Dying Light: The Beast - welcome to Castor Woods!

I will admit right from the start, I didn't play Dying Light when it came out, and I certainly didn't play the second one either.

This time, back in 2015, I was playing Battlefield 3 with a friend from Slovakia like I did every day. He asked me if I had played Dying Light, I asked what that was, and he briefly explained it to me.

“Zombies and parkour?! Sounds like perfect trash.”

I mean, it sounded like an idea someone would write on a napkin after the third beer.

In a minute, he realized I hadn't played it and officially declared me the biggest peasant in gaming history.

This year I decided to change that and I regretted with all my heart that I hadn't played them right after their release because the games are G-E-N-I-U-S.

The Story so Far…

One of the best things I've seen in a long time is the story recap that can be selected when starting the game, and it's not just a few flashbacks but the main character excellently recounts the plot of the first installment. Why not the second? Well, it hasn't happened yet. The Beast takes place right in the middle between the two installments.

The game puts you back in the role of Kyle Crane, a character we all know as the man who went through Harran and survived the almost impossible. But this time, Crane is no longer just a man; in fact, if I looked like he does after 13 years of torture, that would be great.

Years of captivity and brutal experiments by the Baron have literally left him halved.

As usual, I won't reveal the story; I'll just wish you welcome to Castor Woods.

If Harran was claustrophobic and Villedor urban chaos, then Castor Woods is a blend of Gorski Kotar and an 80s horror movie.

A tourist valley that once teemed with hikers, families with backpacks, and the smell of barbecue is now transformed into the most beautiful and eerie playground you could imagine. No more tourists, no more day-trippers, just the forest, decay, and creepy reminders that the world has gone to hell.

First impression? Gorgeous. Yes, I know it sounds strange to say that the apocalypse looks “gorgeous,” but The Beast really goes all-in on contrasts.

The trees rustle in the wind, the swamps smell as if you parked next to a septic tank, and every glance through the canopy reminds you that you are not alone. Zombies, bandits, remnants of human civilization, it’s all here.

Although the action takes place in the Alps, it reminds me more of some American camp where they would film Friday the 13th. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing; on the contrary, I think it’s a top setting.

Walking through Castor Woods is not just passing through a map, but a true postcard of decay. At times, you forget you’re playing a survival horror. You look at the landscape, see the sun’s reflection in the river, birds fleeing before you, and think: “Come on, this is a top destination for a weekend trip.” Then a Viral jumps out of the bushes and bites you on the shoulder, and you quickly return to reality.

Techland has always had a knack for atmosphere, but here they have outdone themselves.

The lighting effects are so good that you almost feel the warmth of the screen. When the moonlight illuminates the muddy pit, you feel like you might slip and fall in.

And the smoke from the ruins merging with the fog? That’s a visual that could stand on a poster for some film festival, not in a game where every other second could literally rip your head off.

What surprised me the most is how each region in Castor Woods has its own identity. One moment you’re exploring an abandoned tourist town, the next you’re in the swamps where you don’t know what smells worse, the decaying corpses or the water itself.

A farm with half-collapsed silos gives the feeling that you’re in some post-apocalyptic western, while the national park has that cold beauty of nature that would be idyllic if it weren’t buried under dead bodies and burned camps.

Every location tells a story. Sometimes through graffiti, sometimes through scattered objects, and sometimes through the silence that pierces the ears. And that’s what The Beast does phenomenally; the atmosphere is at its peak. It has a soul, it has history, and, unfortunately, it has a lot of reasons to make you want to run away headlong.

Okay, the graphics are insane, but the sounds are what really gets on your nerves. The forest is never quiet. Even when you think you're safe, you hear a branch breaking, leaves rustling, and the occasional zombie munching on a corpse. Just when you think it's just ambiance, someone or something runs past you. I've turned around more than once, and I certainly didn't turn around and kiss a zombie right on the nose.

At night it's even worse, I actually crapped myself a couple of times (but otherwise I'm a cool guy).

No matter how beautiful it is, I've concluded that I wouldn't camp there.

Mechanics

The mechanics in Dying Light: The Beast are what set this game apart from other survival horrors and action adventures. Everything that defined the series and previous installments is present here, but elevated to a new level.

