Dying Light The Beast is Techland's most brutal, tactical, and stunning game yet

Releasing just three years after Dying Light 2, Dying Light: The Beast was never going to be a full reinvention of the brutal, parkour-flavored, zombie-slaying series. As the game's director, Nathan Lemaire, tells me at a recent preview event in Warsaw, Techland's aim is to combine the best parts of the series' two existing entries to make the team's best game to date.

The intense zombie chases, fluid parkour, and crunchy combat are all as you'd expect, each with small tweaks diehard fans will instantly notice. But there's enough variation and improvement to ensure Dying Light: The Beast doesn't feel like the DLC pack it was initially conceived as. Whether it'll make our best zombie games list remains to be seen, but after going hands-on for four hours, I'm certainly impressed.

The game's all-new location was the biggest highlight for me. Instead of being set in a once-bustling city inspired by real towns across Europe, The Beast lets you explore Castor Woods. It's an open, rural setting that makes exploration feel far more rewarding, as secrets can be hidden in places you wouldn't expect. There are tight streets and dense towns for you to leap across, of course, but open natural expanses are much more common. You'll find deserted train depots, forest areas, creepy swamps, and massive cliffs. There's greater variety to what you're exploring, moving away from Dying Light 2's skyscrapers, city streets, and endless array of makeshift elevators. 

"We were inspired by tourist stations in the Eastern Alps, Swiss Alps. Also, places where some of our people from our team actually grew up. What was important for us was to have something unique, not just for Dying Light," Lemaire tells me.

It's not only different visually, though; the new setting dramatically changes how you play. While staying above street level is still vital, especially at night, you'll need to do a lot more route planning. Venturing out without aimlessly will only see you get stuck in open, zombie-infested spaces without a way to escape. And there are a lot of zombies in The Beast: they're everywhere, and in much larger groups than you'd see in 2. Of course, nighttime is terrifying and intense, but daytime dangers have been ramped up, too. There's more to avoid and different types of zombies to cause different headaches, all of which play into the game's heightened tactical side.

Mechanically, however, changes are more iterative. As someone who hasn't touched the series since the launch of 2, it initially doesn't feel particularly different in its moment-to-moment combat or parkour. The biggest change comes in your arsenal and the damage you can do to the zombies. You're not just swinging wildly and bashing them on the head repeatedly anymore, as damage is more precise and location-based.

If you're using a sharper weapon, such as an axe or knife, you'll be able to slice limbs off if you aim your attacks well, or even decapitate foes with a careful swipe to the neck. Attacks also show damage where you make contact. Smack a zombie in the shoulder and a large gash will show, while a slice on the chest will see organs and ribs protrude. As Techland showcased in our exclusive chat with Dying Light's franchise director, Tymon Smektala, the studio strived to make The Beast a more bloody and gruesome game. From what I've seen, the team has certainly succeeded in doing so. There's a real weight to combat, and you're given a much greater sense of the damage you're inflicting. It's doesn't match Dead Island 2's level of heft and gore, but it's they're better than they've ever been in the series.

The titular 'Beast' relates to a few things I don't want to spoil, but perhaps the most obvious and least spoiler-ish is the new Beast Mode. You'll first have to charge up a meter through standard attacks before triggering it to gain enhanced speed and melee power, letting you crush a zombie's head in just one punch. It's great for clearing out crowds when you're in trouble, or whittling down a good chunk of a boss enemy's health. It's a basic addition that we've seen in plenty of other games, but another that goes towards making you feel more powerful than ever.

The single best change Techland has made is the alterations to how stamina works. In combat, it functions in the same way as ever. Attacks and dodges use a chunk of your stamina, and you need to back off a little to replenish it. But when running around and climbing buildings, stamina is no longer an issue. Crane won't get exhausted when climbing an unexpectedly tall building, nor will he slow down to catch his breath when being pursued by the undead. The end result is significantly more enjoyable traversal where you feel empowered to take risks and explore.

Lemaire tells me that The Beast's map is what influenced this decision, saying "we have some what we call park opens, where there is no obvious way to go up, and then you need to look out for ledges and so on. And this was made possible because we removed [parkour stamina]."

As for the story, I only scratched the surface of what's to come. Kyle Crane, the first game's well-liked protagonist, is back. It's a cool selling point for fans of the series, but I didn't find him charismatic enough to be game-changing. I'll be honest, Crane was never a highlight of the first game for me. He's a generic, strong action lead with a limited personality that doesn't extend far beyond his one-liners. He clearly has his fans out there somewhere, though.

Crane's adventure involves helping the locals and stopping deranged mercenaries. I'm just over the moon that Techland has promised we won't be running errands for countless NPCs like we did in Dying Light 2. The Beast is about action, survival, and exploration, all in a tight package that looks better than ever, from the environments themselves to the presentation of cutscenes.

Releasing more regular, iterative games is a strategy I think a lot of long-running series could benefit from. "What we really want to do is to basically build on everything. We want to continue to make awesome experiences quickly, but to also think 'this is unique,'" Lemaire tells me.

While an iterative sequel seems immediately less exciting, Dying Light's foundations were always exceptionally strong, meaning the effective changes and improvements Techland makes here lead to an even more refined and essential zombie experience. I'm excited to see how Dying Light: The Beast compares to 2 and the fan-favorite original. What I played went a long way to convincing me that it more than justifies itself as a full release, one that might just add up to the series' best entry to date.

The Dying Light The Beast release date lands September 19, 2025. While you wait, we've got a full list of Dying Light The Beast docket codes for some handy freebies.