"For us, it really is Dying Light 3": Techland admits Dying Light 2 "lost the horror, lost the tension," but says The Beast is "the best Dying Light that we have ever made"

Dying Light: The Beast isn't officially Dying Light 3, but it has evolved from Dying Light 2 DLC into its own standalone game, and the folks at Techland say it's meaty enough to constitute a full-blown sequel.

Among everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2025, we learned that Dying Light: The Beast is launching on August 22 across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. In the wake of that reveal, PC Gamer sat down with Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektała, who was candid about some of the less-than-favorable comparisons between Dying Light 2 and its acclaimed predecessor.

"Dying Light 1 was a game for our core community. It was a hardcore survival horror, open-world, action adventure with very strong survival aspects," he said. "For Dying Light 2, we forgot about it. The game was a commercial success, but the players who should be closest to our hearts said we kind of lost the edge, we lost the threat, we lost the horror, we lost the tension."

As someone who gleefully logged dozens upon dozens of hours in Dying Light 1, but couldn't get into Dying Light 2, it excites me to no end that Techland used the original game as a template for The Beast.

Even still, with the new game starting out as Dying Light 2 DLC, it's been hard for me not only to shake that association but also view it as anything more than a standalone expansion. Apparently, that perception is dead wrong, as The Beast has a whole new setting and characters, with Smektała saying it took him around 37 hours to finish his latest playthrough.

"For us, it really is Dying Light 3," he said, later adding that the only reason it isn't a full-fat numbered sequel is because "it doesn't bring this very spectacular breakthrough new feature that maybe you would expect from the next numbered entry in the series," even though it's "a very proper triple-A game" and "very chunky."

The Beast brings back original Dying Light protagonist Kyle Crane as its main character, and now that he's out of captivity he's thirsty for revenge against the Baron, the scientist who's been experimenting on Crane and giving him supernatural powers. I suppose, in hindsight, that should've been my clue that Techland listened to fans wanting more Dying Light 1 influence in the series' next game. Count me in.

In the meantime, here are the best horror games to play tonight.