Techland let out a new lagger forDying Light : The Beastat the2024 Game Awards . The latest clip highlighted the new open - Earth game ’s villain , evidence a second of gameplay , and confirmed a summer 2025 discharge window .
First revealed at Gamescom Opening Night Live , Dying Light : The Beastis a spinoff of Techland ’s living dead series . It brings back the first game ’s hero , Kyle Crane , who line up himself combat a villainous scientist named The Baron , who is impart ruthless experiments in an endeavour to marry human and zombie DNA together . The young poke gives us a glance into the character and further tease the serial ’ most full - throated repulsion sprain yet .
out front of the trailer ’s reveal , I spoke with Dying Light enfranchisement director Tymon Smektala about the new installing . Smektala stresses thatThe Beastis an important moment for Dying Light in a few ways . Not only has it reinvigorate the team at Techland creatively thanks to its more thickset sizing , but it ’s also lay to cap off the series ’ 10 - year journeying to this point . It both score the end of an epoch and teases what ’s next for the zombie serial .
“ We kind of experience like we ’re 10 long time younger when we ’re making this biz , ” Smektala tells Digital Trends .
A more compact Dying Light
At first glance , Dying Light : The Beastdoesn’t sound too different from previous plot in the series . It ’s still anopen - world gamewhere histrion exhaust the snot out of zombie using guns , melee weapons , and dropkicks . There ’s still parkour , as its young drone usher off a player go on walls and launching themself at zombies . So , what ’s unexampled ?
Quite a scrap has change here , though not in the ways you might expect . The bragging departure is that it ’s a much more concise plot than the enormousDying Light 2 : stay put Human . Smektala notes that the squad did n’t name itDying lightness 3for a reason , as that might have set the wrong expectations . It ’s more of a spinoff that voice about on par withMarvel ’s Spider - Man : Miles Moralesfrom what Smektala describe . Ironically , that low scope allowed Techland to accomplish much more .
“ It ’s slightly more heavyset than the numbered games in the series , but we like that format because I think it ’s easier for histrion to brook , ” Smektala sound out . ” It ’s around 20 hours of gameplay , so not as bountiful asDying illumination 2 , but because of that , we can pore more on the item . It ’s very handcrafted . Our environment artists were extremely happy with that approach , because it allow them to focus on every square cm of the map . It will be very punishing for you to discover two interiors that bet the same … ForDying Light 2 , we pass away super adult , and because of that , it was harder to keep that human touch . Especially for the developers , they experience like they were part of this grown machine and did n’t have that much space to express themselves . Right now , I think it ’s easier to find those spaces . ”
bet at the current state of the industry , I guess it throw sense to not overdo it .
There ’s a practical reasonableness for staying smaller too . When ask ifThe Beasthas changed the way of life Techland retrieve about making game , Smektala sounds excited about what the team has gained from scale down for the project . While he ca n’t say for sure what the studio apartment will do next , he take down that more compact games like this might become a requirement in a volatile play diligence compete for players ’ special attention .
“ This might bear upon how we go about game in the time to come , ” Smektala says . “ I realize the allure of those super big , sprawl games , but it gets hard and intemperately for histrion to fill out them and they pose a bigger and bigger risk of exposure for the studio . front at the current state of the industry , I think it makes sense to not overdo it and hazard the projects . ”
Survival and horror
It ’s not just the scale that ’s different this clip around . The Beastis take aim for horror more than any Dying Light game before it . Its fresh house trailer emphasizes that with its mad scientist premiss and an unnerving scene where Kyle Crane is the national of a dark-skinned experimentation . Even its setting is meant to work more horror elements this metre around , as player will find themselves hunting through the woods at night with a torch .
“ With every Dying Light secret plan , we want to give it a different tonicity , ” Smektala says . “ The first one was focus on survival . The 2nd moved more towards action and the pure charge of smashing zombies . This is more intimate . We want to bring back the selection from the first game , but also make it darker and scarier … You utilise your torch . There ’s lots of shadows so it ’s laborious to see what ’s what . zombie spirit [ blend in with ] the trees . It ’s easy to confuse them in the George Walker Bush . You think you ’re in a good blank space and suddenly you ’re surrounded by them . ”
Though that ’s a new direction for the series , Smektala stresses thatThe Beastis a homecoming to form in other ways . That ’s most apparent in its survival mechanics , as the plot run just a bite aside from the bombastic action ofDying Light 2to emphasize careful detail management . Smektala believes thatThe Beastmight even be a rich natural selection game thanDying Lightin some ways .
“ In terms of overall balance , I think we ’re going back to the survival feel ofDying Light — maybe even manage to make it more challenging , but in a respectable way . I mean survival games are about using your mental capacity more than making your skills . selection games demand you to make a serial publication of very difficult decisions where you manage a limited amount of resource . Sometimes a small decision can make your natural selection much harder later … I believe we ’ll hopefully be capable to go a little bit deeper , but in a way that feels rewarding for histrion . ”
If it sounds like a bit of a full circle moment , that ’s by design . Next year mark the 10 - year anniversary of the dealership and Techland very much visualize The Beast as an ending of one earned run average . That does n’t mean that the serial publication is going to drastically modify in the futurity . Smektala pronounce that the team ’s focus , first and foremost , is to create the best zombie game it can , ace that push the genre forrad with each entry . But he sees a future where the serial publication is quick to grow beyond that and reach topographic point it ’s never been .
“ I thinkThe Beastwill be a sum-up of the last 10 old age , but also an opening for the next decade . We ’ll releaseThe Beast , it ’ll be the ending of the first decade , and then we ’ll move quite rapidly to the future tense . I imagine we can do much more … More and more biz and companionship are actuate broader alfresco of just game . They ’re moving into transmedia . I call back there ’s a time to come for that for Dying Light . ”
There ’s a pause as Smektala seems to think his next Logos carefully : “ We have quite a few interesting ideas in that regard . ”
Dying Light : The Beastis scheduled to found in summer 2025 for PlayStation 4 , PS5 , Xbox Series X / S , and PC .
