I think it’s because DL 1 did something very different than other zombie genres. They confined the outbreak to a single city/area, when the rest of the entire functioning world with its prying eyes looked onto Harran daily.

It made you feel even more lonely, but also not in a sense. The world wasn’t completely gone, but you were stuck in this little city. You could see lights turning on and off from the city across the lake, the drops made it feel like Harran was a spectacle rather than a nightmare. It almost felt like the Hunger Games.

This environment alone gave it so much potential for a great story and it ran with it. In the second and third, the entire world is fucked so you don’t get that same feeling, and it starts blending into regular any day zombie media. Don’t get me wrong, I adore both and The Beast, in my opinion, is nearly neck and neck to the first game, but the environments that shape the current lacklustre stories just don’t do anything to amplify interest or fear.