Dying Light: The Beast Review – Back to Basics

Some players probably forget or underestimate the size of Polish gaming studio Techland. It employs about 500 developers, and by their own account, about 300 of them contributed to the latest installment of the Dying Light series over more than three years of development. While it was true that this was initially supposed to be just DLC for the second part of the series, it grew into a much larger project during development, with the developers themselves stating that they thought of it simply as “the third game in the series.”

• Platform: PS5 (review version), Xbox Series X/S, PC
• Release date: September 18, 2025
• Developer: Techland (Poland)
• Genre: First-person survival horror shooter
• Czech localization: yes (subtitles)
• Multiplayer: yes (co-op up to 4 players)
• Download data: 36 GB (PS5 version)
• Game time: 20+ hours
• Price: 1499 CZK

Home before dark

The original game’s protagonist, Kyle Crane, returns in the title role, having spent his last years imprisoned by the Baron, who conducted inhumane experiments on him in an attempt to harness his mutant potential. Kyle manages to escape from the laboratory at the beginning of the game, but vows to return and take revenge on his captor. However, to do this he will need both additional allies and greater power. He will gradually find allies among the hidden survivors in and around this area of ​​the mountain town, and the infusion of blood from the strongest local monsters will add strength.

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

While Kyle is in great shape in the new game, his return isn’t the biggest attraction for fans of the original game. The star of the game is actually the zombies and monsters, which the game finally properly focuses on again after it jumped to more political drama and war between factions of survivors in the second game. This is associated with the return of a truly scary night, in which you can hardly see footsteps, but by lighting a flashlight, there is a chance to quickly attract the most terrible monsters. So once the shadows in the game start to lengthen and the sky turns red, you’ll always have the chills you need. Last but not least, the emphasis on bloodiness and brutality in destroying enemy bodies returns, supported by a rougher color palette.

The game is finally focusing on zombies and monsters again.

The main story is a relatively predictable path of revenge, but will certainly offer some twist. Paradoxically, the most interesting moments are offered by some of the side missions, among which you will find, for example, touching human tragedies, but also an absolutely fascinating descent into a unique nest of zombies who will communicate with you telepathically, rather than fight. So, if the atmosphere of a mountain town suits you, you should definitely take your time with the next main task and try not to miss a single side mission. On the other hand, there are some additional activities on the map (for example, opening caches, etc.) that are not so difficult or interesting, but mostly offer useful rewards.

New children’s playground

The game’s map is large enough to cover multiple regions, from city streets filled with hordes of zombies to stagnant roads and wild mountainous environments where you can even go rock climbing. Of course, there are also caves, underground bunkers and other special locations. There is no form of “teleport” in the game, so when traveling through the countryside you will always have to consider the time of day and distance to avoid being caught in the twilight while traveling. Moves can significantly speed up transport, but you will have to learn to find and save fuel cans for them. The vehicle can also be destroyed, so don’t get too carried away with encountering monsters along the way, although these aspects of gameplay can also be affected by unlocking the corresponding upgrades in your skill tree.

Despite the detailed graphics, detailed physical destruction of enemy bodies and their number, the game runs very well on consoles in terms of fluidity. Dynamic Resolution Performance Mode (higher on PS5 Pro) targets 60 frames, but if you have a 120Hz-capable TV or monitor, the unlocked frame rate will reach even higher values, especially indoors. However, he almost never lags behind his goal. Quality mode offers native 4K resolution, but at the cost of a targeted 30 frames per second. Technically the game is otherwise relatively well set up, with the exception of an extremely hectic final mission where the AI ​​and scripts sometimes get angry. The localization of the Czech text is appropriately vulgar, as befits the genre. The music this time is a little less expressive; acoustic instruments are mixed with the original electronics, which corresponds to the atmosphere of the mountain nature.

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