As a die-hard fan of the original Dying Light, the announcement of Dying Light: The Beast has sent waves of excitement coursing through my veins! After years of longing for that raw parkour and combat experience that first game provided, I can’t help but feel like Techland is reading my mind. The standalone adventure’s focus on Kyle’s superhuman abilities and gunplay-centric combat has me itching to jump back into the world of Harran once again.
1. The original Dying Light holds a significant spot in many gamers’ hearts. Its distinctive mix of first-person parkour and impromptu melee combat set it apart during the final years of the last console generation. Additionally, its remarkably well-crafted narrative added to its appeal, making Dying Light a quiet success that eventually sold over 20 million copies by 2022.
Initially, Dying Light 2 aimed high with an expansive open-world and a 50-hour branching RPG storyline, but it didn’t quite reach the heights of the original game, maintaining a strong following on Steam even years after its launch. Now, two years following the release of the second game, Dying Light: The Beast is attempting to rekindle that initial love by returning the series to its linear and concentrated roots.
In a separate storyline, initially conceived as downloadable content for Dying Light 2, we find ourselves 13 years following the events of The Following DLC from the first game. This means that The Beast is set prior to the 2036 timeline of Dying Light 2, leaving many unanswered questions about how Kyle managed to survive despite facing two potentially fatal outcomes at the end of that DLC. Set outside the city of Harran after the virus has spread, it seems that some traditional military structures still exist, as hinted by the neatly pressed uniforms seen in the teaser trailer.
The upcoming game, though derived fundamentally from Dying Light 2, is emphatically unique in its own right. During our demonstration, the developers at Techland emphasized that Castoor Woods is a densely crafted rural region, distinctly separate from Harran or Villdor. This means it’s not just a rehash of previous locations but something entirely new.
The demo highlighted subtle changes in gameplay that are a key focus of this new game. Over the past 13 years, the protagonist, Kyle, has undergone numerous experiments and gained several extraordinary abilities. Although specifics were not discussed, it was evident during both exploration and parkour sequences that Kyle can now perform incredible jumps far beyond those seen in the original game. While we hope this won’t detract from the enjoyment of exploration, it’s undeniable that watching Kyle effortlessly leap from rooftop to rooftop was quite impressive.
It appears that the combat style has undergone a significant transformation in this new game. Most of the combats we witnessed revolved around gunfights. In contrast, survival crafting involving melee combat was a key aspect in the earlier games, but here, Kyle is shown employing stealth tactics to neutralize numerous human adversaries before engaging in intense gun battles featuring shotguns and assault rifles that looked both robust and noisy. This shift seems deliberate since the demo concluded with a boss fight against an especially grotesque infected foe where Kyle exhibited his enhanced abilities, discarding all weapons to dodge incoming cars, parry fierce attacks, and hurl boulders of his own. This could be interpreted as a strategic decision to highlight the use of superhuman powers over conventional weaponry in certain situations.
Essentially, Dying Light: The Beast appears to be an exciting fusion of elements that made the original game successful, combined with innovative new concepts, all grounded in the technical framework of Dying Light 2. With a more directed and cinematic narrative, Techland seems to have ample opportunity to showcase their storytelling prowess next year.
As an eager anticipator, I’m excitedly sharing this sneak peek, derived from the initial demonstration at Gamescom 2024. Please note that the finished product may undergo alterations before its release.
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2024-08-28 18:28