Dying Light: The Beast – The First Preview

So overmuch of Dying Light is informed by the series’ melee-first design. Its interaction tin beryllium seen successful the harm strategy that causes its grotesque zombies to autumn isolated with each slash of your blade, arsenic good arsenic the limb crafting, which turns household tools into hilariously impractical sidesplitting machines. And, of course, it influences the parkour movement, which allows you to support good distant from chewing teeth and clawing hands.

So what happens erstwhile you adhd guns to this close-quarters formula? And I don’t mean 1 oregon 2 rusty pistols, but a full armoury stocked with shotguns, battle rifles, and plentiful ammo. That’s a question the adjacent crippled successful the series, Dying Light: The Beast, poses. The reply is not the evident one. Far from transforming into a regular first-person shooter, guns person turned Techland’s latest into thing that feels person to Crysis oregon adjacent (if you squint a bit) Dishonored. They’re different furniture of an progressively varied toolset that ensures each brushwood is simply a sandbox solved by your ain rules.

For this month’s IGN First, I was capable to play an hour-long ngo from an aboriginal conception of Dying Light: The Beast. This meant stepping into the combat boots of Kyle Crane, the returning protagonist of the archetypal Dying Light. Held hostage and experimented connected for 13 years by a shadowy fig known lone arsenic The Baron, I articulation Kyle a fewer hours into his quest for revenge. Deep wrong the new, overmuch much agrarian portion of Castor Woods, I infiltrate 1 of The Baron’s factories. And, lasting connected the facility’s roof, I realise my options are much varied than the past clip I played Dying Light.

Using Kyle’s heightened “survivor” senses (a payment of each those experiments helium endured), I’m capable to item the patrolling members of The Baron’s militia. Some are marked successful orange, portion others are red; an denotation of who is equipped with melee weapons oregon guns, respectively. It’s a colour-coded menace level that helps maine acceptable up a program of action. Yes, it’s each precise Batman: Arkham.

I commencement close successful beforehand of maine with a blissfully unaware bowman. Approaching silently, I execute a melee takedown utilizing a shiv I’ve crafted – overmuch faster than choking him retired – and past swipe the bow from his corpse. Bows were, of course, successful Dying Light 2, but kept retired of scope until the backmost fractional of the game. Their earlier instauration successful The Beast promises a greater level of engagement options crossed the campaign, particularly considering their ranged stealth potential.

Notching an arrow, I headshot the bowman’s buddies, including a rifle-wielding sniper connected the other roof. No 1 hears him slump to the floor, truthful I’m escaped to parkour crossed and adhd his weapon to my collection. Once again, my engagement opportunities expand: nary longer constricted to firing azygous arrows and enduring agelong gully speeds, I tin instrumentality retired groups of charging melee enemies earlier they marque it into striking range… though everyone astir maine volition cognize precisely what’s going on. Might arsenic good marque a spectacle of it, then.

I dive down to the extortion below, wherever a further 2 riflemen, a squad of brawlers, and – delightfully – a heap of explosive state canisters await. The dive triggers a slow-motion effect. It’s hardly the slick slug clip of Max Payne and the aged FEAR games, feeling much arsenic if you’re abruptly travelling done sticky aerial alternatively than becoming John Wick, but it nevertheless successfully emphasises Kyle’s subject background.

With this expanded toolkit, Dying Light’s encounters person graduated into a abstraction akin to Crysis and Far Cry’s sandboxes. Using Kyle’s subsister consciousness allows you to methodically region enemies with guns from the playing tract earlier going toe-to-toe with little unsafe foes. Flowing fluidly from stealth takedowns to soundless headshots to shell-sputtering shoot-outs allowed maine greater power implicit the abstraction than I’ve travel to expect from the typically messy melees of Dying Light 2. Combined with the parkour, which makes a respectable stand-in for teleportation, there’s adjacent a small of Dishonored’s strategy to beryllium recovered here, excessively – albeit little elegant successful execution. My anticipation is that, beyond the boundaries of this demo, determination are encounters that promote a beardown assortment of approaches.

I’ve crushed to beryllium hopeful. As I research Castor Woods, I brushwood a zombie wearing a artillery battalion that detonates connected contact, sending arcing forks of energy done the horde. Another wears an explosive canister connected its backmost – conscionable 1 bully changeable volition crook him and his buddies into barbeque. Talking of seared flesh, I aboriginal get a flamethrower. It’s wide that determination are plentifulness of toys to experimentation with, and I anticipation that Techland is playful capable to usage these elements to coax players into cleverly absurd solutions for clearing retired the undead and deadly alike.

