Tymon Smektała, the director of Dying Light: The Beast, has a unique perspective on the game’s place in the series. To him and the development team, it feels like Dying Light 3, despite not being billed as an official third installment.
The first Dying Light was a hardcore survival horror game that focused on community and high-level survival skills. In contrast, Dying Light 2 was a commercial success but lost some of the horror and tension that defined the original. Smektała spoke to Gamesradar+ about the game’s development and the balancing act between horror and action.
Dying Light: The Beast is a standalone game, but Smektała considers it the series’ third entry. “For us, it’s Dying Light 3,” he says. Although it may not be introducing enough new elements to be a traditional sequel, it has enough content to be a AAA game.
The team also focused on balancing the game’s firearms, which has been a point of contention among players. Smektała jokingly compares the relationship between the game and guns to a complicated Facebook relationship status. In the first game, players felt that guns didn’t belong, while in the second game, they wanted more guns. The team is working to address this feedback and find a balance between melee combat and firearms.
Smektała believes that Dying Light: The Beast has found a good balance between guns and melee combat. The game will have firearms, but they won’t overpower the close-quarters combat that the series is known for.
Dying Light: The Beast is set to release on August 22 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.