It’s nice to see that Techland is supporting two titles at once with Dying Light: The Beast and Dying Light 2. While The Beast Within launched earlier this year as a standalone spin-off to a decent reception, Dying Light 2 first released back in 2022, where it was well-received and reviewed positively by us.

This round of updates for The Beast brings some welcome changes, including new AI behavior, community challenges, and more. With it being spooky season — or at least the tail end — fans of Dying Light 2 can dive into a new, Halloween-themed event to close out October.

Dying Light: The Beast update adds surrendering enemies and brutal finishers

The latest update for Dying Light: The Beast introduces fresh changes to the sandbox. Human enemies wielding melee weapons now react to firearms being pointed at them by surrendering, which adds a new layer of immersion and player choice.

Alongside this new AI behavior, you’ll find nine new brutal finishing moves. These executions span several weapons:

• One for one-handed bladed weapons,
• Two for long blunt weapons,
• Two for long bladed weapons,
• One for two-handed blunt weapons,
• One for two-handed bladed weapons,
• One for knives,
• One for knuckledusters.

The update also brings new community challenges focused on accuracy.
For the Sharpshooter challenge:

• Goal #1: Land 10,000,000 accurate shots for the Marksman reward,
• Goal #2: Land 20,000,000 accurate shots for the Bullseye reward.

These challenges run from October 30 to November 6, 2025. Community progress is tracked at the Dying Light Outpost, and the full patch notes are available on Techland’s website.

Dying Light 2 gets Halloween Showdown event with themed enemies and rewards

Dying Light 2 isn’t left out this season. The Halloween Showdown event runs from October 30 to November 20, 2025, bringing weekly goals and competitions between two factions.

Players collect candies from zombies and donate them to Baka. Completing these goals unlocks faction-themed weapons, charms, and cosmetics, depending on your team’s contribution.

The event decorates Villedor for Halloween and introduces themed enemies, like Pumpkintiles, Witches, Scaregoons, and more. The Tower Raid gets new layouts, rooftop fights, and additional visual changes. There's also new bundles that include, CyberRaider bundle and more available in-store.

There's also a new scoreboard and a new unlockable character, the Cursed Pirate and Tower Raid character CyberRaider.

Jump back in: rewards and events await in Dying Light

Both updates come packed with limited-time rewards, making this the perfect opportunity for new and returning players alike. Dying Light: The Beast offers new combat features and community goals, while Dying Light 2’s Halloween Showdown spooks up the world with themed content and cosmetics.

With events running through early to late November, there’s plenty of time to participate and unlock items. Techland’s continued support for both titles is impressive and makes jumping back in worthwhile for fans of the series or a compelling jumping in point for new players.

FAQ

Techland's Dying Light games have always been accessible on a range of PC hardware, and both existing titles enjoy Steam Deck Verified status.

With a third installment almost here, Dying Light: The Beast won't be breaking that streak.

Announced today via social media, Dying Light: The Beast will have the all-important green tick to show its Steam Deck Verified status for launch. Which also happens today.

Of course, we've seen in the past that being Steam Deck Verified doesn't necessarily mean a game will play well. But given past experience, I'm fairly confident Dying Light: The Beast will get it right.

This is of course great news, not just for the Steam Deck. Other handhelds running SteamOS, such as the Lenovo Legion Go S, or folks who put the software on their Legion Go or ROG Ally, can also load it up in the knowledge they'll be able to play.

Likewise, if you're running Windows on your handheld, or you're lining up to get the Xbox Ally, either version, you'll be good to go.

Dying Light: The Beast reunites players with the legendary hero of the first game, Kyle Crane. After being captured and enduring years of experimentation, Crane escapes into the new setting of Castor Woods.

Crane isn't fully human anymore, of course, so The Beast will see players battle with his inner demons. All while, of course, fighting hordes of the undead. And since it's set before Dying Light 2 (which, yes, did get guns in a later update), there will be stacks of firearms to go alongside the always satisfying melee combat.

For more inside information, you can check out our early preview of Dying Light: The Beast. This is one I've been waiting for, that's for sure.

Dying Light: The Beast launches today, September 18, on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.

New high-quality zombie games tend to come few and far between these days, which is why their arrivals are looked forward to passionately by fans of the genre — especially if they're major AAA releases that bring hours and hours of gameplay content.

Such is why excitement is high for Dying Light: The Beast, the third entry in Techland's long-running, fan-favorite Dying Light franchise, a follow-up to 2022's Dying Light 2: Stay Human, and a direct sequel to the original 2015 title. It puts players back in the shoes of the first game's protagonist Kyle Crane 13 years later as he hungers for revenge against the Baron, a scientist that experimented on him for years with the Harran Virus.

The new game is now just a week away from its scheduled release, and unsurprisingly, the hype surrounding it has reached a fever pitch. And as a result of that, tons of fans are curious about when specifically they'll be able to jump into its ultra-violent zombie carnage on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 (and on Xbox One and PS4, when the last-gen versions of the game come out later in 2025).

Luckily, the developers have announced Dying Light: The Beast's exact release dates and launch times well ahead of its arrival — and surprisingly, Techland is actually releasing it a day early to celebrate one million preorders. Officially, Dying Light: The Beast is scheduled to launch on September 18, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET, instead of on September 19 as it was originally going to.

The graphic and table below both list all of the game's global release times across various time zones; if you don't see yours, you can use this converter to determine when it will unlock in your region. Note that Dying Light: The Beast's launch times are the same across all of its platforms, also.

While Dying Light: The Beast's encroaching launch has been somewhat overshadowed by juggernaut releases like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Borderlands 4, it nevertheless looks to be one of 2025's most exciting releases for anyone who's into zombie games, action titles, and open-world experiences.

Notably, compared to the previous two Dying Light games that were largely set within urban areas, The Beast is mixing things up with Castor Woods — a heavily forested region in which developed areas are broken up by swathes of woodland.

Given that fluid parkour movement is core to Dying Light's formula, it's making a return in the new title, though you'll also be able to travel on the ground quickly as well thanks to speedy vehicles. The franchise's central "explore and scavenge during the day, run and hide at night" gameplay loop is back, too.

As for Kyle Crane himself, the experiments performed on him have given him beastly powers reminiscent of fearsome Volatile zombies that will manifest as brutal abilities and attacks you can use in combat. Like the game's marketing highlights, he's "half survivor, half beast," with each half supporting a different playstyle.

Ultimately, what was originally just going to be a DLC for Dying Light 2 looks to be quite an impressive game in its own right, and definitely one to keep an eye on as reviews and its launch come next week (check out our hands-on preview). Personally, I've always preferred the more grounded feel of something like Dead Island 2 over Dying Light's parkour-driven gameplay, but I'll probably still check out The Beast eventually.

Note that if you're interested in preordering Dying Light: The Beast, you can pick up your copy now for $59.99 on the Xbox store, Windows PC (Steam and the Epic Games Store), and the PlayStation Store.

For those looking forward to playing as Kyle Crane again in Dying LIght: The Beast, I'm sorry, but I've got bad news.

Techland has announced today on the official Dying Light: The Beast website that it will be delaying the game to September 19, 2025, which is four weeks after its previous release date of August 22, 2025.

This new release date will apply to all platforms the game will launch on, including Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.

Techland hasn't made this decision lightly, however, as it explains that the extra development time will allow the team to polish the game so it can be in its best shape at launch day.

"It has always been our goal to make Dying Light: The Beast the best Dying Light game we’ve ever released. To honor this promise, we’ve made the decision to move the release date to September 19, 2025 to allow for extra polishing work.

"We understand that this may be disappointing, but our experience has shown how important the first impression is. With just four additional weeks, we can address final details that make all the difference between good and great. Areas we want to improve include finetuning the balance of gameplay elements, looking into clarity of UI, increasing the quality of physics, as well as tweaking cutscenes and player animations further as well as adding last little details."

Dying Light: The Beast is the latest installment of the zombie-apocalypse, survival-horror series, Dying Light. This game was originally designed as a DLC expansion to Dying Light 2, but it gradually evolved into a standalone title where players will reunite with Kyle Crane.

Kyle Crane is the protagonist of the original Dying Light (which is still being updated even after 10 years), who was captured and experimented on by the Baron.

After years of torture, Kyle manages to break free of his imprisonment and embarks on a revenge quest to murder the Baron for what he has done. However, Kyle will need to be careful, as he has been injected with zombie DNA that will slowly transform him into a monster should he succumb to his inner beast.

Dying Light: The Beast will take players on a dangerous journey through the Caster Woods valley to help Kyle exact his revenge. Along the way, players will utilize parkour skills to traverse precarious environments, scavenge for weapons and medical supplies, and fight off hordes of undead monsters standing in their way.

The game can be played solo or 4-player online co-op as Kyle Crane forges alliances with the survivors of Caster Woods who can help him track down the Baron.

Fans have been begging to play as Kyle Crane again for years (as confirmed by the developers in our Dying Light: The Beast interview/preview) ever since he was absent in Dying Light 2.

Kyle captured fans' hearts with his tough-guy, no-nonsense attitude and stellar voice work by veteran voice actor, Roger Craig Smith (whose credits include Sonic the Hedgehog, Resident Evil's Chris Redfield, Assassin's Creed's Ezio, and many more).

Now players will get to dropkick zombie heads with Kyle Crane once more when Dying Light: The Beast releases on September 19, 2025.

Is delaying Dying Light: The Beast to the same time frame as Borderlands 4 the right call to make?

While delaying your games is a good thing, as it allows developers extra time to make it good and ready for launch day, there is a huge problem with the new release date Techland set for Dying Light: The Beast.

Dying Light: The Beast's new release date of September 19, 2025, just happens to be seven days after the release of Borderlands 4, one of the most highly anticipated upcoming Xbox games/upcoming PC games of 2025.

There's a dangerously high chance that if Borderlands 4 manages to wow gaming audiences upon release, it could derail Dying Light: The Beast's public reception at that game's launch and bury it in obscurity.

However, Dying Light has become a well-respected franchise in its own right with a library of high-quality titles and a highly devoted fan base that's helped keep the series alive for a decade.

With this in mind, will it help Dying Light: The Beast rise above the shadow of its competitors, like Borderlands 4, and become one of the best games of 2025? We will have to wait until September 19, 2025 to find out.