Parkour is incredibly fun and remains the best in the industry. The feeling of jumping from rooftop to rooftop, grabbing edges, balancing on planks, or running through tree canopies cannot be compared to any other game.

The controls are intuitive and quickly draw you into the rhythm, but reward those players who learn and perfect their tricks.

While a beginner will simply run across fields and jump over fences, an experienced player will combine wall jumps, zip lines, and acrobatic elements to escape the hordes chasing them. As an addition to this free movement, off-road vehicle driving has also been introduced.

At first, it seems like a nice addition, but after the first moment you crush ten zombies at once, you realize it's a crucial part of survival.

The biggest novelty is definitely Beast Mode, which you unlock at the very beginning of the game, allowing Kyle to become an unstoppable machine of destruction.

As a human, you play standard Dying Light, using weapons, improvising, combining parkour and combat. But when you turn into a beast, everything changes.

Parrying enemies, ripping off heads, using claws and brutal strength, all of this comes with the feeling that you are controlling something you shouldn't.

There are fourteen unique skills related to Beast Mode, each adding a new layer of strategy.

It's not a power you activate for fun; you often use it because you simply have no other choice, and at the beginning, you can't even choose when to activate it. This creates constant tension and a dilemma between how much you will allow yourself to become a monster and how much you want to remain human.

The combat is brutal and visceral. The weapons are more numerous and diverse than ever, with over 140 melee weapons and 17 firearms.

Every hit has weight, and you feel the difference depending on where you strike.

The system with at least twelve zones per enemy means that it matters whether you hit a leg or an arm. The enemy can lose balance, start dragging themselves, or fall to their knees, adding a tactical element to the fight that many survival horrors lack.

Chimeras and boss fights hold a special place, forcing you to approach differently. You can't just hit them until they fall; you have to read their movements, use the environment, and change tactics if you want to survive.

The day and night dynamics remain a hallmark of the series. Daytime is for exploration and relative safety, while night brings pure horror.

During the day, you roam Castor Woods, find resources, craft weapons, and help NPCs. The hordes are there, but they are controlled.

At night, everything goes to hell; volatile enemies come out at night, and your three choices boil down to running, hiding, or fighting to the death (most often yours).

And after ten hours of gameplay, I still get chills when the sun starts to set. That transition from safety to panic is one of the strongest elements of the game and the reason why Dying Light remains unique.

The cooperative mode adds an extra dimension. Up to four players can explore Castor Woods together, and best of all, everything you do is recorded collectively. There's no frustration of one player progressing while another does not.

Everything you discover and go through remains a shared experience. And nothing provokes laughter and chaos like the moment someone panics and activates Beast Mode, tearing apart half the map.

Crafting is also richer than ever. With over ninety blueprints, you can feel like MacGyver in the apocalypse.

Weapons, explosive traps, gadgets, everything can be upgraded or invented from scratch. Side quests often bring unique blueprints and are not just side content, but real little stories worth exploring. Some of them are just as tense as the main plot and fit perfectly into the atmosphere of Castor Woods.

Final Verdict

In the end, I can only say that Dying Light: The Beast hooked me from the start and didn't let go until the last frame.

The atmosphere is phenomenal, Castor Woods is the most beautifully eerie place I've explored in a game in a long time, and the mechanics are fresh enough to keep both old fans and new players glued to the screen.

The story has weight, and Crane is a brutally fun main character.

It's not a game without flaws. Beast Mode is fantastic, but it can be overblown and sometimes dominates the classic style of play too much.

Technically, the game occasionally stutters and doesn't run perfectly smoothly, which can spoil the experience at moments when everything else works like clockwork.

But those are details in a sea of what has been executed excellently, and I believe the developers will address them with the first patch.

For me, The Beast is a game that combines the best elements of the series, returns to its roots, and at the same time takes a step further. It's not perfect, but it's close enough to make you feel like you're playing something special, something that doesn't come out every year.

If you're a fan of the series, this is a must-read. If you're not, this might be the best time to enter the world of Dying Light. Just be prepared: Castor Woods is not a vacation spot, but it's an adventure of a lifetime.

A copy of the game for review purposes was provided by the developer and publisher Techland