Dying Light: The Beast dev defends $60 price because "in every metric" the DLC-turned-game is "bigger, denser, and more advanced than we initially assumed"

Dying Light: The Beast may have started development as DLC for Dying Light 2: Stay Human, but it's worth the full $60 asking price anyway because it's apparently outgrown its expansion origins, according to franchise director Tymon Smektała.

Dying Light: The Beast sees the original game's protag return to the zombie-infested spotlight in what was initially thought to have been a smaller, expansion-sized take on the parkour-focused formula. But at some point along the way, developer Techland thought there was enough (probably rotting) meat on The Beast's bones to take it further.

Speaking to TheThumbWars, Smektała says the game's price is justified because "the game grew" from what was first promised, "especially over a period of six months at the end of last year and the beginning of this year." Techland apparently "kept adding, upgrading, tweaking, leveling up the tech behind the game, and one day we came to a realization that Dying Light: The Beast might as well be the best Dying Light game we ever created."

"In every metric – mission count, minutes of cut-scene, unique characters, new enemy designs, additional content, collectibles, secrets, Easter eggs, you name it - Dying Light: The Beast started modestly, but right now it is bigger, denser, and more advanced than we initially assumed," he continues, before asking doubters to "wait until they see the final package" before judging its full price point.

I'm not one to justify a game's cost by its length, but Smektała is sure to point out that people won't be paying full price for a condensed experience. "Dying Light: The Beast runs well around 20 hours if you follow the main story alone, and side quests and activities easily double that," he says. "My last full playthrough took me about 37 hours, and it wasn't even the completionist one." He previously said there were 20 to 30 hours of extra stuff to do, on top of the game's main 20-hour story.

Dying Light: The Beast will have guns that feel "on par with melee combat," as Techland struggles to solve the series' "complicated" relationship with firearms