Dying Light The Beast is all about realistic, choice-driven survival

With Dying Light The Beast, developer Techland is looking to the series' past. When night falls on Harran and the infected grow more aggressive, the original Dying Light morphs into a tense survival horror experience that demands you evade the undead on rooftops and slice them to bits. This is what Techland wants to deliver with The Beast, while also bringing back wise-cracking, fan-favorite protagonist Kyle Crane. But in a recent interview with PCGamesN, Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektała tells us the team isn't just trying to replicate past successes, as The Beast also aims to push the series forward, chiefly by giving you more ways to survive its countless horrors.

The Dying Light The Beast release date is now mere weeks away, and I can't wait to see if it can earn a spot on our list of the best zombie games. Techland recently shared an exclusive video with PCGamesN detailing the game's realistic environmental gore, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Smektała also explains how Techland aims to enhance the series' survival aspects by delivering greater player choice.

"Dying Light The Beast offers high-octane, high-pressure action, but at its heart it definitely is a game that tints a lot towards [a] survival experience," Smektała tells us. "We want our encounters to be challenging, with a solution that might look the simplest on paper - just unsheathing a machete, and running at a group of zombies with a mighty war cry - actually being the least effective and most dangerous."

"That's why we give players a lot of choices when they see a blocked path, or something valuable in the middle of a zombie horde, or human enemies' patrol. They can use stealth, they can use one of our crowd-control tools, they can use ranged weapons, quiet or loud, etc. We're doing that because the game gets much more engaging like that, if you're not just mindlessly clicking, but also using your brain, you're much more invested in what's happening on the screen; you're practically there."

While we wait for The Beast, there are plenty of reasons to return to the rest of the series. Techland recently revamped the original Dying Light with the Retouched Update, which is stuffed with visual and audio tweaks. That's not all, though, as Dying Light 2 recently unleashed a surprise crossover with Balatro, and it's nothing short of pure nightmare fuel.

Otherwise, make sure you check out Jamie's excellent Dying Light The Beast preview from Summer Game Fest, where he got to experience some of the horrors firsthand.

If you want more, we've also got all the best co-op games and open-world games to try while waiting for The Beast.

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