Apart from the authentic and immersive zombie apocalypse experience it offers, Techland’s Dying Light series has always been known for its parkour system, which allows players to run and leap across rooftops, walls, and zombies themselves as they either avoid or attempt to outrun hordes of infected. While Dying Light: The Beast introduces new elements to gameplay, like its titular Beast Mode, it still retains that iconic parkour, though it tends to manifest in a new way thanks to the game’s unique setting of Castor Woods.
Unlike previous entries in the series, Dying Light: The Beast‘s open world is far less dense than it has ever been. Its predecessors have largely been framed around urban environments, and while those are still very much present in the latest entry, players will find themselves running across more open areas than they ever have before in a Dying Light game. However, this also lends to a beauty in perspective that past installments haven’t been able to offer. Especially when players climb up to the game’s tallest points, they’ll feel for a moment like they aren’t in a zombie apocalypse at all — and this is part of the magic that sets Dying Light: The Beast apart from the past two games.
Apart from its new emphasis on driving vehicles through the zombie-infested Castor Woods, Dying Light: The Beast‘s preferred mode of travel is still the series’ parkour system. With it, players can run across rooftops and (mostly) avoid the dangers of the world, so long as they deal with the few infected they occasionally encounter on those rooftops. Even when they’re out in the open of Castor Woods, there are plenty of rocks to climb, as well as occasional safe zones, giving players more than enough ways to escape danger.
However, something unique about Dying Light: The Beast compared to the series’ previous entries is just how beautiful its open world is and just how high players can get to witness it. There are smokestacks in the game’s open world that, when climbed, offer an incredible view of Castor Woods, showing off the impeccable painstaking detail Techland has poured into it and giving players a brief moment of respite as they simply take in the view. It’s not the first time players have been able to climb a tall structure in a Dying Light game, but it is the first time an entry has had a world as beautiful as Castor Woods to look at while they’re up there.
But the real beauty of these moments isn’t even wholly in the way that they look, but in what they represent. Being able to witness such a breathtaking view from up high during a zombie apocalypse suggests something deeper than any view on the ground can provide. Up there, in those moments of solitude as players witness the sunrise peaking over the trees of Castor Woods and hear the gusts of wind pressing against them, it acts as a time capsule of sorts, where players are taken back to a time when things were simpler and the world was alive rather than walking dead.
Using Dying Light: The Beast‘s parkour to evade the infected on the ground is one thing, but taking advantage of the shift in perspective that it offers puts a whole new spin on it that the game’s predecessors have fallen short of. In the past, parkour has largely been little more than a mode of travel and a method for staying safe, but Dying Light: The Beast positions its parkour as a way for players to witness a world that appears untouched by a zombie apocalypse — even if it is only an illusion.
September 19, 2025
M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Use of Drugs
Online Co-Op
