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I didn't realize how much I'd missed Crane until I started Dying Light: The Beast. The Hero of Harran is still very much the one I remember from the first game some ten years ago, except this time, he's a bit different.
For starters, he's got one nasty temper and a foul mouth to boot. I don't recall this many F-bombs being thrown out at quite so lightning-fast a speed in Dying Light 1, and as Kyle casually threatens to tear yet another NPC's head off if they don't hurry up and get to the point, I find it oddly charming. I totally see why Techland tweaked Infected Kyle's personality a touch for The Beast; he's still the helpful neighborhood superman we all know and love. He's just a bit hardened from those 13 years spent in captivity. But if Kyle's fiery new temper wasn't enough of a reason to love the guy, the fact that he's an absolute weapon certainly is. Presenting: Action Man, the game.
A hero's welcome
Dying Light: The Beast review – "A playful sandbox of horror and mayhem with a surprising amount of depth"
"I'm getting too old for this," Kyle Crane mutters to himself as he pulls off yet another solo suicide mission – this time, into a Volatile nest of all places – virtually unscathed.
He might be a little older since his last outing in Dying Light: The Following, but given how sharp his combat and parkour moves are, you'd think he hadn't aged a day.
Dying Light: The Beast is a power fantasy that shines best when you're a little underpowered. Beast Mode, Kyle's newfound Infected skill where he rages out like a zombified Hulk and tears Biters apart with his fists, is a testament to that. It charges up as he deals or takes damage, meaning you're rewarded either way, but my favorite Beast Mode moments come when I use it as an "oh shit" button. Namely, when I'm getting my ass handed to me by a swarm of aggressive Biters.
Techland wasn't playing around when it delivered the release patch, citing that enemy aggression and pathing would be heightened to make the whole experience more challenging. I can confirm that they are way, way grabbier than they were when I played the review build, though the addition of a quick release button means that Kyle always has a chance of wriggling out of a bad situation. Or, of course, he can release The Beast and demolish the lot.
My weapon of choice is knuckledusters – what can I say, I like a guy covered in his enemy's gore – and the great thing about that preference is that Kyle kind of always feels beastly as a result.
The satisfying wet pop of bone and sinew beneath fist never gets old as he sucker punches his way through Castor Woods, and paired with the ability to simply grapple hook away from a horde as quick as I picked the fight in the first place, it's easy for me to find a calming flow state among the carnage.
It's a feeling I call Action Man Mode. Essentially, when Kyle feels nimble and reflexive in the presence of a foe – not necessarily more powerful than it, but wholly capable thanks to an arsenal of tools. The game feels tactical in that sense, with Beast Mode just one of many surprises up my bloodied sleeve as I explore the tight yet thriving environs of Castor Woods.
Sneaky shoes on
That feeling of always being this close to certain doom is one that stays with me
A great example of this is during one particular mission where Kyle must explore an abandoned psychiatric hospital in search of a particular kind of medicine. I won't spoil this one for you, because it's probably my favorite Dying Light: The Beast story quest of the bunch, but it requires a lot of stealth.
Sneaking through the corridors, silent save for the ragged wheezing and groaning of various sleeper Biters and plenty of roaming Volatiles, Kyle feels nothing if not vulnerable. One wrong move, and this whole place turns into a bloodbath – my blood, that is – yet I'm still able to move smooth as a ghost and dispatch the Infected with quiet stealth takedowns. That is, of course, until it all goes to hell, and I'm suddenly in fight or flight mode.
Let me tell you right now: I could have tried taking on all 400 of these enemies. I could have maybe gotten through half of them without being overwhelmed. But Kyle's just as quick as he is a heavy-hitter, so I have no qualms with simply barrelling through the crowds and throwing some punches where possible. Kyle says something incredulous. I, too, am incredulous. But he made it through by the skin of his teeth, and that feeling of always being this close to certain doom is one that stays with me throughout the game.
I'm grateful that rather than making the whole thing a breeze or dampening the fear factor – trust me it still takes long time to kill a Volatile even with the best Dying Light: The Beast skills – Beast mode allows Techland to make good on its promise to give us more ways to skin the proverbial cat. Or, in this case, Chimera. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to make Kyle one angry Action Man all over again.
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