Dying Gentle: The Beast was as soon as going to be an enlargement to the primary recreation, but it surely grew to be so large that developer Techland ultimately spun it off right into a standalone expertise. It isn’t Dying Gentle 3, however the workforce informed me it feels The Beast is the most effective model of what the Dying Gentle sequence has been because it debuted a decade in the past. I performed half-hour of The Beast throughout Summer season Recreation Fest Play Days 2025, and although its story nonetheless appears to be a comic-booky saga I battle to get invested in, I’m positively on board for a few of what’s it is bringing–and bringing back–to the sequence.
My demo began simply earlier than dusk, and if Dying Gentle, it isn’t really easy to outlive when the solar goes down. The new map in The Beast options plenty of forest space, which I actually appreciated enjoying in. A developer informed me the sport is supposed to be scarier than earlier than, and the signature parkour gameplay has truly been dialed again somewhat bit to match The Beast protagonist Kyle Crane’s canon skills. He cannot soar fairly so far as Dying Gentle 2: Keep Human’s Aiden Caldwell, which grounds the sport a bit, whilst a lot of it stays over-the-top.
Crane is a fan-favorite protagonist from the primary recreation and returns to this one on a revenge mission, chasing down the person who ruined his life. The story in these video games resonates with a large number of its followers, however I’ve not counted myself amongst them. I do not count on The Beast to alter that, however the sequence has all the time achieved its core gameplay targets, and that facet appears effectively in place as soon as extra.
One change is the return of weapons, which have by no means been (and nonetheless will not be) in plentiful provide. But as a result of Crane will encounter some closely armed troopers at occasions, gamers will be capable of take their weapons, like an assault rifle, shotgun, and–totally new to the series–a flamethrower that labored effectively as a room-clearing device.
Driving is again, too, which Techland beforehand launched in Dying Gentle: The Following, an enlargement for the unique Dying Gentle. As an alternative of the buggy featured within the enlargement, I drove a hefty pick-up truck, which helped me shortly transport some supplies I wanted for a mission. This was significantly better than lugging them by hand, and the driving mechanics felt nice. I discovered Techland used to make rally racing video games earlier than Dying Gentle, and the identical designer answerable for these mechanics remains to be at Techland at the moment and helped deliver the driving gameplay to life in Dying Gentle: The Beast. Driving was plenty of enjoyable, and although the map will typically naturally limit the place gamers can drive, the alternatives to take action do not feel like lacking the purpose regardless of the sequence’ emphasis on working and parkour strikes.
One of many Dying Gentle’s nice strengths has all the time been the open-endedness of navigating its world. The parkour makes the panorama your playground, and I obtained to mess with a number of methods for problem-solving in a single encounter. Recognizing some armed guards up forward, I sneakily dashed away to scale a close-by constructing, dodging zombies on the floor stage. When I reached the highest, I pulled out a decoy grenade and despatched the undead horde towards the guards. As they reduce into one another’s numbers, I crept onward towards my goal. Up forward, extra guards rested atop the constructing, and it was right here I leaned into the sport’s finest fight maneuver: the dropkick.
I mentioned I have not all the time loved the sequence’ comic-booky aspect, however right here, I was all too happy to missile-dropkick anybody and everybody who stood in my approach. Just like the I Assume You Ought to Depart sketch by which Tim Robinson’s character refuses to cease fake-pouring water on his colleague throughout a piece seminar, I sensed the dev accompanying me on my demo was astounded at how dedicated to the transfer I was. My melee weapons did not degrade, my ammo was plentiful, all as a result of I simply could not cease dropkicking each face I noticed, be it grossly mushy or tactically masked.
I performed the second recreation like this at occasions, too. The physics of the transfer is simply too satisfying to disregard. It is simply an excessive amount of enjoyable. I know I was type of defying how the demo was anticipated to go, however I’ve performed plenty of Dying Gentle through the years, so I felt like I might take this second and actually indulge my base needs: dropkicking each ambulating humanoid I encountered like prime Dolph Ziggler.
“When you kill that man, you will get his gun,” the dev informed me earlier than I dropkicked the armed soldier off of a roof.
“The bow and arrow is a one-shot if you happen to hit them within the head,” he later mentioned, hinting I ought to give it a whirl, earlier than I unequipped it and launched a number of guys right into a vent with my toes.
“Now that you have enhanced the axe, it’s going to instantly soar to your stage. It was a Stage 6 weapon, however you are Stage 9, so enhancing it has made it a Stage 9. We wished gamers to have the ability to take their favourite weapons with them all through the sport in the event that they actually discover one they love,” he defined. “I see,” I replied, earlier than I pocketed it and dropkicked a number of extra zombies right into a wall.
I apologized, however the transfer is just too good, I mentioned. He appeared to get it.
Dying Gentle: The Beast advantages from years of updates to Dying Gentle 2, whereas additionally pulling in parts from the primary that Techland wished to revisit. This mixture of outdated and new appears like it may make the 20-hour recreation (40 to 60 for completionists) effectively price it if you happen to’re already invested within the sequence. I’m trying ahead to driving extra, exploring a brand new, scarier atmosphere, and testing the weapon enhancement system in these uncommon moments when I elect to do something aside from Roddy Piper the undead in each avenue, rooftop, and forest I run by means of.