In the early months of 2015, the Poland-based development team at Techland released Dying Light — an open world, brutally violent take on the zombie genre that ushered in unique gameplay loops with its day and night cycle and reliance on parkour.

It wasn’t Techland’s first zombie game (that honor goes to 2011’s Dead Island) but it would be the title that would introduce the world to the Hero of Harran, Kyle Crane.

Crane’s story as the protagonist of Dying Light would continue in the DLC The Following that released in 2016. However, when 2022’s Dying Light: Stay Human was unveiled by Techland, Crane was notably absent and a new protagonist, Aiden Caldwell, was in the spotlight.

Aiden’s reveal shook up the Dying Light community, who still had questions about what had come of Crane after the events of the DLC.

“To be honest, we underestimated how much [the community] loved him,” said Tymon Smektala, the franchise director for Dying Light at Techland.

“I have been doing a lot of interviews for Dying Light. I’ve been doing this for 10 years! If I were to name just one question that I was getting every time, whether we are meeting with the community or in an online AMA session, it was one thing: What happened to Kyle Crane after Dying Light 1? What is the canon version of his story after Dying Light 1? We decided to finally answer that.”

Fans of the Dying Light franchise can pin the return of Kyle Crane for Techland’s upcoming standalone, Dying Light: The Beast, on the community at large and also the development team’s own love of the character.

“There is basically a fan club of Kyle Crane at our studio,” said Smektala, who chuckled while describing how Techland’s environment director has an entire office decorated with Crane photos and memorabilia.

“The combination of the pressure from our community and our own motivation and willingness to get back to the character led us to that point. Especially for the tenth anniversary of the series, it just felt right.”

Prior to speaking with Smektala, I had the opportunity to sit down and go hands-on with Dying Light: The Beast. It had been several years since I had last stepped into the world of Dying Light, but slipping into the shoes of Kyle Crane immediately felt comfortable.

Roger Craig Smith, the original voice actor for Crane, reprised his role for Dying Light: The Beast, bringing the charm of the gruff and abrasive hero to life as his story takes him to a more remote destination: Castor Woods.

The vibrant green landscape of a national park is a unique destination for a zombie franchise like Dying Light. The series relies heavily on parkour for navigation, with players climbing and clamoring across rooftops to avoid the swarms of Virals shambling in the streets during the day, and to escape the more lethal zombie variants that chase you through the streets at night. “We wanted to see if we could create Dying Light gameplay somewhere else, not just in the city,” said Smektala.

“We wanted to test those different kinds of geometric environmental setups. We were very hesitant when we were doing this. But we discovered that Dying Light can actually work outside the city. Dying Light can work when we leave the player in the forest or in the farm field. Those new environments even add new layers, colors, and flavors to how the player feels about playing Dying Light."

“For example, in the farm fields, one of the things that we have discovered is that it makes players much more vulnerable and fragile. It's a very nice feeling to give to players when you think about the fact that it is a survival game. Survival games work best when you are fragile and exposed to enemies.”

Smektala’s words rang true in my mind as I trudged through the swampy marsh of Castor Woods for myself, slowly chasing after one of Dying Light: The Beast’s Chimeras — massive, hulking undead beasts that are as intriguing as they are grotesque. As night began to fall, I grew increasingly nervous about the upcoming encounter.

I had wandered out to this Chimera fight without an escape plan, and I couldn’t just shimmy my way up to a rooftop or through a tight alley if things turned sour.

While Dying Light: The Beast has introduced vehicles, I didn’t think it through to bring one along. Although, the lack of gas stations in the forest probably meant that it wouldn’t have made any difference if I had.

Standing in the middle of the forest at night, it didn’t matter how many swarms of the undead I could smash with a hammer while running through the streets of an old village. It didn’t matter how fast I could leap across rooftops or swing from antennas.

All that mattered at that moment was whether I could survive the Chimera and the other screeching horrors that lurked in the darkness of that swamp. I held my breath and whittled away at the creature, even when I could barely see it, trying to anticipate any jump scares like one that had actually startled me earlier in the preview.

I worked at the Chimera’s health bar, gradually breaking the shovel and hammer and machete I had equipped as melee weapons. Propped up entirely by copious amounts of bandages and quickly snacking on protein bars I had scavenged while still in the city, I found myself with nothing more than a handgun and a few bullets left to my name.

But before I was forced to admit defeat to the Chimera, I spotted the nearly full bar for Crane’s inner Beast mode, indicating the new feature could soon be activated.

“This is a survival game where, from time to time, we allow players to have this moment of cutting loose, getting unhinged, and turning the tables against the world,” said Smektala of Beast mode. He described the new feature as one of the few areas of Dying Light that the development team decided to experiment with.

“We allow ourselves to add new things to the formula, but we are also very careful about it.”

Despite experimenting with new features like Beast mode and new environments like the farm fields and forested hills of Castor Woods, Smektala says that the team has learned over the last 10 years what is important to the formula that makes a Dying Light game.

“On the surface, it's kind of obvious,” he said, “It’s the first-person parkour, it’s the focus on melee weapons, it’s the day and night cycle that changes the visuals and the gameplay. It’s important to dig deeper, because Dying Light games are made with a number of details that you might miss.

“As developers, we need to understand those details. We need to understand the balance of the mechanics of the game: how many hits you should be able to take with your weapon before you run out of stamina, or how many hits you should deal to a regular zombie to kill it. Those might seem like trivial things, but if you mess them up or if you change them…it suddenly becomes a different game.”

With Crane’s beast mode activated, I found myself with a renewed vigor. No longer armed with weapons, Crane mercilessly beat back the swarm that had descended upon him with his bare fists, ripping apart the zombies in an unmatched level of gory detail as I mashed the triggers on the Xbox controller.

Crane grabs at the swarm, violently ripping away limbs and beheading the ghouls with gloriously accurate blood splatter.

“I’m saying this half jokingly, but I think we need to clear our browser history each month because of what our artists have to go through to make sure the brutality feels right,” said Smektala.

Techland takes pride in its dedication to gore representation in the Dying Light franchise, and the team spared no expense in crafting a bloodbath for Dying Light: The Beast.

Earlier this year, the team released a Dev Diary video showcasing the art team’s use of photogrammetry technology, buckets of fake blood and dish soap, and an actor to create realistic blood splatter maps.

“There is a number of technical and creative decisions which leads to a place where you can play a game and suddenly there is a zombie with his scalp off and half of his jaw torn off trying to grab you — and you see all the graphics details right in front of your eyes.”

Smektala described the team’s use of anatomy books, medical records, and even criminal records as well as other representation of gore in Zombie media as inspiration. “You have to have a strong stomach to work on that level of graphical fidelity when it comes to representation of fighting. We definitely wanted to level up what we are doing in that regard.”

The intense graphical fidelity of Dying Light: The Beast doesn’t begin and end with gore. It oozes into the new environments in every scene.

Techland’s art team were dedicated to making sure the foliage of Castor Woods was biologically correct.

“Castor Woods is a fictional place, but it is inspired by the Swiss Alps,” said Smektala, “Our artists spent a lot of time analyzing the actual plants and trees that grow in that region. They bought a lot of botanical books about that ecosystem, and they recreated as much of it as they needed to create a virtual representation of it.”

Despite the efforts toward accuracy, there was still some room for the team to take artistic liberties. Smektala shared an anecdote about a team of artists who live in an area dubbed “the Polish Alps.”

“Of course, Poland doesn’t have an Alps!” Smektala added, “But there is a small region called the Polish Alps that are also in the mountains, and the ecosystem is quite similar. So they started sneaking in some of the things and places that they know from the Polish Alps into the world of Castor Woods. You’ll find buildings that are basically taken from this Polish region that is some 2000 km away from the Swiss Alps.”

With so much attention to the detail of the gore and the foliage of Castor Woods, one might expect that rendering Dying Light: The Beast would be a challenge for some platforms (*cough* Xbox Series S *cough*), but Smektala brushes any concerns about The Beast’s performance aside.

“We built the game on our own technology, C-Engine. Dying Light 2 was also released using that technology, but since then, we have been able to stabilize and optimize the technology much, much better.”

Smektala says that Techland has worked to improve its streaming tech for Dying Light: The Beast, going beyond shaders to streaming entire scene elements. “We don’t need to keep as much stuff in the memory of the machine,” he said, “Basically, we can just load it up in an instant for the particular scene that you see.

Because The Beast is built on an engine that Techland develops in-house, Smektala says the team has more control over optimization and features.

“If we need to do some optimizing for the Series S, we don’t have to ask the owner of the engine to do that for us. We just go a floor up. The development team is on the second floor of the building, and the engine team is on the third floor. So we just go up and say, ‘Hey, guys…we need more processing power here or to optimize this thing a little better.’ This is our own technology, so we have a lot of direct influence into what goes in.”

The C-Engine contributes to Dying Light: The Beast’s visually distinct aesthetic, and also its franchise-defining gameplay.

While the team at Techland felt safe to stretch their creative muscles and experiment with vehicles, firearms, new environments, and Crane’s Beast mode, they did so without losing sight of just what makes the Dying Light games stand out in a crowded genre.

Smektala credits the team’s willingness to learn from what did and didn’t work in Dying Light 1 and 2 before starting work on The Beast.

“Previously, when we were working on Dying Light games, we were experimenting as we were going. We were testing things, things that maybe weren’t defined in the initial feature set, as we were working on the games,” Smektala added that the current state of the games industry makes experimenting in development a less optimal solution.

Instead, Techland decided to forgo an extended preproduction period for Dying Light: The Beast — which originally started its life as an expansion for Dying Light 2 before being spun out as a standalone game.

The team defined the scope and mechanics of Dying Light: The Beast early in its development cycle, and they felt confident the game would embody the hallmarks of the franchise.

“Everything we had planned in the beginning made its way into the game, and clicked. We said this is what we want, and we are getting it!”

As the Chimera fell, I sat back and watched the cut scene play out with a sigh of relief. After the scene came to an end, I took back control of Crane and quickly entered the menu to assess my skill points, damaged weaponry, and lack of bandages.

Exiting the menu, I stood in the hazy marsh as the morning sun began to rise in-game. Despite all indications that things should be a little less risky in Castor Woods, it definitely felt like Crane — and I, by extension — were nowhere close to being safe.

Still, I felt accomplished as I took off across the park toward a safe house with Smektala’s parting words echoing in my head, “It is my happy place, even if it is full of zombies.”

