As one of many of us who endured theonslaught of zombie games, books, and movies throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s, it might seem wild to say, but I still don’t think I have shaken off the zombie fatigue. Which means that, almost instinctively, when I see a zombie game announced, I glaze over and zone out.
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However, one series that has managed to cut through the mental fogisDying Light,a game that has added grit, unpredictability, and horror to the open-world genre, while also offering a zombie-packed world that wearsits love of the sub-genre on its sleeve.
For me, Dying Light 2 was a departure from this, but having played a zombie-bite-sized chunk of The Beast, I can confirm that this iteration is a return to the series' roots in the best way possible. But, while in Poland exploring the Castor Woods handcrafted by Techland, I was hungry to know more.
So, to find out what else The Beast has in store for fans, and to find out howthis runaway DLCmanaged to mutate into a fully-fledged sequel, I sat down with Nathan Lemaire, the game director for Dying Light: The Beast.
Securing A Safe Room With Nathan Lemaire
Q: Firstly, I want to talk about the process of building this open world. So many games miss the boat on what makes an open world special, but to your credit, you have always made open worlds that are just as fun to exist in with or without a storyline or quests. How have you gone about maintaining that in The Beast?
A: I think it all comes down to the unique ambition we had when we decided to create the Castor Woods. It’s a very unique location inspired by the Eastern Alps, surrounded by mountains, and in this game, we had the intention to be very generous and create a lot of different biomes.
For example, the Old Town is very much your classic Dying Light with lots of parkour opportunities. But with a twist, as we incorporate various levels and verticality. It’s not quite the skyscrapers of Dying Light 2, but it’s not the relatively flat slums of Dying Light either. But you also have zombie-infested areas like Convoys, and you have the national park area, which is all about nature.
I think it’s the perfect blend of beautiful and inviting, while also being a great place to place zombies, as it sparks curiosity, but it’s also grim and dangerous, especially at night.
Q: We see the return of Kyle Crane in this iteration of the game as the title’s main character. For those out of the loop, can you explain Kyle’s situation and how he fits into this game, and what it was like to get a fan favorite character back into the spotlight?
A: So, after the events of Dying Light 1, Kyle went out of Harran, and during the events of Dying Light: The Following, he was captured by The Baron. A scientist who experimented on him for more than a decade. Then, when he escapes, it becomes very clear that the world is very different; he doesn’t know where he is, and he doesn’t know what has become of the world.
The whole team was very excited to bring back Kyle Crane, because he’s your typical hero, he’s a big part of Dying Light’s initial success, and he’s a character that coincided with us levelling up as a company.
But, it’s also great that new players get to meet Kyle, as we see The Beast as a very accessible game for new players, as it’s as new to Kyle as it is to you. There are nods to older games, and you might find that when Kyle is in conversation and someone mentions something, he will respond, ‘Yes, I remember, I was there. '
I think it’s the perfect jumping-in point for new players right now, because it is an accumulation of everything we have learned through Dying Light and Dying Light 2. It’s also a straightforward revenge story with a clear motivation, and obviously, we have packed lots of zombies into the world to verify there are satisfying combat opportunities around every corner.
Q: While I understand that this game began its life as a DLC, it has morphed into something bigger. How did that come to be?
Yeah, so this is pretty much what happened. This game transformed into Dying Light: The Beast because we saw a lot of potential in our ideas, whether that was the setting of the Castor Woods, or the gameplay, the things we could have never achieved if we had settled on creating a DLC as this experience.
So, at some point, we said, ‘Let’s assume that we want to do something special, let’s assume we want to reach our full potential.’
Q: One thing that’s noticeable about this iteration of the game is that there’s a lot more focus on ballistics as opposed to the other games that seemed to have a much more melee-first design. What prompted this change, and how have you managed to maintain that balance between the old and the new?
A: I think the main thing we wanted to achieve was that players have a need to balance both. The simplest way to achieve that for us was through scarcity, because guns need ammunition, and ammo is not readily accessible. It means you need to be careful and choose carefully how you use this ammo. Not to mention, aiming carefully to make every bullet count.
Then, on top of that, we tried to ensure that melee or gunplay was a choice rather than one always being more useful than the other every time. For example, guns simply don’t work with a stealthy approac,h as there are so many things that are attracted to noise. But equally, guns give you the opportunity to defeat enemies from range when it’s needed.
But, to lean into guns, you need to invest in shops, you need to be visiting various convoys around the map, and side activities.
Q: The Classic Day/Night Cycle also makes a return in this game, and there seems to be a real attempt to lean into the horror aspect that made night-time exploring so thrilling and pulse-raising in the first game. How important was it to get this right, and was it your intention to make this game much more like the original?
A: Absolutely, that was completely our intention. When we started working on this game, one of the first things we discussed was putting focus back on the Volatiles, the night, andmaking things super scary.You need to fear them, because they will kill you, no question.
The only time this might not be true is when you use your own beast powers to turn the tables, and this will give you a window to fight back, kill a few, and get away to safety. It was a very cool challenge, and we wanted to make sure that running and escaping from Volatiles felt different in each biome as well.
We wanted to find that perfect balance between moments of safety and being chased everywhere. It was a hard challenge, but a fun one.
