If you've left Castor Woods behind, the new Dying Light The Beast update gives you some very good reasons to return

While you can spend dozens of happy hours shooting, slashing, and drop-kicking zombies in Dying Light The Beast (trust me, I would know), the most dedicated players have likely hit the end of the line by now. If you've rolled credits, completed every quest, and got your gear exactly in the spot you want, you've probably moved on by now. However, the new Dying Light The Beast update is designed to lure all you hardcore players back. While hundreds of improvements and visual enhancements arrive in patch 1.4, the biggest additions help create an even deeper endgame experience. Legend Levels and New Game Plus are finally here.

It's time to conquer Castor Woods all over again. Dying Light The Beast's New Game Plus experience lets you chain together unlimited playthroughs of the zombie game's main story, with the difficulty ramping up each time you reach its conclusion. You'll keep all of your gear when you start a fresh NG+ playthrough, and all your character progression remains as well - there's no resetting of the skill tree or anything like that. You'll also find higher-tier weapons much earlier on than you would've in your initial playthrough. However, the difficulty of all enemies will be ramped up each time you begin a new run, and tougher zombie variants will spawn more frequently, so don't go thinking you'll be massively overpowered.

As your challenge escalates, so too will your XP gain. However, once you max out your character level and skill tree, this will be converted into Legend XP, as Techland brings back the Legend Levels system from previous games. Each Legend Level you hit will award you with Legend Points, and these can be spent on additional passive upgrades, such as increased health or stronger, longer Beast Modes. With each NG+ run you play, the rate at which you earn Legend XP will increase.

Away from all this endgame goodness, there's some excellent news for PC players as well. Dying Light The Beast is already a pretty stunning game on most rigs, but now you can enable ray tracing as well. Those sunsets are about to pop, but don't get too fixated on them and forget about what happens during the impending night… Techland also says that, across all platforms, "over 70 graphical issues" have been fixed.

Finally, update 1.4 brings loads of gameplay improvements and bug fixes. There are over 200 tweaks to parkour navigation alone, so clambering around Castor Woods should feel even smoother. You can check out all the changes in the patch notes here.

Dying Light The Beast update 1.4 is now live. However, it's not the only thing being rolled out today. There's a new login bonus to further incentivize players to come back - between now and Tuesday, December 2, anyone that boots up the game can claim an exclusive free gift, the Bloody Bowie Knife. A double XP event has also just begun, and that runs until Sunday, November 30.