We go hands on with Dying Light: The Beast and discuss our experience with game director Nathan Lemaire.
It’s been almost ten years since we last saw Dying Light protagonist Kyle Crane. Kidnapped by a sinister cult at the end of The Following expansion, the rugged mercenary has been subjected to countless twisted experiments. His DNA spliced with that of a zombie, in this upcoming instalment, he’s been transformed from an adept survivor into something more than human — the titular beast.
“Kyle was in a closed environment without any sunlight, in a bunker for more than a decade,” explains Dying Light: The Beast director Nathan Lemaire. “When he gets out, he’s probably pissed off. Also, a little bit scared and surprised. It’s a roller coaster of emotions.” Unleashed in the all-new open world environment of Castor Woods, Kyle’s aim is singular: enact bloody vengeance on The Baron, the powerful warlord behind his capture.
The effects of this isolation are evident throughout my four-hour hands-on, which picks up shortly after his escape at the start of the game. Although still voiced by Sonic the Hedgehog and Assassin’s Creed star Roger Craig Smith, Kyle’s interactions seem blunter than ever before.New threats
Aided by the mysterious survivor Olivia, Kyle explores an abandoned monastery on the outskirts of the woods. This largely self-contained area serves as the tutorial, pitting you against a few basic infected and guiding you through the process of setting up a safe zone inside. The training wheels don’t stay on for long, however, with the sudden arrival of a Chimera in the building’s inner courtyard.
Hulking mutant zombies created by the Baron, Chimeras, present a significant challenge for Kyle. “We wanted to make Chimeras feel like bosses,” explains Lemaire. “They are super cranked-up enemy archetypes with new animations, new visuals, and so on. We wanted to make sure that they all feel different.”
The first that you face is the Reaper, a giant gas-mask wearing creature clad in a ruined hazmat suit that’s ripped away to reveal exposed, bloody flesh. Grunting and panting, it charges at Kyle with attacks that must be evaded with a quick dodge.
Armed with a spade and whatever else you can scavenge from the surroundings, your basic melee attacks do little to whittle down its mammoth health bar. Luckily, each successful hit brings you closer to triggering Beast Mode and tapping into Kyle’s mutant powers.Beast in class
Beast Mode sees you enter a violent frenzy, massively increasing the damage of your swings for a short time. It’s an invaluable tool against powerful foes and, according to Lemaire, a way to “question humanity versus the beast, and what it takes to survive in a world like this.”
“It’s a very good way to, for a short moment, completely change the paradigm of who is the prey, who are the predators,” he adds, though entering Beast Mode is never a sure-fire guarantee of success.
