When is the Dying Light The Beast release date? The newest standalone Dying Light game, now called Dying Light The Beast, originally started out as DL2 DLC. However, once original protagonist Kyle Crane was brought back and the concept and scale of the expansion grew, Dying Light The Beast became, well, a beast of its own.
Though we enjoyed Dying Light 2, the futuristic metropolis setting and lack of survival elements fought off the creepy horror we love about the series. We spoke to the devs about this and more ahead of the TGAs and, thankfully, Techland tells us they’ve taken player feedback seriously. Dying Light The Beast brings back the horror of Dying Light with terrifying new environments, ties the story in with both DL2 and the first game, and gives players an introduction to the future of the series. Here’s everything we know about the Dying Light The Beast release date and the zombie game itself so far.
Dying Light The Beast release date window
Announced during The Game Awards 2024, the Dying Light The Beast release date is Summer 2025, though there is no more concrete date than that yet.
In some good news for Dying Light 2 Ultimate Edition owners, Dying Light The Beast will be free to those that own it, as it was planned as DLC, and that DLC is no longer arriving. Techland, the game’s developer, has also announced that the Ultimate Edition won’t be available to purchase after the end of September, so if you want to nab The Beast for free, along with the ultimate edition of Dying Light 2, now’s your chance.
Dying Light The Beast trailers
The developer released an announcement trailer for the game in August showcasing the game’s spooky forest vibes, as armed soldiers move through an abandoned building discovering dead bodies, all while being watched by something sinister lurking in the shadows.
The Beast is set in a region known as Castor Rock and includes a familiar face, Kyle Crane, who after going through years of experiments, is back to leaping across buildings and bashing zombies. The trailer also gives us a glimpse of what parkour in this remote environment looks like, as Kyle swings between derelict buildings, across a train track, and drives through a rundown facility.
It’s the dark forest and new swamp biomes that are an important factor in returning to the horror of Dying Light, though, as these biomes were created for terror. The day and night contrast has always been a crucial aspect of the series, and, as franchise director Tymon Smektała reflects, “that’s something that scares a lot of people, being alone in the woods at night, and this is something you can actually experience as you play”. While you might have power during the day, nightfall brings a threat of beasts lurking in the dark. Smektala tells us: “You use a flashlight and there are lots of shadows, and it’s not that easy to understand what those shadows are. Is it a monster or is it just a shadow?”
Dying Light The Beast story
It has been confirmed that the Dying Light The Beast story takes place 13 years after the end of Dying Light. Kyle Crane was captured and experimented on by a mysterious new antagonist between the events of the first and second game. Now, our hero is understandably out for revenge.
The Beast aims to bridge the narrative gap between the two games, answering quests Dying Light 2 intentionally avoided. Smektala notes that Crane is experiencing life after being captured and is now seeing the world from a different perspective, which suits new players who will also be seeing the Dying Light world for the first time.
The new trailer gives us a subtle glimpse of the enemy, The Baron, though we still haven’t even seen his full face yet. This is fully intentional, as Smektała tells us, “players will discover more about him and his family as they play the game, but I think he’s the biggest threat Kyle has ever faced.” He continues, “we don’t really want to reveal him fully. We just want to show some of the actions that he’s doing and some of the things he surrounds himself with, but we don’t really want to showcase him 100 percent and make everything about him obvious.”
Dying Light The Beast gameplay
The gameplay looks to lean into survival game elements, with Techland saying in an interview with PCGamesN “You can get a weapon, but it isn’t a guaranteed success that you’ll solve every problem with. Weapons have durability, so you’ll need to use them wisely, and firearm ammunition is scarce; even with vehicles, you can smash the zombies and that’s fun, but on the other hand the vehicle can get damaged.”
It also looks like – thanks to those experiments – we can turn into a monster and kill enemies that way, though we’ll have to wear our survival hat in approaching different situations. Four-player co-op is also returning in The Beast, as well as the day-night cycle that will no doubt lean further into the survival nature of the game, as we’ll need to keep an eye on the time of the day.
That’s all we have for the Dying Light The Beast release date so far. If you’re looking forward to the upcoming game, there are plenty of other survival games you can try in the interim, or you could always just return to Harran in the original Dying Light and reacquaint yourself with Crane.