Dying Light is regarded as one of the most innovative FPS open-world franchises, particularly in its use of first-person parkour as a core pillar of its gameplay and narrative. For the third and upcoming entry in the franchise, Dying Light: The Beast, Techland reflected upon its previous strengths and achievements with the IP while looking to take it in a whole new direction for this outing. One aspect that will remain the same, however, is that Dying Light: The Beast will still have players wall-running, ground-sliding, and dropkicking their way away from—or sometimes into—hordes of zombies and other foes.
The Best War Games caught up with game director Nathan Lemaire and franchise director Tymon Smektała, who spoke further about how they aimed to nail the landing for Dying Light: The Beast's parkour. The pair divulged the approach taken to this design process and how many behind-the-scenes tweaks and other adjustments to these mechanics were made to accommodate returning protagonist Kyle Crane's newfound situation while firmly planting a sense of freedom and control in players' hands.
Dying Light: The Beast Hands-On Preview - I Left a Bloody Mess in My Wake
After four hours with Dying Light: The Beast, it's clear that the franchise's key pillars are all on full and gloriously brutal display.
Dying Light: The Beast's Parkour Puts the Power and Flexibility in Players' Hands
Responding to how Dying Light's parkour identity has evolved from its initial iteration in the first game to its form in The Beast, Lemaire noted that "We are always refining our parkour while finding new ways for players to experience the traversal." Smektała added that the team gained a high degree of confidence and valuable insights following the reception of Dying Light, which guided the team's approach to a parkour experience that doesn’t hold the player's hand too much in Dying Light: The Beast.
The team also looked back at previous philosophies, incorporating lessons from Dying Light 2: Stay Human, to make the parkour natural and intuitive without being overbearing to any extremes in The Beast. Speaking about the changes from Dying Light 2 to Dying Light: The Beast, Smektała said,
"First-person parkour is actually a relatively difficult mechanic for a number of players to grasp, especially when it’s so unscripted and free-form as it is in our game, so we introduced a number of helpers to make it easier. Things like "assists" that pulled you towards ledges and continuing wall runs beyond where they should have ended. These were all good solutions to the accessibility problem, but they also took away from the freedom and physicality of our parkour. That’s why we took a step back, removed these artificial helpers, and trusted both our instincts and the skills of our players."
It was also mentioned in the interview that players would find surprisingly creative and unintended solutions to navigation and combat through parkour. Yet, it was this very facet that was one of the motivating factors in driving Techland to retool and fine-tune parkour in Dying Light: The Beast. Smektała concluded by stating that the game will offer "a proper, real, immersive parkour experience where you choose for yourself where to go, and where, if you make a mistake, you fall down."
The next installment will also mark a change in setting, a major departure from the dense cityscapes of previous entries to a more rural and open region. Along with the array of new powers and moves that Kyle will attain in his quest for vengeance against Dying Light: The Beast's antagonist The Baron, Techland has seemingly worked hard to ensure that its parkour expertly straddles the line. It is fluid and responsive, giving fans free rein to experiment with it and find their tricks and methods.
Dying Light: The Beast
