Dying Light The Beast feels refreshing without losing the series' identity

Slick parkour, brutal melee combat, and plenty of zombies to pulverize - at first glance, Dying Light The Beast looks like just what the undead doctor ordered: more Dying Light. The thirst for the zombie-slaying open-world series has been immense over the past decade, and its third mainline entry is almost upon us. Once planned as DLC for Dying Light 2, starring the first game's beloved protagonist, Kyle Crane, The Beast has mutated into something much more ambitious. Ahead of its launch in a couple of months, I got to play a roughly 40-minute slice of The Beast at Summer Game Fest, and while it doesn't stray massively far from Techland's winning formula, some new additions and shakeups make for a more isolated, focused, and survival-oriented experience.

Even though Dying Light The Beast takes place in the more rural destination of Castor Woods, as opposed to a sprawling city like Dying Light 2's Villedor, my time with the open-world zombie game starts in a built-up urban area. While there aren't any towering skyscrapers, this gorgeous yet devastated hillside town still offers enough verticality for the series' trademark parkour movement to immediately sing. Despite there being no other advanced movement mechanics like the grappling hook or paraglider from previous games on show, the standard parkour movement feels super slick, as you'd hope and expect from Techland.

Every surface, even tiny protruding pipes or pieces of metal jutting from the side of a collapsing building, can be grabbed as you scurry your way up walls and leap over rooftops. Staying up high is still an invaluable tactic, and while some zombies and human enemies can reach you, it's by far the safest way to get around.

Leaving the town, I head into the densely wooded forests that dominate the sunset-lit vistas - franchise director Tymon Smektala tells me that the aim was to create a "beautiful zombie apocalypse," and from what I've seen so far, Techland is nailing that particular brief.

Out in the wilderness, the feel of Dying The Light The Beast changes. There are more built-up areas to discover out there (an industrial yard is my destination), but the verticality takes a brief pause as I move between points of interest. Now, especially with nighttime bringing Dying Light's more lethal zombies out to play, it's about sneaking (or running as fast as you can) through the trees. With your flashlight cutting through the darkness, it feels like a proper horror game experience.

After stumbling across a safehouse and completing a short environmental puzzle to restore the power, I settle in for the night, only to wake and see some torrential rainfall outside. The atmosphere created by this dynamic weather is impressive, turning the world almost grayscale. But the weather can't postpone my main objective - infiltrating a lab just down the road where I expect to find a chimera, a super-strong mutant zombie. Here's where I get my first taste of combat, clearing the lab of zombies and the mercenary forces of the Baron, the game's primary antagonist.

Dying Light's heavy and crunchy melee combat still feels great in The Beast. Bladed weapons leave lacerations and amputate limbs, while blunt weapons can cause craterous wounds in zombie flesh. Firearms return, following on from their post-launch inclusion in Dying Light 2, and gunplay is still punchy, with my assault rifle kicking hard. My shotgun, meanwhile, has a generous bullet spread that can hit multiple zombies in a single shot. And, of course, there is dodging, blocking, and the glorious mid-air flying kick that sends enemies hurtling backwards at a pleasing rate of knots.

The crescendo of combat comes with Kyle's beast powers. When activated, he enters a savage rage mode for a brief window where his flailing fists knock down zombies like bowling pins, ground slams send multiple enemies flying, and he can squash heads like grapes. It's delightfully brutal, and a great get-out-of-jail card if you find yourself cornered with no quick and easy parkour escape route.

After learning that the chimera has escaped, I need to lure it out into the open using a canister of gas. Loading the canister into the back of a pickup, I can try one of The Beast's biggest innovations - its driving system. There's a toggle between first and third-person when you're behind the wheel, and with Techland's renewed focus on survival, each vehicle has limited health and fuel, meaning you can't become overreliant on them.

While the rain has sadly subsided, I'm told wet weather will also impact your vehicle's traction and grip. Overall, the driving feels fine - nothing revolutionary or particularly far removed from The Following's buggy, but it has a welcome place in the more rural setting of The Beast.

My final task is to face the escaped chimera in a scrapyard arena. It's a fairly simple boss fight that isn't particularly challenging, but it still forces me to dodge, take cover, and conserve ammo. The battle also ends with a delightfully brutal finishing move. There'll be plenty of these major foes throughout, and defeating them and injecting their blood into Kyle unlocks new beastly powers.

I was surprised by how few humans I encountered during the demo. Yes, the Baron's forces crop up a fair bit, you'll bump into the occasional gang of raiders, and there are some friendly survivors to interact with, but on the whole, Castor Woods feels like there hasn't been much of a human footprint since the disaster first struck. As Smektala explains to me in an interview following my hands-on time, Dying Light The Beast is "much more zombie-centric" compared to Dying Light 2.

With the Dying Light The Beast release date not far away now, I think it's in a great spot, based on what I've played. The increased prevalence of vehicles and firearms versus Dying Light 2 may end up detracting a little from the core parkour-and-melee experience, but Techland hasn't neglected the defining hallmarks of the series. Plus, we've got a pumped-up Kyle making his comeback. I think its biggest boon, though, is its setting. Castor Woods is a breath of fresh air and the perfect location for a more survival-driven, isolated zombie adventure.