We picked up the game shortly after its opening segment, when you are let loose into the new setting of Castor Woods. This nature reserve is a proper video game map in the best sort of ways; it’s got boggy swamps, dense cities, lush woodlands, and even classic points of interest like the aptly named Mental Asylum.
While some of the map was cordoned off for us, we had a blast just going where our nose took us. The Beast is stuffed full of wee diversions, like apartments and stores with higher tier loot, collectives of zombies to behead, and just fun designs. We loved the setting of Villedor in Dying Light 2, but there’s something more playful about Castor Woods.
Part of that is down to the parkour too, which of course makes its return. Techland has designed what it calls “Parkour Paradise” within certain high-density areas like Old Town. These have all your usual parkour mechanics like poles to leap between buildings, rubbish bins to break your fall, and apartments to take shortcuts through.
The parkour feels as natural as ever, and we just had so much fun in the denser areas. However, it can feel a little finicky when you’re trying to solve its climbing puzzles. There were a few times that we had to repeat tedious climbs because we missed a ledge, or the path forward just wasn’t that obvious.
Playing off against these parkour paradises are the open, flatter areas, which really can change how you play the game. We were on the hardest difficulty, which meant we had to utilise the parkour, tools, and weapons tactically. Even a small group zombies could be a problem if not approached carefully.
It meant that in these more expansive areas, we were looking for nearby exploding canisters or relying on the good old dropkick to give us some breathing room. These open spaces could really mix things up though, especially during the night segments.
The day and night cycle is of course here to stay, but The Beast is returning to its horror roots. Night segments, where you’re continually avoiding the alpha Volatiles, are horrendously tense. A shrieking sound effect is used every time you’re in eyeline of a Volatile, which meant we played through these segments on the edge of our seat, constantly jumping at the slightest sign of trouble.
However, we weren’t always scared thanks to the new and, again, hilariously titled Beast Mode. Kyle will build up rage during combat which will eventually consume him and activate super strength and aggressive attacks. These bonuses can really flip the script during combat — especially during the night segments where you can now go toe-to-toe with an aforementioned Volatile.
You earn Beast points by defeating bosses called Chimeras, and these are actually quite varied and playful, based the few we fought. The skill tree allows you to unlock further beast powers like a fast sprint, a ground-smashing hit, and even a timed activation of Beast Mode.
The narrative and abilities work together with the game’s very straight and narrow tone. It never plays things out in a tongue-in-cheek manner, which can make the whole experience even more amusing. Even the cutscenes are played off brilliantly, with a new directed cinematography style replacing the first-person cutscenes of the last two games. We actually loved this change, and it was great getting to see big grumpy Kyle in action.
It’s all wrapped up in gorgeous visuals. Obviously, we’ll need to wait and see how everything is looking and running on PS5 (and PS5 Pro), but this is a fantastic looking game. One of our favourite moments saw us jumping across rooftops, racing against the sun to our destination. We jumped out of an apartment and were treated to an expansive sun-drenched vista of Old Town with foliage blowing around in the wind. It’s a very immersive game in that sense.
After the arguable bloat of Dying Light 2, we’re really keen to sink our teeth into a more densely focused Dying Light title. The Beast feels like a callback to the original game with shades of its fan-favourite DLC The Following . It’s got a cracking setting, impressive visuals, and walks that fine balance between its open world and linear content.
It’s not reinventing the wheel, but Dying Light: The Beast is shaping up to be a tightly packed blast of zombie fun — and potentially the best entry in the series so far.
Are you a big Dying Light fan? Are you looking forward to The Beast? Please don't indulge your own beast mode in the comments section below.
