The Peanut Gallery Reviews Dying Light: The Beast

Despite a few notable technical flaws, Dying Light: The Beast is a worthwhile zombie survival epic.

Played on Xbox Series X 

Dying Light: The Beast is a return to form for the franchise. Putting you back in the shoes of the original protagonist, Kyle Crane, the third installment is a significant improvement on its predecessor. 

Technical Difficulties

I would’ve rated it higher but the game’s biggest issue is it’s very glitchy. To make matters worse, the glitches aren’t simply a texture pop-in here or getting stuck on a wall there, but usually they’re mission-breaking bugs that prevent you from proceeding even after completing the objective. Your only recourse is to quit the game and restart from the last checkpoint. That’s incredibly annoying as it really takes you out of the story and diminishes momentum. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen a lot. Still, it’s enough to be a major nuisance. It didn’t help that this occurred for me at a key juncture in the main campaign’s climax. It royally screwed me over and made an already hard game needlessly more challenging because of poor design. 

Positives

With that said, there’s a lot to like here. The story, gameplay, side missions, main missions, and characters are all a lot better this time around. This is a fun world to inhabit. The fact that I completed every single side mission and enjoyed most of them speaks volumes. I also like that they gave me an achievement for doing so. 

The franchise’s signature parkour and melee combat systems are intact, but there is more of an emphasis on gunplay in The Beast. The firearm focus is a welcome addition as it adds variety and the guns handle well. Ammunition is relatively limited so there’s incentive to make your shots count. 

Stealth is also a big part of The Beast. There are portions where stealth is suggested and others where it’s required…if you plan on living, that is. This change of pace to the frenetic fights works well. I had more than a few pulse-pounding moments where I was sneaking around a swarm of beefed up enemies. One false step and I would be torn to shreds. These high-wire acts of tension balance out the explosive set pieces pretty nicely. 

There are a ton of boss fights, and they are a ton of fun overall. A few are REALLY challenging, including an absolute MARATHON of a final big bad villain showdown. No pushover final boss to be found here. The battles are varied and require you to implement different strategies depending on the type of foe you’re facing. 

Difficulty

I played on the hardest difficulty, Nightmare, and it was a real challenge. Let’s just say the name is fitting because this mode haunted my sleep more than once. There are multiple elements that make this mode much more difficult than the many easier options. I like how hard it is for the most part. There’s a great sense of reward after getting through the more challenging sections. There were times I was rolling without dying at all for hours. Then I’d hit a fight that would take me hours to get by. You just never know what’s waiting around the corner. 

I spent well over 50 hours to beat the main campaign and all the side missions. That length is a bit misleading as there were three or four parts that took me a few hours to finally get past. Two encounters took me even longer. 

Entertaining Enough

Dying Light: The Beast is a really fun game that is held back by buggy design. Frankly, it’s inexcusable that these issues haven’t been patched by now. Still, the game is entertaining enough that I feel confident recommending to fans of the franchise and newcomers alike. If you like open world, zombie action epics, then this one is for you. 

PG Score: 7.5/10

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