Dying Light: The Beast

Dying Light: The Beast is a serious gore-fest that, when you dig a little deeper, turns out to be a rather silly playground teeming with ingenius ways of dispatching the undead. The fun, for me, was finding them all, and while it may not stick with me for long, this is still the best that Dying Light has ever been.

This is emblematic of Dying Light: The Beast's strongest quality: taking the series from an arms race against itself, constantly trying to give the player extravagant new tools, to something that is a bit dialed back, leaning into horror and tough-as-nails combat. It gives The Beast a stronger identity.

Dying Light: The Beast is a bloody great time. Kyle Crane's return is a highlight, and while the pieces around him don't always fit, there's enough heartfelt interactions involved to make it enjoyable. The best part is the gameplay – an astoundingly brutal and adventurous romp through a gorgeous and well crafted world. It's a beast of an effort by Techland, and it pays off handsomely.

Dying Light: The Beast is a staggering achievement, recapturing the series’ spirit and elevating it tenfold. The result is a game that, while occupying a much tighter space, manages to feel more alive than Harran or Villedor combined. Techland isn't reinventing the wheel here, but by revitalizing its own playbook, The Beast is Dying Light in its prime.

Dying Light: The Beast is an incredible evolution in the series by bringing back the movement and weapon feel, and evolving them to feel more brutal, which feels incredible after the overturned nature of what Dying Light 2 gave us.

Dying Light: The Beast went from potential expansion to a fully-fledged sequel, and although its origins are on full display in its narrative and protagonist, it never feels constrained by them. This is a fresh entry into the popular zombie-smashing franchise, taking the action from the city streets to a sleepy Alpine resort, but it's a welcome change of pace that opens up new and exciting ways to kill truckloads of infected Z-heads - it's just a shame that the human enemies still aren't all that interesting to fight.

Is it a massive improvement on the Dying Light formula or a step up on what Dying Light 2: Stay Human recently offered? No, not at all. But is it still a blast to play, a simple, easy to pick-up title that has enough depth to make you want to return and continue playing. Yes, without question. The Dying Light formula remains a highlight, even if it is getting closer and closer to requiring big innovation.

Dying Light: The Beast is a return to form for the RPG series, but its exciting action and parkour are stymied by a ho-hum open-world design.