Dying Light: The Beast is set to launch on Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as the Steam and Epic Games Store on PC on August 22. Preorders for Dying Light: The Beast are live now for $59.99. Owners of Dying Light 2: Stay Human Ultimate Edition will receive Dying Light: The Beast at no extra cost.

It's always exciting when older games get revitalized in the modern gaming era by surprise major updates, and later this week, one is coming to what is widely considered to be one of the best zombie games of all time: Dying Light. Techland's 2015 open-world survival horror title may be a decade old, now, but that hasn't stopped the developer from working on a new patch for it.

First teased in scarce detail in January, the patch has been revealed as the Dying Light: Retouched Update — a huge glow-up for the title that's significantly improving the quality of its textures, lighting, physics-based rendering (PBR), and draw distances while also integrating a remastered score, new music tracks, and enhanced sound effects.

News of the Retouched Update came on Tuesday morning, with Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektała publishing a blog post that goes over the changes in full detail. In it, he also announced that the patch will be free, and is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC (Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store), PS5, and PS4 on June 26 (this Thursday).

Something important to note is that Techland has stressed the Retouched Update features enhancements, and is not a full-fledged remaster. To that end, fans can look forward to upscaled, more detailed textures, better lighting, and more realistic PBR reflections (see the above gallery), but none of the in-game assets have been completely rebuilt from the ground up or anything like that.

"Over the past couple of years, we've added a lot, customized a lot, and learned how to squeeze more from the tech we already have. One day, someone just started applying those learnings to some old assets — and it just clicked that we could do that across the whole game," explained technical game director Grzegorz Świstowski.

“It was a lot of manual work — but increasing the texture resolution or quality can have a huge impact on how the environment appears on screen,” added lead 3D artist Krzysztof Knefel.

The two then discussed PBR and draw distance enhancements, with the maximum level-of-detail (LOD) for the latter getting raised from 260% to 340% in the settings menu. By taking advantage of that with "modern and better systems" (at the moment, it's unclear if this specific feature is limited to PC or not) you'll be able to see high-quality detail farther into the distance.

On the audio side of things, Dying Light's original composer Paweł Blaszczak returned to remaster the game's soundtrack, even going so far as to record it on tape to preserve the game's "retro-tape sound." New tracks and ambient sound effects have been implemented to enrich the soundscape, too, and Techland "seriously juiced up the hit reaction audio in combat" as well.

Smektała concluded the post by addressing why the Retouched Update took so long to develop, explaining that it was difficult to bring these enhancements to Dying Light without causing issues due to the game's age.

"We were working with 10+ year old technology. Even with all the new experience we've gained over the years, figuring out how to apply those learnings to the original Dying Light engine while keeping everything stable was a challenge," he said. "And let me tell you, it was a massive amount of manual work."

Notably, Techland committed to making sure the Retouched Update didn't change Dying Light's system requirements — something many budget PC users and last-gen console players will no doubt greatly appreciate. "You can't just crank up the details and hope it still works on everyone's system, specially on consoles — we were testing endlessly to ensure we didn't run out of memory on last-gen consoles," added Grzegorz.

All in all, Dying Light: Retouched looks like a fantastic update for the beloved classic, and gives fans a great reason to return to it as they wait for the August 22 release of Dying Light: The Beast (notably, Dying Light protagonist Kyle Crane will be the protagonist of that game as well; he didn't appear in 2022's Dying Light 2). I never finished the game myself, but with all these improvements elevating it to new heights, I've finally got some motivation to do so. See you in Harran.

Oh, and now also seems like a good time to mention that the Definitive Edition of Dying Light with all of its DLC content is selling for just $7.09 on CDKeys — a massive discount on its $49.99 MSRP. Take advantage!

Summer Game Fest is well underway, and among all the new game premieres, Techland has shown a new trailer complete with a release date reveal for the third entry in the Dying Light franchise. Dying Light: The Beast will drop on August 22, 2005.

The new trailer didn't stop at just a reveal date, it also gave us a fresh new look at what we can expect in Dying Light: The Beast. The game is a highly anticipated return to the Dying Light franchise, which originally began as an expansion before expanding in scope to become a full standalone title. It brings back popular Dying Light protagonist, Kyle Crane, for another parkouring romp through a zombie-infested post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Crane will have a few new tricks up his sleeve, though, as he won't just be parkouring his way through the world—he can park, too! Kind of, at least. We did see some vehicle driving among copious amounts of gun play. Dying Light: The Beast's predecessor, Dying Light 2, was surprisingly light on firearms, much to the chagrin of the game's fan base. While this was eventually improved in later updates, Techland put firearms front and center during the latest trailer to prove to its fans that the Dying Light team would not repeat past mistakes.

There is still a lot up in the air about what fans can expect when Dying Light: The Beast launches in August. Techland has yet to confirm a price for the game. However, it has been confirmed that those who purchased Dying Light 2's Ultimate Edition will receive access to Dying Light: The Beast at no extra cost, likely due to the game's early days as an expansion.

Techland has shared some behind-the-scenes looks at preparations for an upcoming hands-on preview of Dying Light: The Beast, so more information should begin trickling out in preparation for the August release date.

A new trailer and gameplay details, as well as a release window, were revealed for Dying Light: The Beast at The Game Awards show.

Techland unveiled Dying Light: The Beast in August 2024 at Gamescom, a standalone game in the franchise that is a self-contained zombie survival adventure focusing on the story of Kyle Crane. Players of Dying Light 1 may recognize Crane, known as the Hero of Harran, as a protagonist.

Crane is notably absent from Dying Light 2: Stay Human, although he is referenced throughout the game's run time. Techland ultimately decided to scrap its original plans for the second DLC pack for Dying Light 2 to recenter Kyle Crane as the game's protagonist. This triggered a burst of inspiration that inevitably led to DLC2 for Dying Light 2 becoming its own standalone world with more than 18 hours of content.

In the new "Meet the Baron" trailer, we see that Crane has undergone experimentation. A suit-clad man gives a speech about divine calling before we see Kyle Crane attempt to escape from his torture chamber. Crane is then shown back in action in the terrifying world of the undead. Crane wields grenade launchers and crossbows while completing impossible parkour stunts to traverse the world.

If you purchased Dying Light 2 Stay Human's Ultimate Edition or the Ultimate Edition upgrade, you can forget about the second DLC promised for the game. However, Ultimate Edition holders of Dying Light 2 will receive Dying Light: The Beast at no extra cost when it does launch. Techland has also stated it is committed to five years of post-launch support for Dying Light 2 in the form of content drops and events, but no further DLC support is currently in the works.

Dying Light: The Beast has a release window of Summer 2025 and will be available on Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox, and PlayStation.

What you need to know

• Chinese entertainment and tech conglomerate Tencent is investing in Dying Light developer Techland, acquiring a majority of shares in the company. 
• Techland will retain ownership of its IP, which including the Dying Light zombie survival games and a still-unrevealed upcoming fantasy game. 
• Techland CEO Pawel Marchewka says that Techland will maintain creative freedom and "continue to operate the way we believe is right."

Another big developer is being (mostly) acquired. 

Techland CEO Pawel Marchewka shared on Monday that Tencent will be heavily investing in the company, acquiring the majority of shares in Techland.

"Teaming up with Tencent will allow us to move full speed ahead with the execution of the vision for our games," Marchewka says. "We have chosen an ally who has already partnered with some of the world's finest video game companies and helped them reach new heights while respecting their ways of doing things."

Marchewka added that "We will retain full ownership of our IPs, maintain creative freedom, and continue to operate the way we believe is right. I'm also going to continue serving as the studio’s CEO."

Best known for the two successful Dying Light games, Techland is currently early in development on a yet-unnamed open world fantasy action-RPG.

Tencent has previously invested heavily across the gaming industry, acquiring minority stakes in a number of companies such as Dontnod, Ubisoft and PlatinumGames, as well as investing heavily in Epic Games and acquiring a number of individual studios such as Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock.

Windows Central's take

This makes a large amount of sense. Techland has had a lot of success with the Dying Light games, but Dying Light 2 took a lot longer to develop than anticipated, and the company likely wants additional financial support before the arrival of its next game. 

Tencent has slowed its mergers and acquisitions activity somewhat in the last couple of years as regulatory scrutiny has increased, but the company clearly isn't done, and remains the largest gaming company in the world by revenue.

What you need to know

• Dying Light, released in 2015, built the foundations for Techland's latest adventure, Dying Light 2 Stay Human.
• Early this month, Techland released a current-gen upgrade for the original Dying Light on certain PlayStation consoles.
• On Monday, the studio released the same upgrade for Dying Light on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One X.
• The upgrade patch introduces three new graphical modes on Xbox Series X, and two new graphical modes on Xbox Series S and One X.

Thousands of players may be joining the vibrant and terrifying world of Dying Light 2 Stay Human, but the original Dying Light is still a title well worth revisiting, even in 2022. Techland made this assertion even more true with the release of current-gen upgrades for the first Dying Light game, starting with certain PlayStation consoles early this month. On Monday, the studio also dropped the current-gen upgrade for Dying Light on Xbox.

PS5 and PS4 Pro players can already enjoy the Dying Light current-gen upgrade, but now the additional enhancements and graphical settings extend to Microsoft's fastest and most powerful consoles. Techland is introducing three new graphical modes on the flagship Xbox Series X, while the smaller Xbox Series S and the last-gen Xbox One X both enjoy two new graphical modes. Dying Light's current-gen upgrades on Xbox consoles include:

• Xbox Series X:
  • Performance Mode achieving 1080p at 60FPS
  • Balanced Mode targeting 1440p at 60FPS
  • Quality Mode achieving 4K at 30FPS
• Xbox Series S:
  • Performance Mode achieving 1080p at 30FPS
  • Quality Mode targeting 1440p at 30FPS
  • Improved networking utilizing EOS solution
• Xbox One X:
  • Performance Mode achieving 1080p at 30FPS
  • Quality Mode targeting 1440p at 30FPS
  • Improved networking utilizing EOS solution

The Dying Light current-gen upgrade certainly isn't the most extensive, and isn't going to make the original title comparable to its modern successor, but it aims to make the game more enjoyable and visually appealing on newer and more powerful systems. Dying Light 2 Stay Human improves on the original in practically every way with a massive open-world and high stakes gameplay, and achieves a place on our list of best Xbox games for players looking to survive the zombie apocalypse — with parkour!

