Not many fans were expecting an announcement from Techland at Gamescom this year, but during the Opening Night Live presentation, the zombie franchise returned to life. Titled Dying Light: The Beast, this will be a brand-new game that brings back Kyle Crane as the protagonist. Set over 10 years after the events of the original game, Kyle Crane is now tasked with saving even more innocents. Check out the announcement trailer above.
"Dying Light: The Beast is a thrilling 18+ hours standalone zombie adventure set in the post-apocalyptic Castor Woods, a once-popular tourist destination," says Techland about the brand-new experience. "After 13 years of enduring experiments, you escape and hunt down your captors to seek retribution, only to discover there’s far more at stake."
While originally planned as the second DLC pack for Dying Light 2 Stay Human, the new story campaign had transformed into its own experience during its two-year development cycle. For those who purchased the Dying Light 2 Stay Human Ultimate Edition, The Beast will be available as a free experience, fulfilling the original promise of giving two DLCs for the mainline game.
Voice actor Roger Craig Smith is coming back to voice Crane too. "Stepping back into Kyle Crane"s shoes feels like a reunion with an old friend," says Smith. "And even though he’s gone through a terrible time, there’s still plenty of legendary hero left in him.”
The new Castor Woods location players will be exploring this time, which has natural landmarks, villages, and industrial locations with plenty of options for the series" iconic parkour action to shine through. Crane will also be able to use some zombie-virus-enabled abilities to awaken "beast-like power," according to the developer.
A four-player co-op is confirmed, too, with the complete campaign available to play together with friends.
Dying Light: The Beast does not have a release date attached to it yet, but it is coming to both last-gen and current-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Of course, PC is confirmed as a platform too.