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Daily Mirror
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Dying Light: The Beast adds more monstrous ways to thrive in a brutal but luscious parkour paradise
Kyle Crane's return is so far shaping up to be a worthy entry into the Dying Light franchise, with the setting of Castor Woods and new monster powers being the stars of the show. Techland's next open-world zombie slash-a-thon keeps things familiar for the better, wrapping it around a new location and a fresh combat system to make roleplaying a monster an absolute blast. It's somehow been 10 years since the original Dying Light rose up from the ashes of Dead Island to become one of the most popular (and surprisingly consistent) zombie games ever. Rather than look fully ahead for its next entry, however, Polish developer Techland also finds itself equally willing to peer back, choosing to combine elements old and new to make a concoction that all series fans will likely adore. Dying Light: The Beast, as a DLC expansion-turned-full game, not only does this by having a beastlier version of the first game's protagonist return, but by also bringing a renewed focus on making the game scary again thanks to some truly tense night-time scenarios and bigger, more dangerous Volatile enemies to face. All this, mixed in with some truly monstrous ways to dispatch the undead, is already helping the game's parkour paradise premise come alive like never before. Having enjoyed 2022's Dying Light 2: Stay Human well enough but preferring Kyle Crane's original 2015 adventure, I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good to be back in the character's shoes for this third full instalment. The hero of Harran he may be, yet a lot about him has changed since the end of Dying Light: The Following's canon ending. This most noticeably comes in the form of voice actor Roger Craig Smith's much gruffer tone of voice, way more F-bombs, and a new infection type that has seen Kyle gain new monster powers where he can occasionally hulk out. The latter of which might suck for him personally as a character, but works brilliantly for us as players since trying to successfully navigate a world where thousands of undead flesh-eaters roam is no longer about merely surviving, but viscously thriving too. My three-hour preview session kicked off shortly after the game's beginning, with Kyle fresh off escaping the clutches of a villain known only as the Baron, who has had him caged up like an animal for the past 10 years. Kyle chooses to use his newfound freedom not to find a nice beach somewhere (if any still exist) and retire, but rather by forming new human connections and setting up a base of operations in the luscious, more naturalistic region of Castor Woods. Turns out it's the perfect place to loot weapons, tools, and gear while Kyle works out exactly how to claim his revenge. Such narrative machinations so far aren't adding to a story that's anything particularly spectacular. But hey, these opening hours do well to get you up to speed with the stakes quickly – regardless of if you're familiar with the way Dying Light works or not. Better yet, it does all this while making you question: is the 'beast' referred to in the game's title Kyle at all, or something else entirely? Unleash the beast From a pure mechanics perspective, I was initially surprised by just how similarly Dying Light: The Beast plays to previous entries. Simply put, this isn't some grand reinvention of the open-world zombie-slaying formula that has worked so well before, but it does mean that Dying Light 2 aficionados will feel right at home with what it means to engage in Techland's fun and well-formed parkour system all over again. There's still plenty of reasons to run, clamber, and (in some instances) swing through this playground-like world. Offering a sharp change of tone to these usual antics, though, is of course the new setting of Castor Woods. Touting plenty of greenery, swamps, and open woodland that contrasts nicely with its built-up areas, already the location is making a claim to be my favourite to ever feature in a Dying Light game. Because whether it was exploring the old town district situated in the centre to set up camp at town hall or leaping over swamp shacks in search of a contact, moving through this incredibly diverse map elegantly was never a chore. Once again, Techland has clearly taken the time to make Castor Woods a beautiful, dangerous, but also fun world to move through – and I already can't get enough. I got the sense during my session that Castor Woods won't be as large as Dying Light 2's Villador, but that's okay given the level of variety it offers, and the ability to explore its more cut-off areas via truck. Yes, The Beast marks the first time since The Following's buggy where vehicles are also a viable option. Unlike Kyle's buggy from before, however, he's able to jump into most cars, all of which only have a limited amount of fuel, meaning you can't come to rely on them too much. Cars effectively being just another currency in Dying Light: The Beast also ensures that you're never discouraged from performing the core act of climbing for too long. I say this as someone who got a great kick out of ramming down endless hordes of biters on the road in the few instances I was required to drive to get to the next mission marker. Being able to switch between first- and third-person view on the fly while in vehicles is also an improvement I quickly came to appreciate, helping driving here feel more flexible and less of a chore than in, say, Far Cry 5. The monster within Third-person view is something you'll get accustomed to quite a lot in The Beast when out of vehicles too, as the camera regularly switches between the two perspectives during cut scenes. At first I was worried this might make you feel less aligned with Kyle Crane as a character, when in fact it has the opposite effect. Actually being able to see Kyle, and all the concerning ways this beastly virus is taking over his body, works far better to make him feel like an actual character, rather than just some disembodied voice merely made up of wavy hands and springy legs. Finally, there are obviously the beast abilities themselves, which are so crucial to the experience of this third game that they've been given their own skill tree. That said, unlocking points for it is kept totally separate from the three other strands, requiring you to take down mission critical bosses called Chimera. I fought a handful of these grotesque nasties during my demo, and taking them down was almost always made easier once I'd dealt enough damage to activate beast mode itself. You're not fully invincible in beast mode, but being able to wail on unwitting enemies with your bare hands as the screen swells is something I found to be pleasingly cathartic. Dying Light's melee combat is usually meticulous in that you're trying to dodge while trying to find a gap in an enemy's defence to land the perfect hit. Beast mode, meanwhile, is the complete opposite, and the fact it just activates by itself in the early hours – whether you want it to or not – is a neat way of having it neatly tie to the narrative as Kyle slowly gets to grips with what he has suddenly become. So far then, Dying Light: The Beast seems to be striking that perfect balance of leaning into what worked previously, but coating it in some exciting new traversal and combat systems to help make this visit to Castor Woods feel like its own distinct adventure. Following my demo, I was left curious as to what new Beast abilities are waiting to be unlocked in the late game, in what other ways Castor Woods could potentially open up, and whether or not the beast in the title is all it seems. In other words, there's plenty of secrets still to discover in this third zombie-fuelled go-around, all of which I can't wait to discover.
