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I’ve played a lot of zombie games, and while I often enjoy them a great deal, rarely do I find myself stopping to gawk at the scenery. But I’ve been doing that a lot in Techland’s latest open-world zombie RPG, Dying Light: The Beast. Setting a game like this in the Swiss Alps is fantastic. But even if this game was set in a much less pretty locale, I’d still be super into it as it feels like the culmination of a decade-plus of Techland making these kinds of RPG zombie adventures. Just don’t pay too close attention to the main story.

Dying Light: The Beast was originally envisioned and pitched as a big DLC expansion for 2022’s Dying Light 2. But it got bigger and bigger, and eventually Techland made the call to turn it into its own standalone adventure. The game, out now on Xbox, PS5, and PC, continues the story of Dying Light’s OG protagonist, Kyle Crane. A lot has happened to our gruff mercenary who is also surprisingly good at parkour.

Now, after over a decade of torture and experimentation, Crane is a half-human/half-zombie monster super-dude who can rip the undead limb from limb. And with this newfound power and some allies, Crane plans on taking down the bastard who was in charge of experimenting on him and others. And in the process, maybe saving some people stranded in the Swiss Alps in an area known as Castor Woods.

After spending about 7 hours with the new game, I can say the main plot of Dying Light: The Beast is easily the weakest part of the package. It’s very goofy and dumb and feels like it was created simply to explain Kyle’s new “Beast Mode” powers. It gets the job done, but it ain’t anything to write home about. Luckily, almost everything else in Dying Light: The Beast is much, much better.

Hoppin’ And Choppin’ All Day

As with the previous Dying Light games, The Beast is a first-person open-world zombie RPG focused on melee combat and parkour-inspired exploration and platforming. And it’s clear that Techland has built on its years of experience making this kind of game in this engine, as The Beast is just a joy to play. Running, sliding, jumping, climbing, and hopping around Castor Woods is a treat. It’s one of those games in which traversing from one quest marker to the next is such a joy that you don’t mind how mundane or silly the actual objective at the end is.

This new map, which is roughly the size of the OG Dying Light’s world, is filled with things to grab onto or mantle over or hop off of or slide through. It’s like a constant and very satisfying puzzle to figure out how to reach your next objective or avoid some massive crowd of zombies who want to kill you. It’s also just so damn pretty. The snowy mountains and fall-like vibes are almost cozy, until a big zombie monster attacks and ruins the vibes.

©Techland / Kotaku

The melee combat in Dying Light: The Beast isn’t much different than what can be found in Dying Light 2 or the original game, but I’m very happy about that. Those past games nailed first-person melee action, and The Beast just tweaks a few things to make the experience better. For example, weapons now visually deteriorate as you use them more, something that was lost in Dying Light 2. Meanwhile, swings can knock enemies back farther and feel more gnarly, too. Slamming a zombie’s head off with a sledgehammer never gets old.

I still find the crafting in Dying Light: The Beast, which returns from past games, to be a bit finicky and annoying. But it’s worth dealing with so you can craft a flaming machete that tears through undead as quickly and as disgustingly as I consume a bag of Taco Bell quesadillas.

I’m Shifting Into Beast Mode

The big new feature in Dying Light: The Beast is Crane’s ability to activate his latent monster powers and go full beast mode on zombies and human enemies alike. You earn beast juice—that’s what I call it—by attacking enemies and taking damage. Get enough, and Crane can turn into a hyper-fast, super-powerful, and extremely deadly killing machine, able to rip zombie arms off and punch clean through their chests. Going beast mode is always a blast in this game, especially when you use it to rip apart a big horde of zombies that were about to kill you.

As you play through the main campaign, you go toe-to-toe with special infected bosses that each offer unique fights. I fought one of these bosses that covered the area in fog and used other zombies to her advantage. These powerful foes provide Crane with Beast Points (stop laughing), which let you upgrade the Beast powers even further. I’m only about seven hours into the game, and I already feel like, in my Beast form, I could take on any threat. Well, maybe not the super zombies that come out at night.

Yes, once again, the deadliest enemies in the game return to chase Crane around as he tries to complete side quests and loot valuable locations after the sun has gone down. These encounters and moments in which the game forces Crane into dark, creepy caves and buildings are genuinely scary and turn Dying Light: The Beast into a pseudo-horror game, complete with some jump scares. Be careful at night.

Even though I haven’t finished the game, from what I’ve played so far, Dying Light: The Beast feels like the culmination of a decade-plus of Techland developing open-world zombie games. Its open world is gorgeous and so much fun to explore. Combat feels great, and moving around the world is better than ever. Techland has even brought back some smaller elements from Dying Light 1, like how enemies react to attacks, making The Beast feel like the studio’s strongest swing at this type of game. The storyline is silly, but I do enjoy going full wild mode and killing a dozen zombies, so I’ll ignore how often it’s made me roll my eyes.

Regardless, if the rest of Dying Light: The Beast is as good as what I’ve played so far, this will likely be on my Game of the Year list.

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