Dying Light: The Beast dev reveals the unlikely inspiration for Kyle Crane's new abilities – "I think of Pac-Man as a survival horror game"

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No, he doesn't eat the zombies... I hope.

Dying Light: The Beast
(Image credit: Techland)

Dying Light: The Beast may be a gritty zombie survival simulator filled with gore and horror, but it turns out this new entry was inspired by none other than Pac-Man for one of its mechanics.

At Summer Game Fest 2025 we learned that Dying Light: The Beast is launching on August 22, almost a year after it was unveiled at Gamescom Opening Night Live in 2024. During that Gamescom demo last year, we were reintroduced to Kyle Crane, who has just returned from a lovely little getaway in which he was held captive and experimented on for over a decade. As a result of this, he now has access to a "beast mode," which turns him into a near-unstoppable force who punches zombies and throws whatever he finds lying about.

Scott McCrae
Scott McCrae
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Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He's typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.

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