Digital Trends
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
The best video game trailers of all time
Table of Contents Table of Contents Dead Island Halo 3 Gears of War Assassin's Creed: Revelations Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Final Fantasy 7: Remake The art of the video game trailer is a delicate one. A trailer needs to get people excited to play an upcoming video game, while ideally being representative of what that game will actually be. However, it has become clear that plenty of trailers — at least the ones without gameplay — are more interested in generating hype than being especially faithful. These are our first glimpses at the world, characters, and maybe even bosses of a game, but presented like a short film. Because trailers can be so different from what the final game becomes, we wanted to find the best video game trailers judged only on their effectiveness as trailers and not take into consideration how accurate or good the game they are advertising was. It is just as likely that a terrible game and one of the best games of all time will have an amazing trailer. After digging through the archives of hundreds of video game trailers from every console generation, we've come up with a list of the best video game trailers ever made. Recommended Videos Dead Island Where else could we start than one of the most infamous trailers ever released? There had been plenty of 'artsy' trailers before Dead Island, and we will talk about them later in this list, but something about this one felt different. The structure of the trailer mostly being shot in reverse of a family fighting — and losing — to survive against an oncoming zombie horde was gripping and emotional despite seeing how it would all end up from the start. It felt distinct from any other zombie game at the time, which were all about action or horror. Dead Island chose to feel more personal and melancholic. The soundtrack here alone still gives us chills. As a short film, it is a masterfully crafted and effective piece of media. If you were hoping the game would be anything like this trailer, though, then you could make a strong case for it being false advertising. Halo 3 The marketing cycle for Halo 3 was unreal. If you weren't there to experience it, it is hard to describe just how ever-present this game was, even in the mainstream. The tagline for the game was simply 'Believe,' and of all the trailers we got for the game, the one that we still think about shares that simple title. Instead of making a CGI, gameplay, or live-action trailer (which Bungie still did, of course), this trailer was made using a diorama. A sullen piano track guides the camera across various scenes, from exhausted, wounded, and terrified marines to Brutes getting blasted by explosives and Hunters tearing through human resistance. Despite there being no movement, it is incredibly dynamic and shows a deeper layer to this desperate war than you get behind the visor of a super soldier. We close on a shot of our hero, Master Chief, apparently defeated in the hands of a Brute. The only motion in the trailer is Chief lifting his head before 'Believe' comes on screen. Perfect. Gears of War Before Dead Island, Gears of War was the first game to craft a trailer that ended up being a radical departure from the game. Yes, the world of Gears was incredibly dire and hopeless, but that emotion typically took a backseat to the bombastic firefights and macho banter between the tank-like characters. This trailer, on the other hand, painted the world as it would feel if it weren't a video game. The cover of Mad World was used to incredible effect as Marcus wanders through a delapitated city, stalked by monsters. It really sells the feeling of desperation and hopelessness of that world where monsters are, in fact, real. The series would attempt to recreate this tone with its two sequels to various effect, but this first attempt was the one that inspired the trend. Assassin's Creed: Revelations Say what you will about Ubisoft, but that company knows how to make a killer trailer. The Assassin's Creed games, in particular, have had some of the most stunning and well-directed trailers of all time, with Assassin's Creed: Revelations being the peak. Unlike the last few entries, which featured slow and mournful soundtracks, this one uses the upbeat tempo of a WoodKid track. It is another instance of showing the end first before cutting back to show an aged Ezio traveling across land and sea to where the series first began. After shrugging off an arrow, an action sequence that would make Zack Snyder blush kicks off to show the insane fight choreography and brutality of the combat. At the very end, we get the promise of the game tying everything back to the origins as Ezio sees a vision of Altair beside him while a noose is tied around his neck. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Before every new Smash game, we always ask, 'Who's going to be in it?' Things were a little different when we learned about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch because we all assumed that we would be losing characters. After all, there was no way we could get the entire roster from Smash for Wii U, especially the guest characters like Snake, Ryu, and Cloud in Ultimate, right? Well, Nintendo left no room for doubt when it released the Everyone is here! trailer. It starts out slow, going over the classic characters we all expected and numbering them, but around halfway through, after confirming Cloud and Snake, it drops the bomb that 'Everyone is here!' The trailer doesn't just show us everyone from this insanely huge roster, but gives each character a moment to shine and show off their personality or moveset for a moment. No matter who you are a fan of, you get at least one moment to feel seen by this trailer. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate proved it was worthy of that subtitle with this trailer alone, and someone only got better with each character it added after the fact. Final Fantasy 7: Remake One of our favorite types of trailers are the ones we can't quite place at first. We love those opening few moments as we search for clues and make guesses as to what it could be, or if it is just something completely new. That's how the reveal for Final Fantasy 7: Remake was in 2015. At this point, fans had been jerked around back and forth on whether or not such a thing could even be done, so even when we saw the giant pipes running through a metropolotin city, we didn't want to get our hopes up. The narration was likewise ambiguous. And then we saw the train and playground with that ominous bass chord sting leading to that trilling piano. If you weren't there for it, we highly suggest looking up reactions to this trailer and watching the realization hit people once they realize that, yes, Final Fantasy 7: Remake is happening. Or, as the narrator concludes, 'But let us embrace whatever it brings, for they are coming back. At last, the promise has been made.' It is hard to imagine another trailer speaking to any group of fans as strongly as this one for a long, long time.
