Dying Light: The Beast – Everything we know so far
Dying Light: The Beast was revealed by developer Techland at Gamescom 2024 as the explosive return of the franchise’s original protagonist Kyle Crane. This is the first new entry in the parkour horror franchise since 2022’s Dying Light 2 (aka one of the best horror games of all time), and it turns out that certain players of the sequel will actually be able to grab the new standalone game for free.
There’s still a lot of information to come out about Techland’s new game, but here’s everything we know about Dying Light: The Beast so far. From its potential release window to gameplay, trailers, and more, you’ll find all the details below.
Speculation about the release date of Dying Light: The Beast
There is currently no news on the release date of Dying Light: The Beast – not even a tentative release date has been announced. This leads us to conclude that one should definitely not expect The Beast to hit the market until the first half of 2025 at the latest, and possibly not even next year.
A few years ago, it would have been reasonable to assume that Dying Light: The Beast would be released next year, in 2025. Given what we now know about modern game development cycles and how they are getting longer and longer, it could well be that The Beast won’t be released until 2026, four years after Dying Light 2 first came out. We’ll keep you posted as we get more updates.
Dying Light: The Beast platforms
We know that Dying Light: The Beast will be released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S at launch.
Unfortunately, The Beast will definitely not be coming to last-gen consoles, and is actually the first game in the Dying Light series that will not be available across multiple console generations. If you need a refresher before the new game comes out, check out our Dying Light 2 review!
Is Dying Light: The Beast a DLC or a standalone game?
Well, here’s an interesting situation. Speaking to GamesRadar+ at Gamescom 2024, Dying Light series director Tymon Smektala explained that development on The Beast actually started as a DLC expansion for Dying Light 2, but eventually morphed into a fully standalone game. This coincided in part with an expanded scope, but also with a pretty serious leak that saw several story details for The Beast leak online.
There is, however, a connection to Dying Light 2. It turns out that anyone who purchased the Ultimate Edition of Dying Light 2 can get The Beast completely free, with no additional cost. Techland is basically doing this as a “thank you” to its backers. However, the developer has also announced that the Ultimate Edition of the horror sequel will be removed from digital stores in the near future, so act fast.
How long is Dying Light: The Beast?
Actually, we already know the answer to this question: Dying Light: The Beast will last over 18 hours in total length, according to a tweet from developer Techland shortly after the unveiling.
As we developed Dying Light: The Beast, it has grown beyond its original scope. We are now delivering a full 18+ hour long standalone adventure rather than just one DLC. We will keep our promise to our long-time backers and deliver Dying Light: The Beast for the current Ultimate…23 August 2024
Since developers and publishers usually like to advertise the maximum possible game length, it is very likely that the 18 hours or so will include not only the main story, but also optional side content.
Dying Light: The Beast trailer
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It’s the trailer above that announced Dying Light: The Beast to the world at Gamescom 2024. The trailer introduces the new game’s overarching storyline, which sees returning protagonist Kyle Crane embark on a quest for vengeance against the mysterious people who held him captive for over a decade.
It turns out that Crane has been infected with zombie DNA, giving him the super-powerful abilities we see in the trailer above. Furthermore, The Beast trailer makes it abundantly clear that Crane actually survived the events of both the original Dying Light and its DLC expansion, The Following.
Can I pre-order Dying Light: The Beast?
It is currently not possible to pre-order Dying Light: The Beast on the digital stores for PC, PS5 or Xbox Series X/S.
In addition, it is not possible to pre-order the new Techland game in brick-and-mortar stores. Therefore, we do not yet know how much the new game will cost or if it will even be released as a brick-and-mortar game.
For more brand new titles coming next year and beyond, check out our upcoming PS5 games Guide to a list of Sony exclusives and our upcoming Xbox Series X/S games Guide to looking at Microsoft’s titles.
