According to Techland, the developer behind Dying Light: The Beast, the highly anticipated survival horror game will not have virtual currencies or microtransactions. The latest entry in the popular series that began in 2015, Dying Light: The Beast was originally intended to be a second DLC for Dying Light 2: Stay Human. When hackers leaked its story, however, Techland felt that it needed to make changes and expand on its plans for the new content.
Stay Human, which was released in 2022, received generally positive reviews from players and sold an impressive five million units in its first month. That rating took a slight dip, however, when Techland released an update for Dying Light 2 that introduced DL Points, a virtual currency purchased using real money that allowed players to buy weapons, armor, accessories, and cosmetics. The pushback came in part from the fact that, often, the items for sale had better stats than those found while playing, adding a pay-to-win aspect to the game and making those who couldn't afford to indulge feel as if they were missing out.
Dying Light: The Beast Will Be Free for Some Gamers
Developer Techland shares good news for Dying Light fans, as it reveals that The Beast will be free for certain gamers when it releases in August.
Understandably, fans have been wondering if Dying Light: The Beast will also include virtual currency. On Twitter, user noname1012750 aimed a comment at Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektała, saying simply: “Don’t put virtual currency and microtransactions into Dying Light: The Beast.” Smektała’s response was similarly straightforward: “Not planned.” While that doesn’t necessarily guarantee that some sort of monetization scheme won’t appear in the future, at least for the time being, players won’t have to dig into their wallets to enjoy everything that the game has to offer.
Virtual Currencies Are Not in the Works for Dying Light: The Beast
Some fans expressed skepticism in the comments, however, pointing out that Tencent became a majority shareholder in Techland in 2023, and the Chinese tech conglomerate has not been one to shy away from microtransactions in other games. Nevertheless, Techland seems to be making the decisions when it comes to its projects, even choosing to delay the release of Dying Light: The Beast by four weeks to finetune gameplay elements, the UI, physics, animations, and cutscenes.
Previews of the upcoming game have been positive so far, and fans of the franchise are particularly excited by the fact that Dying Light: The Beast will bring back original protagonist Kyle Crane. The story of Dying Light ended with a difficult choice, and for years it has been unclear which finale is considered canon and what ultimately happened to Crane. The Beast, set 13 years after the events of the first game and a decade before DL2: Stay Human, answers those questions.
Dying Light: The Beast
- Released
- September 19, 2025
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Techland
- Publisher(s)
- Techland
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Franchise
- Dying Light
- PC Release Date
- September 19, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- September 19, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- September 19, 2025
