Dying Light: The Beast needs to lean into this forgotten feature

One of the biggest surprises from Gamescom Opening Night Live was the reveal that Techland has been working on a new Dying Light game. 

The beloved FPS series that combines zombie slaying action with satisfying parkour traversal started back in 2015 and was followed by Dying Light 2: Stay Human in 2022. 

Dying Light: The Beast is a new standalone experience that puts players back in the shoes of the original protagonist, Kyle Crane, and judging from the reveal trailer there’s one feature it could capitalize on. 

Needless to say, spoiler warning for Dying Light ahead.

Hunted becomes the Hunter

The feature in question is the original game’s Be the Zombie. This was a free multiplayer PvP mode where one player could invade another’s game as the Night Hunter. Once the invasion began, it was up to the Night Hunter to defend its nests of Volatiles from the human survivors. 

The humans on the other hand must search for and destroy the nests. The mode proved popular among the fanbase, and while you could only have 1 zombie in a match, up to 4 humans could band together to take them down.

The biggest draw to Be the Zombie was the chance to become the Night Hunter. This fearsome predator had a unique skill tree you could purchase new skills for as you leveled up. 

You would even mutant into more powerful forms once skills were maxed out. From Tendrils to subdue your foes and navigate the environment, to spitting dangerous projecticles, the Night Hunter possesses a lot of unique abilities. 

Everyone knows when night fell in Dying Light, the city of Harran became much more terrifying. What can be seen as a parkour playground with some pesky zombies in daylight turned into a fear-inducing race against time when the Voilitles started hunting. 

So to become the predator instead of the prey in Be the Zombie was always pretty exhilarating.

Unleash the Beast

Going off the reveal trailer, there’s a chance Techland could be leaning back into those zombified mechanics from the PvP mode for the next game. 

If we’re given an arsenal of infected powers, alongside the classic combat and parkour mechanics, it would result in a huge toolkit to play with, and an injection of variety to keep fans on their toes. 

As a comparison, web-swinging around New York City in Marvel’s Spider-Man is extremely satisfying, but (spoiler alert) getting to wield Venom powers in Spider-Man 2 was the icing on the cake. The Beast could take a similar approach, retaining beloved mechanics but offering a more menacing skillset to spice up gameplay. 

The story takes place 13 years after the events of the original, and after years of brutal experiments, Kyle has recently broken out of captivity. Dying Light’s celebrated DLC “The Following” had two endings, and one resulted in the protagonist becoming a sentient Volatile. 

If the Beast leans into this ending, the experiments would have only exacerbated his condition further – likely evidenced by the gnarly facial scares, and eye color seen in the teaser. 

The official Steam description also reads “But the zombie DNA and yours are now intertwined so that you are able to unleash a beast-like power. It flows through your veins. No one can take it from you. Use it. And you’ll discover it’s not just a curse.” 

The Be(a)st of Both Worlds

With the franchise’s core parkour, and combat returning,  you’ll spend plenty of time fighting zombies in The Beast, but if Crane’s on a quest for revenge it makes sense he’d rely on his newfound powers to hunt down his captors. 

Having access to an exclusive skill tree when these powers are unleashed would also tie into the narrative that Kyle is discovering the benefits of the zombie DNA in his system – and directly harken back to the Be the Zombie skills. 

If this is the case then Dying Light: The Beast could be giving us the best of both worlds. 

You’ll still get the thrill of escaping the horrors of the Night, but occasionally get to slip back into that zombified power fantasy that Be the Zombie offered.