Dying Light: The Beast

Dying Light: The Beast is a standalone open-world survival horror game from Techland and brings Kyle Crane back as the playable protagonist. After years of captivity and experiments by the Baron, Crane escapes to Castor Woods. The procedures have fused his human and infected sides: in the game, he therefore switches between classic survival combat and especially brutal beast powers.

Castor Woods is a valley inspired by the Swiss Alps, with a tourist town, industrial area, national park, fields and swamps. The game combines the series' familiar pillars – first-person parkour, melee combat, firearms, looting and the dangerous day-night cycle – with vehicles and an atmosphere geared more towards survival horror.

Dying Light: The Beast launched on Sep 18, 2025 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Techland had previously moved the date to Sep 19, then brought it forward by one day shortly before release.

Since Mar 26, 2026, Restored Land has been part of the base game. The free major expansion builds on the existing campaign with an alternative survival structure and a permanently changeable world, while also bundling earlier improvements such as Legend Levels, New Game+, Nightmare Mode and numerous parkour adjustments.

Dying Light: The Beast is natively released for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. On PS5, the game is also optimised for PS5 Pro.

Planned versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were cancelled by Techland. According to the studio, the open-world streaming, lighting, enemy density, and combat and traversal could not be delivered on the previous console generation without major compromises. The last-gen versions announced earlier are therefore no longer part of the current platform lineup.

The open world is explored from a first-person perspective. Crane climbs over rooftops and obstacles, moves through Castor Woods with parkour, and can use an off-road vehicle for longer distances. Combat relies heavily on physical reactions, melee and improvisation, but is expanded by firearms and Crane's beast abilities.

The day-night cycle changes the risk significantly: during the day, exploration, resources and quests take centre stage, while at night more dangerous infected dominate. The entire main campaign can be completed alone or in online co-op with up to four players. Techland describes co-op as having shared progression, so the group can play through the story and exploration together.

Restored Land has been available free for owners of Dying Light: The Beast since Mar 26, 2026, and fundamentally changes the survival rules. Cleared areas stay free permanently, killed infected do not respawn there, and completed high-risk activities such as convoys, Dark Zones and Hives only need to be finished once.

At the same time, resources become finite: looted items do not return automatically, traders have fewer supplies, and food and batteries become more important. Optionally, the One-Life mode enables full permadeath. Restored Land also adds new encounters, Roadkill Rallies, extra achievements and further endgame challenges.

Techland also sells cosmetic and gear bundles through Deluxe and Definitive Editions. These packs are additional content, not standalone games.

No further major content expansions are planned. Techland co-founder Paweł Marchewka described The Beast as a completed, standalone game in a Q&A on Oct 14, 2026. Minor technical updates are not ruled out by this statement.

For the PC version, Techland lists Windows 10 or newer, 16 GB RAM and 70 GB of free SSD storage as the baseline. The minimum processors given are Intel Core i5-9600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600; for graphics cards, GTX 1060, Radeon RX 5500 XT or Intel Arc A750. Recommended options include Core i5-13400F or Ryzen 7 7700, as well as RTX 3070 Ti, Radeon RX 6750 XT or Intel Arc B580.