It’s worthy noting that Techland has upped its crippled erstwhile it comes to stealth, too. The bow, shivs, and tools similar throwing knives are people each precise bully astatine silently dispatching quality opponents, but there’s present a method for softly avoiding zombies, too. Taking much than a fewer pages from The Walking Dead’s book, you tin present smear yourself successful undead guts successful bid to disguise your quality scent, and past casually locomotion done the horde. It’s a elemental stealth tool, but 1 that’s incredibly evocative of the fabrication Dying Light revels in.

But Kyle isn’t peculiar due to the fact that helium tin usage a weapon oregon instrumentality a bath successful a zombie’s insides. Those aforementioned experiments person turned him into the titular Beast. It’s a akin backstory to that of Aiden Caldwell, the protagonist of Dying Light 2, but wherever Aiden’s corruption gave him immoderate zombie-like superhuman abilities, Kyle has go thing overmuch person to a leaping wrecking ball. Triggered astatine volition aft taking and dealing capable harm to capable a meter, Beast Mode allows you to teardrop regular enemies isolated with gory animations akin to Doom’s Glory Kills. A thunderous crushed lb violently throws foes to the 7 winds – utilizing it indoors is efficaciously a surface hitch attack, sending zombies splattering into the walls and ceiling. All this came successful useful against the demo’s last boss, a towering “Chimera” zombie known arsenic a Behemoth, which is susceptible of hurling motor blocks and factual boulders crossed the arena. The Behemoth has a fig of easy recognised onslaught patterns, but the situation is successful its resilience, arsenic good arsenic the fig of minions that shamble aft you. With Beast Mode engaged, I was capable to easy wide those mobs and inflict large harm spikes against the boss.

But arsenic overmuch arsenic going toe-to-toe with different beast is bully fun, I’m really much funny successful the inferior aspects of Kyle’s mutations. Techland tells maine that playtesters person utilized the Beast mode’s extended leap quality to bypass full parkour challenges. And truthful it’s the unconventional uses of these abilities that committedness to articulation the likes of guns and camouflaging yourself with guts successful ensuring that The Beast feels similar a meaningful upgrade implicit its predecessor.

The scope of this demo was beauteous constricted – successful fact, it was mostly a playable mentation of the hands-off presumption I saw astatine gamescom past year, and truthful determination is astir surely much to spot successful time. But being capable to rotation astir this tiny portion of the satellite connected my ain clip allowed maine to bask immoderate of the smaller details. The satellite feels similar a important upgrade implicit Dying Light 2, not truthful overmuch successful level plan (although overmuch of what I liked astir the aged municipality conception of Villedor returns) but successful atmosphere. The caller upwind effects strategy is exceptional, with storms drenching the scenery with dense rainfall and winds whipping trees, bushes, and agelong writer into a frenzy. And erstwhile the prima sets, the airy truly does die. It’s astir intolerable to spot during the witching hour, forcing you to sparingly usage your flashlight to navigate betwixt the patrol paths of the overmuch much hard nighttime terrors. Long-time fans who conifer for the scarier nights of the archetypal crippled should hopefully beryllium good catered for.

When I near my assignment with Techland astatine gamescom past year, I was somewhat skeptical arsenic to however guns would impact the halfway ideas Dying Light is built on. Naturally, the workplace wanted to amusement disconnected its caller toys, and that hands-off demo was played mostly arsenic a shooter. But having had the accidental to play myself, successful which I had the bureau to take erstwhile and wherever guns were deployed, I rapidly learned that firearms are conscionable 1 constituent of Dying Light: The Beast, not the main attraction. Their addition, alongside what feels similar a strengthened inclusion of the bow and the series’ galore trademark DIY melee solutions, made the demo’s encounters consciousness richer and much textured. Each combat script felt similar a occupation with a twelve solutions, alternatively than the melee mosh pits that I typically recovered myself successful portion playing Dying Light 2.

The question present is however each this evolves implicit the wider game. There are respective tools and weapons that I didn’t get extended oregon immoderate clip astatine each with, specified arsenic the aforementioned flamethrower and oddities similar a throwable daze knife, and truthful my anticipation is that The Beast perpetually adds weapons with unsocial utilities to the toolkit. And then, of course, there’s your mutations; each Chimera you termination allows you to inject much freaky DNA into your veins and unlock a accomplishment histrion of powers. I tin lone anticipation that the further down those branches you go, the much chaotic your quality acceptable becomes. And provided the run continues to connection up absorbing challenges that promote the usage of some abilities and tools, past I deliberation The Beast could beryllium a overmuch much absorbing sequel than it initially appears to be.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor.