Review: Dying Light: The Beast isn't afraid to slow things down
Techland ditches the massive open world for a tighter map centered on Kyle Crane. The refocus works, but it comes at a cost.
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After Dying Light 2’s huge map, often criticized for its uneven density, Techland walks it back with a much tighter zone centered on the return of Kyle Crane, the hero from the very first game.
Parkour, still the series’ best idea
Nothing’s changed here, and that’s a good thing: the movement still feels the most satisfying in the genre, carried by a vertical map built specifically for chaining jumps rather than for sheer size. The grapple hook, inherited from the second entry, fits naturally into this back-to-basics approach.
A smaller map, less content
The flip side: the playable area is roughly a third the size of Dying Light 2’s, and side content (secondary quests, outposts to liberate) is noticeably thinner. Players who came for the second game’s scale may find the adventure short, even if overall quality is more consistent.
Verdict
A successful refocus on what makes the series work, at the cost of clearly slimmer content. A very good game, not the blockbuster it was pitched as.