What you need to know

• Dying Light has just received a next-gen upgrade patch for the PlayStation version.
• These enhancements include higher frame rates and improved resolutions that are 4K compatible on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 Pro.
• The Xbox version of Dying Light will be receiving these next-gen upgrades in the future.

Techland, the creator and publisher of the Dying Light series, has announced on Twitter that the original, zombie-killing, parkour survival game, Dying Light has just received a next-gen patch for the PlayStation version. This patch contains enhancements that use the power of the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 Pro hardware to provide higher frame rates and resolution.

The full patch notes are as follows:

PlayStation 5

• Performance Mode with 60 FPS in Full HD
• Balanced Mode targeting 60 FPS in QHD
• Quality Mode with 30 FPS with 4K Resolution

PlayStation 4 Pro

• Improved the 30 FPS Cap on PS4 Pro
• Introducing new networking utilizing the EOS solution

These next-gen upgrades will also be coming to the Xbox versions of Dying Light, but no release date for the Xbox Series X|S upgrade patch has been given at this time. It is nice to see that despite Techland being busy making DLC for Dying Light 2, it took the time to update the original title so that modern fans can enjoy it alongside the sequel.

Dying Light 2 has had a pretty successful launch. Sure, there have been bugs, but the Techland team has been all over it and has been pretty open with the player base on what's being worked on and what's to come in terms of new content. After all, there's a pretty ambitious post-launch plan.

One topic that keeps popping up though is guns. Dying Light 2 is set in the future, decades removed from the events of the first game and what remains of mankind has reverted back to a modern medieval style of living. Weapons are mostly melee, crafted from whatever materials come to hand. But there are no guns, and at least for now, that's very much by design.

I'm OK without guns in Dying Light 2 personally, but there is a story to tell and it looks as though there's a good chance they'll be appearing in the game at some point in the future.

Dying Light had guns

There are a few different reasons that Dying Light players are interested in firearm weapons. Some just like playing first-person shooters, others have come from a history of playing the first Dying Light game, others might even just want more loot or to make the game easier.

Whatever the reason, there are enough people out there who either didn't know guns weren't supposed to be a part of Dying Light 2 or just want them in play for whatever reason.

The first Dying Light game did have guns, primarily because it was set during "present times," that is to say, a short time after the outbreak of the Harran Virus. Law enforcement and the military were both armed, and while you didn't get handed a firearm out of the gate, at a certain point they were hardly difficult to get your hands on.

The guns also completely changed combat in the game. Dying Light was designed around melee combat primarily, but with a gun, suddenly those spongier zombies and the human enemies that could block your attacks, all could be dispensed with a single headshot.

Whether that was better or not is open to personal interpretation. But it certainly made a lot of enemies easier to despatch.

What happened to all the guns in Villedor?

Dying Light 2 is set over two decades on from the events of the original. Links to the first game begin more or less immediately with an appearance from Spike, and Kyle Crane, the playable character from the original, is mentioned throughout.

I won't go through the whole story, but the tl;dr is that the GRE couldn't leave it alone and a second outbreak occurred which near enough wiped out humanity. Various attempts were made to get a handle on the situation and Villedor became the last bastion of civilization.

As for the firearms, the game actually tells you what happened in a side-quest called "The History Lesson". I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it yet, but it doesn't take long to complete and does a good job of explaining what happened in the time between the two games and why there are no guns. And what the "March Massacre" was.

Basically, they were here, then they were taken away by the army, the ammo was stashed and a really bad person took the location to his grave. So the running assumption is that somewhere in Villedor is a weapon stash with all the shooty bang bangs. But it's pretty much a certainty that it's nowhere to be found right now.

That, however, could change in the future. Besides the obvious evidence that there were once guns in Villedor, there's a suggestion that they could be appearing in the future.

Developer hints at a hidden stash

What better carrot do players need to go looking for a secret weapon stash than one of the developers suggesting that it does exist and could be making an appearance in the future. Or could be found by players.

As of right now, it doesn't look like the stash is anywhere to be found. With the number of people playing the game and scouring every inch of the map, you would expect something would have been found by now. After all, there are plenty of easter eggs that have been uncovered fairly quickly.

There's also a decent chance that any weapon stash could be linked to future DLC content if it exists at all. The current speculation is that the next area of Villedor we'll be seeing is the "Elysium" district, currently shown on the metro maps at the various fast travel points around the city. Maybe the secret stash is up there.

Old school ranged weapons

In the meantime, Dying Light 2 players have to make do with bows and crossbows for ranged weapons. Well, make do is a little unfair, some of the ranged weapons are beastly. The PK Crossbow is one of the best weapons in the game.

But there are also a couple of more "gun-like" weapons you can get your hands on. The easiest is the Boomstick, which while unusable as a main weapon (it sits in the accessory slot for one) is what you might call a gun. It's actually some kind of mini cannon and when you first get the blueprint you only get two shots from it. But it hits like a train.

Getting the Boomstick just requires playing through the campaign. At some point, before you get to the mission at the VNC tower in Central Loop, the blueprint will appear to buy from a Craftmaster. It uses a lot of scrap to craft, but it's worth getting.

There's also the "Ka-Doom Shotgun" which is part of the DOOM-inspired easter egg. I'm not sure it was ever meant to be taken outside of the special mode, but where there's a will there's a way, and with a quick search of the YouTubes you can find out how to get this absurd weapon.

It'll be fun to see just what comes in the future with regard to new content for Dying Light 2. With a five-year plan and a reputation already gained for longevity from the first game, Techland is sure to have something up its sleeve. Whether this is one of those things, I guess we'll find out.

Update, June 22 (5:10 p.m. ET): Techland released a statement saying it's ending its business with Chris Avellone.

Update June 23 (12:25 p.m. ET): Ubisoft issues a statement on the allegations.

Update June 23 (2:23 p.m. ET): Gato Salvaje Studio, the company behind Waylanders, released a statement on Twitter that Avellone is longer associated with the project.

What you need to know

• Games writer Chris Avellone was accused of sexual harassment and abuse by multiple people over the weekend.
• Developers have spoken out about his involvement with their games.
• This is just one of many accusations that have hit social media about prominent members of the gaming and streaming industries.

Prominent games writer Chris Avellone, known for his contributions to games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Prey, and many upcoming titles, was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women over the weekend.

Now, some developers are speaking out about his contributions in light of the accusations.

Paradox Interactive, the company behind Vampire the Masquerade — Bloodlines 2, said that Avellone's contributions had been removed from the game, but that he only worked on the game briefly.

"Chris Avellone briefly worked with the Bloodlines 2 writing team early in the development of the game," said Paradox in a statement to Gamasutra. "Through an iterative creative process, however, none of his contributions remain in the game that Hardsuit Labs is continuing to develop."

Avellone was also working on Waylanders, an upcoming party-based RPG that just entered Early Access. Emily Grace Buck, the lead writer on the game, said on Twitter that Avellone was no longer involved with the project.

"Chris is no longer on the project, and I've been the lead writer all along, not him," Buck said on Twitter. "Waylanders has very little writing by him as it stands, and I'll be taking a look at his scenes. No one on the team knew anything about this. We're handling it, and I'm open to feedback."

https://twitter.com/emilybuckshot/status/1274389752301498370?s=20

Meanwhile, Avellone was also involved with Dying Light 2, which is currently still in development despite multiple delays. Developer Techland said it is "looking very closely" into the allegations.

""We take matters of sexual harassment and disrespect with utmost care, and have no tolerance for such behaviors," a spokesperson told Gamasutra. "That is why we are currently looking very closely into the matter. We will provide you with information on our next steps soon."

Avellone was accused by multiple women on social media over the weekend of sexual harassment and abuse, including one who said the writer got her "blackout drunk" and made advances on her. An indie developer commented on the Twitter thread, adding that Avellone repeatedly groped her.

Avellone has responded to some of the tweets on Twitter, but hasn't issued a statement at the time of this writing.

He's one of many prominent figures in the gaming and streaming industries to get called out on social media over the weekend and on Monday. Andrien Gbinigie, product and brand marketing manager at Ubisoft was accused by women on Twitter of sexual harassment and abuse. Gbinigie has denied the allegations in a post on Medium.

A lot of the accusations say the incidents happened at gaming industry events.

Meanwhile, Twitch is in hot water for how it operates with those accused of being toxic members of the industry. CEO Emmett Shear was accused by a music streamer of laughing off reports of abuse in a previous All Hands meeting. Other streamers, along with former VP at Twitch Justin Wong, have taken to Twitter to discuss how the platform failed to handle abuse by affiliates.

In response, Twitter released a statement vowing to take action.

"We take accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct extremely seriously. We are actively looking into the accounts concerning streamers affiliated with Twitch and will work with law enforcement where applicable," it read.

Update, June 22 (5:10 p.m. ET) — Techland responds to Chris Avellone allegations

After previously saying it was investigating the allegations, Dying Light 2 developer Techland said it's ending its "cooperation" with the writer.

"We treat matters of sexual harassment and disrespect with utmost care, and have no tolerance for such behaviors — it applies to both our employees as well as external consultants. This is why, together with Chris Avellone, we've decided to end our cooperation," a spokesperson for the company said in a tweet.

You can read the full statement above.

Update June 23 (12:25 p.m. ET) — Ubisoft spokesperson says they're looking into the allegations

A spokesperson from Ubisoft sent a statement to Windows Central on the allegations.

"We are deeply concerned by these accusations. We take any allegations of abuse or harassment very seriously and we are looking very closely into the allegations to determine next steps."

Update June 23 (2:23 p.m. ET) — Gato Salvaje Studio responds to allegations

Gato Salvaje Studio, the company behind Waylanders, issued a statement on Twitter about Avellone's contributions to the project and what it plans to do going forward.

"Chris was brought on as a design contractor for The Waylanders. As of last week, Chris's contract is complete and the content provided will be assessed as development progresses."

You can read the full statement above.

Updated June 23 (12:25 p.m. ET): A version of this post mentioned Ashraf Ismail. He had been accused of infidelity on social media over the weekend. We removed his name to clarify.

Despite reports to the contrary, Dying Light 2 is still moving forward as planned.

Ola Sondej, the senior PR manager at developer Techland, stated on Twitter that the game is "moving forward" and is in "good shape." This is in response to a report that surfaced on Polski Gamedev that claimed the production was in trouble.

The report is written in Polish, so it's tough to gauge exactly what is says (no Polish people on staff here, unfortunately). However, it basically cites multiple anonymous sources from inside Techland that say the team is running into some problems. They talk about things like executive intervention and clashes between higher-ups. It also seemed to confirm long-standing rumors that the studio would be acquired by Microsoft.

Sondej wrote on Twitter that the game is still in the works and that any statements about a Microsoft acquisition are false.

There's been a lot of questions surrounding Dying Light 2, which was delayed back in January with no new release window announced. There also hasn't been any news from developer Techland on the situation. The current pandemic, which has been delaying a lot of games, could also be a factor. The Polski Gamedev article says it's unlikely to release in 2020, which seems likely.

There is a DLC for the first Dying Light, called Hellraid, that is set to hit this summer if you need more new content.

In the meantime, you can check out our preview of the game from Gamescom 2018, and if the final product is anything like the preview, the zombie parkour game is set to dazzle.

You can also still pre-order Dying Light 2, although as we've noted, there's no release date for it yet.

Xbox

Main

• What is Xbox Game Pass?
• Best 4K TVs for Xbox Series X and S
• Must-buy Xbox One Headsets
• Our Favorite Xbox One Wireless Headsets
• Best Upcoming Xbox Games for 2021
• Xbox One X vs. Xbox Series S

What you need to know

• Dying Light is a first-person action game that has received a lot of post-launch support.
• The game is getting a Left 4 Dead 2 crossover event soon.
• It's unclear when or what this content will contain.
• You can purchase Dying Light for $22 on Amazon.

Updated November 14, 2019: Dying Light now has a Left 4 Dead Weapons pack available. It seems like this was the crossover content.

Dying Light is probably one of the best zombie action games out there, and one that has received exemplary post-launch support. Well, the steady stream of content isn't over yet. The official Dying Light Twitter account just said that the game was getting a Left 4 Dead 2 crossover event soon.

At the time of writing, it's unclear what the crossover event entails. Let's hope that the team adds the ability to play together in co-op. However, since the base game lacked such a mode, it seems unlikely. We'll keep you posted as soon as we know more.

A few months ago, Dying Light 2 was announced on Microsoft's E3 stage. While we do know that it's going to be a bigger game than Dying Light, there's still an aura of mystery. However, it's still available for preorder if you want to reserve your copy.

Xbox

Main

• What is Xbox Game Pass?
• Best 4K TVs for Xbox Series X and S
• Must-buy Xbox One Headsets
• Our Favorite Xbox One Wireless Headsets
• Best Upcoming Xbox Games for 2021
• Xbox One X vs. Xbox Series S

What you need to know

• Dying Light 2 features a branching narrative with many quests.
• In order to experience it all, you'll have to play it multiple times, making different choices.
• The game can be rushed through in 15 hours, but you'll need to spend ten times more to properly complete it.
• Dying Light 2 can be preordered on Amazon for $60.

Last year, Dying Light 2 was revealed on Microsoft's E3 stage. While the title returns to a decaying city with survivors trying to live after an apocalyptic event, it brings a new emphasis on your choices and their impact on the world. Since the reveal, we haven't heard much about the game, but during a recent interview between producer Kornel Jaskula and GamesRadar+, more information came to light.

Dying Light 2 features branching paths, so you'll have to play it a number of times to explore all options. This means that certain areas in the game and story missions will be inaccessible due to specific choices. Jaskula said "It's almost like we are creating several games worth of content right now. We are designing the game with the foundation that some of the players will miss content and we are okay with that. Thanks to the variety of stories, missions, content, and assets, we believe that it will make players want to play the game again and again, or try to play with other players in co-op to see their worlds."

According to another report by PC Games N, Dying Light 2 can be completed in 15 to 20 hours, but in order to experience it all, you'll probably spend 100 hours or so. Lead Game Designer Tymon Smektala, "Things just happen as you play the game and you have to react to them. But it is 15 to 20 hours for the main story, because the whole content, I would say, is more than 100 hours." This information was revealed in an interview between Smektala and Prankster 101 Productions.

Hopefully Dying Light 2 will feature a compelling story. The first title excelled when it came to gameplay, but the narrative and voice acting were lacking. It's unclear when Dying Light 2 is coming to Xbox One and other platforms, but you can preorder it on Amazon for $60. As always, the game will be enhanced for the Xbox One X.

Xbox

Main

• What is Xbox Game Pass?
• Best 4K TVs for Xbox Series X and S
• Must-buy Xbox One Headsets
• Our Favorite Xbox One Wireless Headsets
• Best Upcoming Xbox Games for 2021
• Xbox One X vs. Xbox Series S

What you need to know

• Dying Light 2 features a branching narrative.
• In order to experience it all, you'll have to play it multiple times, making different choices.
• The new footage focuses on roughly 30 minutes of choices.
• The game can be preordered on Amazon for $60.

Last year, Dying Light 2 was revealed on Microsoft's E3 stage. While the title returns to a decaying city with survivors trying to live after an apocalyptic event, it brings a new emphasis on your choices and their impact on the world. Since the reveal, we haven't heard much about the game. Luckily, Techland just released new footage which gives us roughly 30 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay.

As seen in the video, your actions shape the city. Small decisions have a larger impact on the world. For example, if you play your cards right, the rooftops of dilapidated buildings will be teeming with life. However, if you aren't careful, they maybe a haven for sickness and disease. I would recommend watching the entire clip because not only does it look amazing, but it features some great voice acting.

Hopefully Dying Light 2 will feature a compelling story. The first title excelled when it came to gameplay, but the narrative and voice acting were lacking. It seems like those inadequacies have been addressed this time around. However, this is just a snapshot from the game.

It's unclear when Dying Light 2 is coming to Xbox One and other platforms, but you can preorder it on Amazon for $50. From what we've heard, it features Xbox One X enhancements as well.

Excellent and affordable Xbox accessories

Up your Xbox experience with one (or all) of these budget accessories, all of which are approved by the gamers of Windows Central.

PowerA Play & Charge Kit for Xbox One ($15 at Amazon)

This charging kit keeps your Xbox One wireless controllers juiced up, and it offers batteries for two controllers. At just $15, this is hands-down our favorite budget charging companion.

ElecGear 4 Port USB Xbox One S Hub ($19 at Amazon)

This brilliant little USB splitter hub attaches perfectly to the side of your Xbox One S console. It's ideal for use with chargers, controllers, headsets, and more.

Controller Gear stand ($13 at Amazon)

Proudly display your Xbox gamepads with this stylish and functional stand. The licensed design is minimalist and black, and it has a hidden storage compartment, making the price of $13 a real steal.

What you need to know

• Dying Light 2 features a branching narrative.
• In order to experience it all, you'll have to play it multiple times, making different choices.
• The game can be preordered on Amazon for $60.

Last year, Dying Light 2 was revealed on Microsoft's E3 stage. While the title returns to a decaying city with survivors trying to live after an apocalyptic event, it brings a new emphasis on your choices and their impact on the world. Since the reveal, we haven't heard much about the game, but during a recent interview between producer Kornel Jaskula and GamesRadar+, more information came to light.

Dying Light 2 features branching paths, so you'll have to play it a number of times to explore all options. This means that certain areas in the game and story missions will be inaccessible due to specific choices. Jaskula said the following.

Hopefully Dying Light 2 will feature a compelling story. The first title excelled when it came to gameplay, but the narrative and voice acting were lacking.

It's unclear when Dying Light 2 is coming to Xbox One and other platforms, but you can preorder it on Amazon for $60.

Xbox accessories you'll love

Every one of these quality accessories is guaranteed to enhance your Xbox experience.

PowerA Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox One ($20 at Amazon)

PowerA's take on the Xbox One controller is an attractive pickup for budget-conscious gamers that nails all the basics.

Talon PDP Xbox media remote ($20 at Amazon)

The Talon PDP Xbox media remote is great for watching shows on your console.

Xbox One S vertical stand ($10 at Amazon)

Stand your console upright with this accessory.

Recently, Techland revealed Dying Light 2 for Xbox One at Microsoft's E3 2018 media briefing. The game came as a surprise and goes in a radically new direction where your choices not only impact your relationship with other characters, but also how the city evolves over time. It's unclear if zombies are the main focus this time around because the gameplay footage mostly showed off how certain factions control the city during the day.

In a report by Twinfinite, the outlet mentioned that Dying Light 2 will feature multiple endings due to its branching story. Considering that there are so many path to go down and so many choices, the endings might be radically different. However, whenever this promise has been made in the past, the results have mostly been slight variations rather than meaningful diversions.

Apart from that, the website was able to confirm that Dying Light 2's map is four times larger than the first game and just as dangerous. Dying Light always felt like a massive world so it's great to see Techland push the technology further. Hopefully it'll be filled with copious amounts of enemies and feature the same verticality as the prequel.

Dying Light 2 is expected to launch in 2019 but we don't have a concrete release date yet. We'll keep you posted as soon as we know more. Until then, be sure to gawk at the gorgeous gameplay trailer. So far, the only confirmation we have is that the game will be Xbox One X enhanced.

See at Amazon

Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

Dying Light 2, the sequel to the original 2015 open-world survival horror title, made its debut today at Microsoft's E3 2018 presentation. And while the game makes a return to a decaying city with survivors trying to life work after an apocalyptic event, it brings a new emphasis on your choices and their impact on the world.

"It's been 15 years since the fall. The city is a corpse, and we are the worms; we burrow in it," the announcement trailer starts. Players will be fighting in the streets against not only each other but the undead as well. In terms of choices, players can decide on whether to team up with survivors in a bid for control of resources or make enemies as they progress.

But be careful, because each choice will have a palpable impact on how your story progresses.

Alongside the announcement trailer, Microsoft showed off a look at the gameplay, and how even access to water will be used for or against you.

Dying Light 2 doesn't currently have a release date, but it's up for preorder now for $59.99.

See at Amazon

Dying Light is a first-person survival horror game which requires you to withstand a zombie apocalypse in Turkey. Every since it came out, the game has garnered a significant following and even to this day gamers play it regularly. Today, Techland added a new game mode called "Prison Heist".

As expected, Prison Heist takes place on Prison Island. This isolated fortress is home to a fresh game mode where you must break into the armory as fast as you can, either on your own or with friends in co-op. Your group needs to optimize their strategy, cooperate tightly, and loot the place clean before the alarm goes off. Keep in mind that better performance means more valuable rewards, but remember to be prepared for anything because you never know what's around the corner.

Aside from Prison Heist, today's Dying Light update adds a couple of new monsters. Considering that it's Easter soon, the developer announced the "Harran Egg Hunt" where players chase a zombified Easter Bunny. There's also a new Demolisher mutation in Old Town. This creature is bigger, stronger, and more unpredictable, but killing him gives you a massive amount of experience.

If you haven't played Dying Light on Xbox One, be sure to check it out at retailers. The game is currently available for roughly $20 on retailers like Amazon and the Microsoft Store.

• See at Amazon
• See at Microsoft Store

Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

Dying Light is a first-person survival horror game which requires you to withstand a zombie apocalypse in Turkey. Every since it came out, the game has garnered a significant following and even to this day gamers play it regularly. Dying Light is now three years old and the developer is celebrating the game's anniversary by releasing a lot of actives and other surprises over the coming month.

Some of the content coming to Dying Light in February is listed below.

• Free giveaways on Steam and Gemly.
• Valentine's Day community bounty called Undying Love.
• Content Drop #3 adds free in-game content for all players and platforms.
• Discounts for the game and add-ons for up to 67 percent off.

It's nice to see the developer aggressively supporting its game even after all these years. Usually, studios move onto the next project just as quickly as one comes out. Dying Light's Producer Tymon Smektała issued the following statement in response to the game's continued success.

Dying Light has been played by over thirteen million gamers, with more than 500,000 unique players roaming the city of Harran every week. Last year at E3 2017, Techland committed to delivering ten free add-ons in the next year, extending the lifespan of the title by introducing new enemies, locations, and gameplay mechanics.

Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

Today, Techland announced Dying Light: Bad Blood, a new player vs. player (PvP) expansion which features more action than ever before. Techland developed the expansion as a response to numerous fan requests for a competitive approach to Dying Light, and the recent popularity of the battle royale genre among survival horror fans.

According to the developer, Bad Blood retains the core of what made people fall in love with Dying Light in the first place. However, it offers violent and dynamic online matches that blend various gameplay styles. While Bad Blood isn't the sequel gamers have been asking for, it still seems like intriguing content which will keep players coming back for more.

The Dying Light: Bad Blood Global Playtest is a closed online event that allows selected players to try out the expansion before its release. Gamers can register for the playtest now on the website. In a statement issued to the press, Tymon Smektala, a producer at Techland, said the following.

Dying Light: Bad Blood will launch as a standalone expansion in 2018. All supported platforms for the full release will be announced at a later date. If you haven't played the base game, you can pick it up at retailers now.

• See at Microsoft
• See at Amazon

Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

Two hit games, Rocket League and Dying Light, are teaming up to bring players some extra content for both titles. Dying Light players can get a Rocket League-based paint job for the dirt buggies that were added as part of the zombie game's recent Dying Light: The Following Enhanced Edition expansion.

To get the Rocket League paint job, players of Dying light can type in the code LightMyRocket at the game's official website. In addition, players of Rocket League will be able to get some Dying Light-inspired paint jobs for their own vehicle sometime later this year.

Rocket League players will also be able to check out a new basketball-themed mode soon, according to the game's Twitter page. It shows a screenshot of the soccer-themed game transformed to a basketball court, with cars pushing a basketball into large hoops.

• See Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition at Xbox.com
• See Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition at Amazon
• See Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition at Amazon UK

In early 2015, Dying Light became one of the year's first hits on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Polish developer Techland, having already created the popular Dead Island series, went on to craft a new and distinctive game set around a zombie apocalypse. Combining cutting-edge graphics, climbing and parkour, and a gameplay-changing day and night cycle, Dying Light managed to stand out in the overpopulated zombie genre.

This year, Dying Light players get their first chance at a follow-up in the form of an upcoming expansion. Dying Light: The Following takes place directly after the main game ends. Players will leave the city of Harran behind for an entirely new environment: a zombie-infested outback. Drivable vehicles considerably expand the gameplay, while the story of a cult who might have a cure for the zombie contagion drives players forward. We've played the beginning of Dying Light: The Following – read on for detailed impressions!

Mild spoilers for the first hour of 'The Following' to follow…

Following the main game

The Following opens with a cinematic in which our hero Kyle Crane learns of a possible solution to the zombie apocalypse that has plagued the fictional city of Harran. A dying one-eyed man tells him of a settlement outside the city walls in which people are immune to the zombie virus. What's more, this man has a map depicting a route Kyle can use to escape the walled city.

This journey begins in the city sewers. Players will guide Kyle through the subterranean realm, quickly discovering a path through a cavern adorned with mysterious painted symbols. Soon he emerges on the outside of a mountain. Now our hero must navigate a perilous series of cliffs as he attempts to descend to the verdant land below.

With no enemies in sight, the only challenge players face at this point is first-person platforming and climbing along the mountain walls. Eventually, the path stops at a grassy precipice high above the valley. Kyle's only choice is to leap down into the water below, hoping to survive. And so he does – only to find a fully-dead zombie floating in the water. On its shore, more of the weird paintings and decorations adorn the land.

Meet the locals

Following the path marked by the paintings, Kyle soon discovers a farm in the distance. The path to the farm is lined with zombies, but players should be able to run past them while dispatching any who raise objections. A barb-wire lined wall surrounds the settlement beyond the farm fields, Kyle's primary destination. Thankfully, our boy can climb a nearby structure and vault over the walls to get inside.

The first person you'll meet in the settlement is a guard. Not the friendliest dude, he directs Kyle to speak with Jasir, the town leader. Unfortunately, Jasir wants nothing to do with anyone besides smugglers, refusing to divulge information about the locals' apparent immunity to the zombie disease. The nerve!

An affable fellow outside named Kaan gives players their first real mission. If Kyle will hire on as a courier, Kaan will feed him details about the community's resistance to the plague. But to become a courier, the hero must first procure a vehicle…

Driving over Miss Daisy

Players will have to sneak onto the nearest farm to find a working vehicle. Said auto just happens to be owned by a group of bandits. Sneak by and kill enough of them to reach their buggy, and it's yours! This opens up vehicles, The Following's greatest addition to the Dying Light formula.

Driving around the wilderness and tearing through zombies feels just as good as it sounds. Vehicles drive quite intuitively, with standard steering, acceleration, and braking controls. Players can also hold the Nitro button to zoom forward at super-speed for a limited time — the nitro will recharge after a while.

Vehicles add a lot more depth to The Following than meets the eye. For starters, cars don't just run forever. They need to be refueled almost as often as gaming journalists reach for another can of energy drink. The primary way to get more gasoline is taking it from other cars. As you explore the land beyond Harran, you'll frequently encounter rundown cars and trucks; some of them will still have fuel that can keep your vehicle going.

Broken-down cars can also have items in their trunks and components under their hoods to loot. Your buggy will take damage as it careens throughout the landscape, eventually requiring repairs. The components scavenged from broken-down cars serve as materials for those repairs, as well as crafting parts. Players can eventually find or make new upgrade parts too.

Serving the public trust

When Kyle returns to Kaan, he discovers his employer has been forcibly exiled by someone from outside of the compound. (KAAN!!!!) Jasir's surprisingly-gorgeous daughter Ezgi disagrees with her father's no help policy, so she dangles a carrot in front of our hero. If Kyle wants to learn more about the local immunity to the zombie virus, he'll have to earn the trust of Ezgi and her people. And no making fun of her name!

The first order of business in earning the local trust is to restore the settlement's clean water supply. Jazir sent three men outside of the safe zone to repair the water processing plant, but none have returned. Driving to the plant, Kyle discovers another team of bandits has killed two of the men (by throwing them to a zombie) and imprisoned the other.

Several fights and a tough boss battle against an armored bandit later, our hero frees the captive. The two immediately set about restoring the town's water. Unfortunately, something goes wrong, and valves begin to burst along the pipeline. Kyle has only two and a half minutes to find the main valve before the water processing plant becomes irreparably damaged!

Thus begins an exciting race. The player must follow a length of a pipeline as sections continue to burst, all while navigating the ever-present hordes of zombies. Night had fallen when I played this portion, throwing even deadlier zombies into the mix.

Upon finally reaching the station with the main valve, Kyle has to descend into a flooding basement as he seeks the valve. Unfortunately, I kept running out of time before I could locate the valve, forcing me to restart the timed race multiple times. A checkpoint would've been nice!

More of 'The Following' to follow

Eventually, players will discover a mysterious cult at the heart of the supposed viral immunity. Are these people actually able to prevent or cure the virus, and what do they hope to accomplish amid the chaos? You'll have to play to find out…

Dying Light: The Following is an absolutely massive expansion. The new map is bigger than Dying Light's Old Town and Slums combined. That makes it larger than the main game! With an intriguing story, lots of quests, and vehicles with which to traverse the new landscape, 'The Following' should be on every Dying Light player's radar.

'The Following' will be included for free with the $29.99 Dying Light Season Pass. Don't have Dying Light yet? Techland and Warner Bros will release Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition alongside the new expansion. This new edition includes the original Dying Light, all Season pass content so far, and 'The Following' expansion.

Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition and the downloadable Dying Light: The Following expansion launch Tuesday, February 9th. Stay tuned for our full review of 'The Following!'

• Preorder Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition at Xbox.com ($59.99)
• See Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition at Amazon
• See Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition at Amazon UK

While not perfect, we're big fans of Dying Light around here. Zombie games aren't uncommon across platforms but there's a lot in this one that pulls you in. There's some pretty intense moments throughout and a large game world to explore and kill things in. And it's about to get bigger. Much, much bigger.

Say hello to the newest expansion, Dying Light: The Following. And it's huge. We had the chance to get some hands-on time at Gamescom recently, and we think you're going to like it.

While The Following is an expansion, it's by no means reliant on having finished the main game in order to play. But it's not a standalone, either, and Techland is assuming that anyone playing is already familiar with the games mechanics (and you need the main game to be able to play it at all). There's nothing massively new on that front. You can still run, climb, craft weapons, kill stuff just as you always could. But there are new weapons to use, some of which we've had chance to try out.

Video above contains a montage of raw footage from the demo shown to press at Gamescom 2015

So, what's it all about? What's the backstory?

So, while we mentioned there's no real reliance on having finished the main game, there are benefits to it. Since Crane is the protagonist here, you can carry across your experience and skills from Dying Light into The Following. Likewise any loot from The Following can be taken back into Dying Light.

Touching quickly on the new weapons, and at Gamescom we could try out the new Crossbow and Sub-machine gun. And I'm a dab hand with a crossbow if I do say so myself. There's something satisfying about firing off a series of well placed headshots with the 'bow. There'll also be many more ranged and melee weapons included in the final product.

Vehicles are also new in the form of dirt buggies and due to the scale of the map they're going to be essential in getting around without being killed. It also addresses one of the few criticisms we had of the main game. Our own Jonathan Dollison said this in his review of Dying Light:

He's absolutely right and its this which we see as one of the biggest reasons you'd want vehicles. The map in the main game is also perhaps less suited to vehicles anyway, but the massive expanse that is The Following would be impossible to traverse safely without. The experience of driving isn't bad, either. You're thrown into a first-person viewpoint and these things are pretty speedy. They're also great weapons in themselves. Oh, and check out the final few seconds of the video above. That's where the demo ended for us, flying through the air in a buggy into a ridiculous sea of zombies.

How big is the map then? The developers told us that it's the same size as all the maps in Dying Light combined. And it's 'just' an expansion, remember. One glorious, enormous expansion. There's a lot of open space this time around which contributes quite heavily to the scale of the map, but they're still open spaces teaming with undead nasties waiting to eat your face. Game time they're claiming is around 10 hours if you don't take on any side quests, but with a map this size its conceivable you'll spend longer than that in it.

And making the most of the new world, the new non-linear progression system provides a little more freedom to play how you want to play.

You can also play through The Following with your buddies. The Gamescom demo was set up for two-player co-op as seen in the video above, but the final release will support 4-player. Just like the regular game.

How much is all of this going to cost then? It'll be available for 14.99 Euros in Europe (prices may vary region to region). That is, unless you're a Season Pass owner, in which case you'll be rewarded with The Following for absolutely free. Techland made it clear to us at Gamescom that they want to reward the gamers who put their faith in Dying Light in this way by not asking them for any more money.

So, in closing, what do we think? For fans of Dying Light, The Following is a must buy. It's got everythiing that's great about the main game with a vast new world to explore, new weapons to kill stuff with and new ways of getting around. All wrapped up in a new story where you're able to pick and choose which missions you want to fulfill in order to gain the trust of the local cult.

We played through the early stages of The Following at Gamescom and left impressed. Vehicles alone make such a difference in getting around quickly, and at the asking price it feels like great value, too. There's a lot that's gone into it, and we're very much looking forward to playing through the finished article.

Open-world survival horror title Dying Light is getting a major new expansion, The Following. A story-based expansion, The Following will introduce some new elements to the Dying Light sandbox, including drivable dirt buggies.

To go along with this new all-terrain vehicle, The Following will add a massive new map. Developer Techland says that the map will match the combined size of all previous Dying Light maps. For now the developer is keeping quite on story details for the expansion, but they will be giving demos behind closed doors next month at Gamescom 2015, with a public reveal soon after.

Dying Light: The Following will be available as part of the game's season pass, which costs $19.99, as well as a separate purchase. The standalone price and the release date for The Following has yet to be announced.

Edit: Bungie have since responded to the backlash, scroll down for more.

DLC continues to be a hotly debated topic, and Destiny has deservedly taken the spotlight over the past few days on this thorny issue.

The upcoming Destiny expansion The Taken King asks veterans to pay $40 for the privilege. The game includes a new raid, new sub-classes and a whole lot of new content. If you're a fan, you might be able to justify the price. For people who haven't yet journeyed into Bungie's plot-shy loot-fest they can pick up the base game, all previous DLC and The Taken King for just $60. You might imagine that this has slighted a few fans.

Bungie really stoked the fires when they gave an interview to Eurogamer, attempting to defend the nature of The Taken King's Collector's Edition. The CE includes exclusive in-game content available only to people who pony up $80 and also a bunch of other typical collector's edition fare. The problem is, to score this content you have to re-purchase the base game and all the DLC content for a second time. Normally I'd presume this was an oversight. But during the interview mentioned above with Destiny's creative director and Eurogamer, it became quite apparent that Bungie's Luke Smith didn't care for those concerns.

Luke Smith tersely claimed that Destiny fans will "throw money at the screen" when they see the emotes, thus ignoring their purchase "anxiety". Despite the Eurogamer interviewer explaining that he didn't want to re-purchase the core game and DLC again, this is how Bungie's Luke Smith responded:

As anyone sane might expect, the comments made to Eurogamer's interviewer struck a negative chord with Destiny's player-base. The comments are reminiscent of former Xbox head Don Mattrick stating that "We have a product for people who can't get online, it's called Xbox 360", in response to fan concerns about the Xbox One's former internet connection requirement. You'd think senior industry figures would learn.

Destiny's community manager Deej has since taken to Bungie's official website to claim that something "better" is on its way recognizing long-term fans of the franchise. Reddit commenter leo158 summed up the community's disappointment succinctly:

Bungie wasn't finished tarnishing their name by mocking fans who don't want to re-buy a ton of content. You can now drink specially marked cans of Red Bull to unlock a compelling-sounding piece of content. What joy.

Disregarding the fact Red Bull is pretty unhealthy (particularly when mixed with Jägermeister in copious amounts), Bungie seem completely unaware of the growing backlash against these ridiculous DLC practices. Some of the more savvy devs have been reacting to the controversy over DLC, providing free DLC instead for example.

The crown for commentary on Bungie's transgressions goes to Dying Light dev Techland, who posted this hilarious 'campaign' on their Twitter account earlier:

At this point, it's probably fair to presume the people still playing Destiny are die-hard fans. As pointed out by Engagdet, for a senior dev to treat fans so arrogantly is something that shouldn't be abided. When explaining that Bungie had compensation coming for Destiny's veterans, Deej still managed to point out proudly that The Taken King CE was mostly sold out despite the backlash. I think it's disgusting to lock players out of content because they don't have the disposable income to justify buying a game twice.

I had hoped that developers like CD Projekt RED with their tons of free Witcher 3 DLC would help put an end to practices seen by Bungie. Alas, it seems we as gamers have more work to do when it comes to taking a stand against this sort of business.

Now, does anyone fancy some Dying Light?

Update: Bungie have responded to recent criticisms with a frank community update on the official Bungie website.

Creative Director Luke Smith posted an apology for the way he came across in Eurogamer's interview:

Smith moves on to state that players who own the previous DLC or have a Light level 30 character will obtain some permanent rewards, including armor shaders and a unique mount.

Additionally, the contested emotes, shaders and exotic weapons will be available separate from the Collector's Edition for $20 on Sept 15th. It seems a tad pricey for a few art assets, let me know in the comments what you think about that.

All of this could've been soundly avoided if developers weren't so keen to nickel and dime their fans with convoluted DLC practices. One can only hope Bungie (and other devs) will learn from this.

Thanks Chadd

Techland's open world survival horror game Dying Light continues to be a success. The game holds firm at the No. 1 spot in the UK charts, and today received Patch 1.5 - which includes a ton of fresh content.

Dying Light players can test their skill (and patience) in the game's new hard mode. Rather than just increasing zombie strength, hard mode brings various other tweaks to create a more immersive experience. For example, no longer will the inventory menu pause the game, night-time periods last twice as long, and volatile monster types no longer appear in the mini-map.

The patch also adds a new 'gold' weapon ranking, which are even rarer and more powerful, in addition to new character skins, unique weapons, and various other under the hood tweaks.

Perhaps even more impressive is the below video, which appeared on Dying Light's menu for players who download the game's latest update.

Techland's Paul Milewski takes to the mic to praise Dying Light's accolades, and thank the fans for their continued support. Following that, Milewski offers a tantalising glimpse of upcoming content. The first clip contains a brief peek at a new bow and arrow weapon time - considering how much weapon noise plays a part in Dying Light, this could be a significant addition. Following that is a sequence showing gameplay inside a new stadium, followed by what appears to be a Parkour time trial. The internet is ablaze with chatter about the latter clips, which show off drivable dune buggies and glorious vehicular zombie slaughter.

Are you still pulverizing the zombies of Harran? Or have you moved on to new gaming pastures?

Dying Light is a first-person zombie survival game from Polish studio Techland, recently released for Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Windows. Techland also developed the oh-so similar Dead Island, but they gave up on that IP due to creative differences with publisher Deep Silver. While Dying Light resembles a reincarnation of Dead Island, it trumps that game on so many levels that I finally like one of Techland's zombie games.

Whether or not you enjoyed Dead Island more than I did, you are in for a real treat with Dying Light. Dying Light has the potential to be an awesome zombie franchise, but first they need to fix some of the flaws that claw and bite at the current version.

Welcome to the undead city

Dying Light takes place in the fictional city of Harran. What should have been the home of the game world's next Olympic Games has instead become ground zero to a viral plague that turns the infected into zombies.

Players assume the role of Kyle Crane, a contractor for the Global Relief Effort (GRE). The GRE has quarantined the city in fear of the plague spreading and has decided to help the trapped citizens by sending in rare airdrops with supplies.

However, Kyle Crane wasn't hired to help the citizens. Instead, his mission is to locate a political figure called Rais who has gone rogue. Rais and his thugs have taken control of the plague-ridden city and stolen the majority of the GRE's airdrops. The villain also possesses an important file that could jeopardize the future of the GRE. The player's job is to stop him.

After parachuting into the city, Kyle immediately gets ambushed by a swarm of thugs. Their attack, in turn, attracts a horde of zombies. Some of the residents of "The Tower" notice Kyle's predicament and rescue him. This tower is full of refugees who resist Rais's reign and will do anything to help our hero complete his mission.

Fight or Flight

Although Rais and his men pose a huge threat, a bigger danger looms over the city of Harran: the zombies. Players can choose either 'fight or flight' when a horde of blood-thirsty zombies approaches. The game allows you to pick up almost any tool you see, including gas pipes, baseball bats, scythes, and even a 9mm pistol. Each weapon has 3 main properties: damage, durability, and repairs.

Damage obviously measures the amount of damage a weapon can inflict upon your enemies. Durability is a bit more complex; it rates how much damage a weapon itself can take. The lower the durability, the faster a weapon breaks. Broken weapons can be repaired. Some weapons can even be repaired multiple times before needing to be discarded, but you'll get less use from others.

Although you have a vast amount of weapons at your disposal, most weapons you come across early on won't do much to hold zombies at bay. Should you have to flee, you needn't do so on the ground. Dying Light's parkour traversal allows players to climb buildings and methodically jump from roof. If it has a ledge or rail, you can probably climb it.

If you aren't too careful, you can easily fall from a ledge or rooftop and die. In the beginning, you'll find this happening more often than you would think thanks to the unintuitive mapping of both the jump and climb actions to the same button (Right Bumper). But if you whiff a jump and land on a trash pile, car or awning, it will at least reduce the fall damage.

Running and climbing become particularly vital when the sun sets and night blankets the city. Instead of running around freely, you have to slow down and rely on your flashlight for visibility. This is when the game is at its most intense.

At night, stronger zombies that can sense you from afar come out to hunt. These zombies can't be outrun easily, and they will pounce at any opportunity. Should they detect you, you'll have to scramble up a building as fast as you can in order to break their line of sight.

You can easily avoid the night by going to a safe house and sleeping through the night. But that wouldn't be fun, would it? Not when all XP gained at night is doubled, which helps your rank up fast. Dying will make you lose a big chunk of that EXP though, creating a compelling risk-reward dynamic.

The Running Man

Whenever you aren't killing zombies, you'll likely be busy completing missions. Most mission objectives lie far away from where you get them, necessitating a few minutes of running from point to point.

While distance can be fine for a typical open world game, this one could have used a fast travel option. All the running contributes to a long playtime in which you feel like you have done very little. My own completion time came in at 28 hours, with very few side missions completed. One could easily have a 40-50 hour experience with Dying Light in order to complete everything.

A Dying Light party

Dying Light, fortunately, has the option to complete the campaign with up to 3 other players. Going through missions, or taking down hordes of zombies with a buddy is when Dying Light is most enjoyable. It helps to distract from the fact that you are covering miles of land in between missions and it helps to make the game feel less repetitive.

My favorite aspect of the multiplayer is that it has what it calls 'dynamic competition.' This is pretty much random mini-games that happen for friendly competition between you and your buddies. For example, you could get a dynamic competition that prompts players to kill as many zombies as they can in 45 seconds. Or race to the next mission location.

What this does is spice up the pace of the game when playing with friends. Whoever wins gets some extra XP and some cash. This sounds like fun, but matchmaking issues hampered the chance to try it out that often during the period of this review. This, sadly, looks to be an all too common problem.

Achievements

Most achievements in the game are easily accomplished from your first play through. My personal favorite came by complete accident but was actually tough to achieve. "Can't Touch This" had me kill 20 enemies in a row without taking any damage whatsoever.

The most challenging and time-consuming achievement is called "Mount Everest." It asks for players to climb a total of 8848 meters on various objects. That could take hours if not days!

Overall Impressions

Dying Light is easily one of the most fun zombie games I have had the pleasure of playing. As with previous Techland games, the melee combat and weapon modifications are excellent. It adds an element of complexity to an otherwise bland style of combat. And the parkour traversal is by far the most welcome addition to the genre.

Running from Volatiles at night is by far one of the most intense situations that I've ever encountered in a video game. And climbing. There are a few times throughout the game where you have to climb huge structures and your heart will sink as you're doing so. Dying Light portrays the sensation of Vertigo rather well when you're climbing these structures which adds to the overall intensity.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of things that hold Dying Light back from achieving greatness. For one, the story is a bit of a letdown. You never truly feel attached to characters, even though, the game tries hard to do so. That said, I did find myself enjoying the story later on as things began to unravel. Secondly, the mission structure could easily be improved and not have them be so far apart. This only adds unwanted length to the games story and makes the player feel as if they've hardly achieved anything. Lastly, the matchmaking in multiplayer needs to be sorted out. That itself hinders players from having the richest experience with the game which is a huge disappointment.

That being said, I did enjoy the game. I now find myself going back to complete side missions and try out new weapons. And to hope that the multiplayer issues have been resolved.

If you are a fan of Dead Island, Dying Light is a no-brainer purchase as it uses a similar premise as a foundation, then greatly improves upon it. If you are not a fan of zombie titles, maybe wait until it goes on sale or hear that the multiplayer is fixed. Then you should definitely check it out. As the refugees say, "Good Night and Good Luck."

• Buy Now - Xbox Store - $59.99

Earlier today, Microsoft announced that zombie survival game State of Decay will be coming to Xbox One in 2015 as State of Decay: Year One Survivor Edition. Based on the quality of the original Xbox 360 version, that game should be the ultimate survival fantasy game when it arrives on Microsoft's latest console. Or so I'd have thought…

As it turns out, 505 Games (publishers of Sniper Elite III) have also just announced an Xbox One zombie game called How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition. With a mix of survival elements, humor, and co-op gameplay, How to Survive should be able to carve its own niche when it arrives this fall. Meanwhile, Polish developer Techland and Warner Bros. are preparing a first-person open-world zombie game called Dying Light for both Xbox One and 360 to be released in early 2015. Read on for impressions and trailers!

How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition

Like State of Decay, How to Survive originated as an XBLA game. This one launched in October of last year, right around the time that everyone was gearing up for the new console launches. As such, it flew under a lot of gamers' radars, including mine. And that's a shame, because it actually looks really cool.

You play as one of three survivors who has become stranded on a zombie-infested island. Like the average person, they have little idea of how to handle the situation on their own. Luckily, an eccentric survival nut has created a "How to Survive" guide for just such an emergency. You'll hunt down the pages of the guide, which contains useful (and funny) words to live by.

How to Survive takes place from an overhead view and controls like a twin-stick shooter. But it's still a survival game like State of Decay. Your character has three basic needs: food, water, and sleep that must be met in order to stay alive and kicking. You'll have to hunt animals for food, gather water from wells, and find safe places to rest as you navigate the island's perils.

Besides exploring, foraging, and zombie killing, you'll also have to complete RPG-style quests for fellow survivors. Completing these quests, as well as fighting enemies and crafting unique objects, gains EXP for your character. Use it to purchase upgrades for a skill tree, personalizing your character while gaining useful benefits like a reduced need for sleep.

Best of all, How to Survive has that one major element that State of Decay (as far as we know) lacks: cooperative multiplayer! Two players can team up on one system or online in order to face the zombie island together. Since each character has his or her own strengths and abilities, you'll be able to complement your partner and hopefully keep each other safe.

The Xbox One version of How to Survive naturally includes a few improvements over last year's release. No word on graphical enhancements (though a 1080p resolution is likely), but the developers promise new maps, characters, modes, weapons and survival tips. And the Storm Warning Edition will include an arsenal of content that was previously sold as DLC:

• Heat Wave DLC to equip the 3 original playable characters with fireproof suits and teach them the ability to craft incendiary ammo.
• Kovac's way DLC, which introduces an additional difficulty level to the game with new and demanding gameplay conditions.
• Hello, My name is Nina DLC. Presenting an additional character with the ability to craft flamethrowers and advanced chainsaws.
• "El Diablo" Islands DLC where players will discover new islands, meet new characters and face unpredictable threats.
• One Shot Escape DLC. Allowing players to roam the islands on a highly randomized scenario trying to find and repair an escape vehicle.
• Barricade! DLC. Introduces a new game mode where players will try to protect survivors as long as they can, setting traps and barricades.

It sounds like How to Survive will be less serious and more fast-paced than State of Decay. In any case, it will help keep us all busy as we wait for State of Decay (and Dying Light) to come along in 2015. How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition comes to Xbox One and Playstation 4 this fall.

Dying Light – February 2015

Whereas State of Decay has a third-person behind-the-back view and How to Survive uses an overhead view, Dying Light mixes things up by taking place in first-person. No surprise since developer Techland also made the Dead Island series. But Dying Light focuses much more on speed and mobility, to the point that it almost looks like a zombie-themed take on Mirror's Edge.

Players will have to navigate in a zombie-infested city. The zombies are suitably slow, but they become much more dangerous in numbers. Avoiding them seems to be surprisingly natural and intuitive thanks to your character's parkour-like skills. You can run, jump, and climb things with ease, using the rooftops to get around safely while armies of the undead congregate below. It looks great in motion.

Still, sometimes fighting will be the only way to survive. Dying Light favors melee combat over ranged combat, allowing players to wield over 100 different weapons against the zombies. Those zombies come apart and splatter in a truly visceral and thrilling way when struck with wrenches and other objects. Players will also be able to pull off a number of melee moves, such as jumping over one zombie and kicking another as you land, grappling and throwing an enemy out of a window, or snapping an unsuspecting zombie's neck.

Dying Light is an open-world game, so players have plenty of freedom to explore. It also incorporates a day-and-night cycle. During the daytime, you can focus on completing quests and finding useful crafting materials. But at night, zombies actually transform, becoming faster and gaining the ability to jump and climb to chase hapless humans. You'll have to play more stealthily and use an infrared-like feature called "Night Sense" during the night cycle if you want to see the sunrise.

Being a much larger and more graphically intensive game than How to Survive, Dying Light won't offer local multiplayer. But it does promise 4-player online co-op, which should be even more exciting. Dead Island worked really well in co-op, and I'm sure Dying Light will as well. You'll want somebody watching your back when the sun starts to go down!

Dying Light is due out on Xbox One and 360, Playstation consoles, and PC in February 2015.

• Dying Light – Xbox One – $59.99 – Amazon preorder
• Dying Light – Xbox 360 – $49.99 – Amazon preorder

Zombies games on the rise

Let's count: How to Survive and Telltale's The Walking Dead are on their way to Xbox One this year, with Dying Light, State of Decay, and Dead Island 2 coming next year.

Still, I wouldn't say that we're going to be overrun with zombie games on Xbox One just yet. The zombie apocalypse is just an enduring setting that allows for a variety of different interpretations. All of the games I just mentioned (plus Dead Rising 3) differ in significant ways, with widely varying game mechanics, survival elements, multiplayer features, and tones.

What do you guys think of How to Survive and Dying Light? Will you get one or both of these games, or hold out for State of Decay?