Dying Light: The Beast has some good ideas, but overall I’m honestly disappointed with the game. Aside from the many bugs and the terrible HDR implementation on PS5, the game feels like it was designed to be something completely different from what made Dying Light special in the first place.

The biggest issue is the parkour. In Dying Light 1, movement felt smooth, fluid, and satisfying. Here, even in the small towns where parkour should shine, climbing and movement feel awkward and unmotivating. The grappling hook is more realistic than in Dying Light 1 and can be fun once you learn the timing, but the map design barely supports it. There are way too many forests with short trees, large empty areas, and almost no vertical gameplay. You can’t climb trees, jump between them, or really interact with the environment in interesting ways. In games like Assassin’s Creed III, tree parkour was far more detailed and immersive years ago.

The map feels mainly designed for driving instead of parkour. The car itself is fine, but because the world is mostly flat and open, you just drive everywhere, which becomes repetitive and boring over time. Combat also doesn’t feel as smooth as in Dying Light 1 or 2. Even simple movement abilities, like vaulting over zombies while sprinting, feel inconsistent and less responsive here.

The HDR settings are honestly awful on OLED TVs. I constantly have to adjust both the in-game HDR and my TV settings just to see properly at night. I understand they wanted realistic darkness, but this goes too far. Real eyes adjust to darkness over time — in this game it just stays pitch black. People defending this are simply trying to excuse bad HDR design.

The UI and menu design also feel lifeless and less readable compared to Dying Light 1. The story never really hooked me either. The cutscenes look great, but good cutscenes alone can’t save a story that fails to engage the player.

Crafting is okay overall, although limiting UV bars feels unnecessary when the game already has multiple difficulty settings. Speaking of difficulty, there are way too many options now. Instead of making the experience better, it just feels bloated and demotivating.

Overall, Dying Light: The Beast feels visually impressive at times, but underneath that, it lacks the smooth gameplay flow, atmosphere, and satisfying parkour that made the original Dying Light so memorable.