Ten years ago, Techland released the original Dying Light which quickly became one of the most talked about and thriving zombie games. A few short years ago, we got the release of the game’s sequel. Now, we’re on the way to getting third entry in the series in just two months, yet not numbered, known as Dying Light: The Beast. At Summer Games Fest, we got to go hands-on with the game for the first time, and it was a tense journey through the demo.

Dying Light: The Beast sees the return of the first game’s protagonist Kyle Crane as he seeks vengeance on “The Baron” who had captured and experimented on Crane over the course of the past thirteen years since the original game. These experiments have also given Crane special powers which is called “Beast Mode” in game which turns him into a suped up nightmare for the zombie and human enemies alike.

The demo we played had us in a city and needed us to get to a specific building to see what “The Baron” was up to with his experiments. Traversal is one of the best part of the series with its parkour focus and the city we were in was the perfect playground for that. There will be other areas that parkour might not be the best, but there will be other traversal options such as vehicles to get around those areas. Our demo ended with a boss encounter with one of the many “Freaks” you’ll come across throughout your journey, and this ramped up the difficulty more than any other enemy before that. I couldn’t even make it out of the encounter before I ran out of time.

The developers are proud of the new additions to the game as well. There are new weather effects such as heavy rain that will soften the noise you make and cause either a reduction or increase in damage to some elemental attacks. Then, obviously, being out at nighttime in the games isn’t the best idea, and in Dying Light: The Beast the developers wanted to make the dark even more terrifying making it a time for only the most courageous players to want to experience.

The game is set to be an open world, aside from “The Baron’s” headquarters, and will be a 20+ hour experience. When asked why they decided not just make this game Dying Light 3,  they developers told us that while this game is a step forward for the series with what they are doing, they are waiting until they are able to truly evolve the series before they hit their next numbered entry.

Dying Light: The Beast releases on August 22, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC.