun for a survival enjoyer. Especially in a game built around parkour and spending more of your time on the rooftops than scavenging stores, preferably. Add on to that that looting a place means it’s looted forever, and you could end up having a hard time as you reach the end of the game and have scavenged the whole map.
Item scarcity will also affect vendors, causing them to raise their prices as the game progresses. So Restored Land will end up as a tough experience, especially for players like me who want to – ideally – clear the whole map of infected. The map itself, as in the menu, actually became more fun, letting you mark points of interest for yourself, or areas one still needs to clear or has cleared of infected.
Restored Land is an interesting, large overhaul for the game which interested me at first, but could grow frustrating at times. The survival mechanics are undercooked, and sadly forced if you want to experience clearing the map of infected for good. And this activity would be a lot more fun with another friend or two by your side. Being able to clear the map of infected should really be a co‑op, vanilla activity without the forced survival mechanics attached.
Techland has also made other changes to the game as a whole, though. New weapons, weapon finishers and more have freshened the game up, be it in both Restored Land or the vanilla game. Combat feels even better and more satisfying than before, and even though Restored Land won’t allow you to co‑op together, vanilla co‑op play got some improvements with better loot, a ping system and a player history browser to link up with strangers you took a liking to. The game also runs better now than during my original review.
Final Thoughts
All in all, Restored Land is a bit of a hit and a miss. But it’s a free update, the biggest Techland has ever done, and arrived a little over half a year after launch. For anybody who plays Dying Light solo and hasn’t played The Beast before, Restored Land would be a great way to experience the story and campaign for the first time. But anybody that’s already gone through Kyle’s vendetta with the Baron before will have to do so all over again. No clearing your original save with a friend. It’s a shame, because Restored Land would reinvent the wheel the way I felt like the vanilla game didn’t in my original review here.
About the Author
Lander Van Poucke Lander is a passionate gamer from Belgium with a flair for the dramatic. Valuing storytelling & narrative in games, he favours single-player games, RPG's & fighting games for their lore and vast array of characters.
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