Q: And mechanically speaking, how does this iteration of the night differ from that featured in the original Dying Light?
A: So we wanted to make it a much more immersive experience, and one thing we really wanted to push wasthe clarity of stealth, and where the volatiles are relative to the player. you’re able to see them with your Survivor Sense.
But you may also tell when they begin to notice you, and when they actually spot you. Plus, they are more intelligent than before, with a more logical sequence of events when it comes to patrolling and chasing.
Q: Alongside the new combat focus, the open world feels different too, with a more sparse, rural feel with lots more neutral open spaces and woodland areas. How difficult was it to implement this while maintaining the rush of the game’s free-flowing parkour mechanics?
A: When it comes to the natural areas and the areas that are more flat, it’s more about breaking the line of sight of the zombies. But it’s also being careful about noises, as there aren’t a lot of unique ways to evade or escape if you are spotted.
However, there is a trade-off because while it is much harder to get away from a volatile when they spot you in the national park, for example, it’s also a lot harder for them to see you as there are a lot more opportunities to break their line of sight, the chance to duck and hide in pushes.
Whereas in the city, you’re always running at pace and circling around to avoid volatiles. It’s a change, but one that offers a wide set of opportunities for players.
Q: And mechanically, is there anything that you would recommend that the player use in Dying Light: The Beast to make it through these areas without attracting Volatiles?
A: Yes, so you’re able to use decoys like Firecrackers to draw the attention of zombies. Then, later in the game, you unlock the ability to camouflage, where you use zombie guts to make yourself effectively invisible to zombies unless you break and attack them. Then you also have your UV light to stun them as well, but there are a lot of other tools at your disposal as well.
Q: We saw that just a few weeks ago, you guys dropped yet another update for the Original Dying Light, a game that remains popular with a strong concurrent player base today. Will The Beast signal a change in focus, or will you continue to support the other games in the series?
A:So, as you say, with Dying Light 1, we just launched a new update two weeks ago. With Dying Light 2, when we launched that game, we had promised a five-year post-launch, and we are celebrating our third anniversary this year for this game.
So that gives you a clear idea of how much time we will still be committing to older projects. But as for what’s next, we are just fully focused on delivering The Beast, and then when that’s done, we can talk more about post-launch plans, but it’s something we only want to discuss in the future.
Q: It’s evident that you guys have really gone out of your way to try and give players as many fun and destructive tools to experiment with in this zombie sandbox. To put you on the spot, can you reveal a few of your favorites: weapons, skills, whatever works for you?
A:Oh, I have a lot. But I think the one I am most happy about is the Flamethrower. It’s a lot of fun to run around, flame everyone, but at the same time, it uses fuel, and it’s fuel that I then can’t use for my car to get around. So there is always a choice to be made, and it’s a weapon that eats a lot of munitions.
Q: And speaking of cars, it’s a system that is not only very well implemented with solid navigation and tight driving mechanics, but one that is very necessary to get around in this more sparse, rural setting. What was the process of adding this to Dying Light, and if I could be so bold, was Days Gone’s fuel system an inspiration for how your vehicles work in-game?
A: So, the vehicle wasn’t a very difficult thing to implement in the game, as we had our main programmer at Techland who had worked on racing games back in the day. But, it was an interesting story as it started off as a faint possibility and then grew in quality from there. Then we started adding more and more features as we had the time to do it.
So we started adding windshield wipers that could wipe away the rain and the blood, and then kept adding more and more, to the point that it’s much better than we ever expected it to be. I’m always so impressed by this team’s ability to pull off new things that they have never done before.
Q: Seeing as they are your rival competitor in this space, can I be so bold as to ask what you think sets your title apart from the newly galvanized Dead Island franchise, and indeed, if there’s anything that you have taken inspiration from in that series’ recent sequel?
A:So, we are all fans of games, and when a new zombie game or open world game comes along, they are always something to observe and learn from. But for us, it’s more about understanding where the trends are in the market we are aiming for, and for Dying Light: The Beast in particular, we wanted to focus on creating a unique world that has never been seen before.
A lot of this was made possible because we used our own in-house engine, as we don’t use Unreal Engine 5, for example. But we are also expanding on everything that we have learned. That said, we are always looking at other games for inspiration and new ideas because I think that’s something that, as an industry, makes us stronger.
Q: Then lastly, Dying Light as a series has always had a bit of a comical side, despite the rather bleak setting and subject matter, with lots of pop culture references and humor packed into the previous games. The Beast seems like it’s more of the same in that regard. So I want to ask, what aspect of the game’s more humorous side do you enjoy the most?
A: I have two, but one is sadly a side quest that he hasn’t shown anywhere, so I cannot mention this. But the other is the physicality of the zombies. I think we went back to our roots by pushing for realism and creating a gritty atmosphere. But also, you’ll see that zombies are tripping on ledges more often, as they aren’t the smartest sometimes.
This might lead to one zombie tripping and hitting another zombie, and this might be a gas tank zombie, and this triggers their gas tank and they shoot off into the air, and this explosion may attract some Volatiles, and you need to run away.
The game is filled with moments like this, and what I love about this is that everyone has their own funny story that is unique to them, and with co-op, these possibilities only expand further.
