Since the beginning of Dying Light, our goal has been to create the most immersive zombie apocalypse. Through our work on the series, we’ve learned that achieving this requires mastering three key areas: visuals, sound design, and gameplay mechanics. Let’s explore immersion and horror in Dying Light: The Beast!
Nights, Now Even Scarier
Visual details and the advanced graphical engine make exploration a real treat during the day, but for a game like Dying Light what counts most is how atmospheric the night is. After all, this is where our “open world meets survival horror” formula shines best: using in-game systems to create challenges and frights for players.
Our goal for Dying Light: The Beast was to create a tense, terrifying night experience with a heavy, nerve-wrecking tension that could rival the legendary after-hours moments of the first Dying Light.
We assembled a dedicated strike team of programmers, game designers, and level designers, iterating weekly, and continuing their work throughout the game’s entire production. Some weeks were focused on Volatile behavior, others on spawning rules and chase mechanics. The result is a night system that will, hopefully, feel unpredictable and frightening, resulting in an experience you will remember for a long time.
We have pulled a lot of levers to achieve the horror and scary feeling we wanted for the night. We made them darker in general, but what we also discovered is that the Castor Woods setting helped us a lot conveying the atmosphere we were looking for and adding different shades to it. After all, it is a different experience when you wander around the forest of the Nature Reserve (super dark!) compared to trying to sneak past Volatiles inside the city (where burning barrels create a different vibe).
Another important decision was to refocus the night experience strictly on Volatiles, our apex predators - and this has driven all of the choices we have taken along the way. We redesigned how Volatiles move, both alone and in coordinated packs, so they could hunt players more effectively across all areas of the map. We iterated on our spawning technology to make you feel their presence, no matter where they are. On top of that, we also had to tweak the experience with our vehicle in mind, as well as account for the diversity of the map, which features many different areas, from narrow streets to open fields.
So, the nights were made darker, the flashlight gained a more physical feel with visible inertia, and the Volatiles became smarter. But we heard from you that it still might not be enough. That’s why, in the final weeks of production, we formed a strike team of AI and gameplay programmers, supported by our Tech & Art teams, to make nights even more terrifying. We’ve been incorporating feedback gathered during gamescom and from the reactions to influencers playing our build. You want more of that nail-biting night terror? We have more!
Here’s just a short list of some of elements we have worked on in these last few weeks leading to the release:
Significant improvements in locomotion of Volatiles increasing effectiveness of chases
Tighter path finding algorithms reducing unnecessary path selections
Improved run loop animation
Additional jump grabs and jump attacks
Reduced synchronicity of animations (e.g. UV reaction), adding more variety to Volatile encounters
Volatile senses - making it easier for them to notice the player and react to his behaviors (e.g. flashlight flashing)
Conditions for retreat behaviors, making them fight till the last drop of blood in a bigger number of cases
More realistic logic of spawners
Conditions of Volatiles jumping on a car from the front and from the back
Physics of Volatile jumps
On top of that, we've also worked on the visuals of Volatiles making them more bloody and increasing the number of their variants, making each one of them scarier and more unique.
Immersive Sounds
Another element that adds to the scariness of the night is the sound design. Because we want you to feel like you’re “truly there”, our main focus was the ambiance of the night - we made it subtle so you can hear the footsteps of the Volatiles and the Infected well and locate them precisely among your surroundings, being able to understand their distance just from hearing alone. But once you’re spotted, everything changes - first, you hear the characteristic scary sound, and then music kicks in, full of tension and highlighted by Kyle’s breathing heavily.
But when you finally manage to escape the chase and find a Safe Zone that will offer you shelter until the sun rises, you can also discover another side of Castor Woods. What’s scary during the night can actually look and sound beautiful during the day.
Each biome - from the town, through the swamp, to the dense forest - has its own unique, highly detailed soundscape. In the city, you hear cracking windows and antennas; in the forest, snapping branches; in the swamps, the splash of water and other subtle natural sounds.
Reverb and the contrast in sounds between indoor and outdoor environments plays a huge role in Dying Light: The Beast. Inside, sound is almost muted, creating silence and tension - perfect for jump scares! Outside, the soundscape is dense and almost claustrophobic, amplifying the sense of danger.
When it comes to sounds of gameplay, weapons in Dying Light: The Beast feel heavier and more brutal than in previous games in the series. Every shot or strike has weight and impact, and you can also hear it in your headphones or speakers - from cracking bones to splattering blood. The variety in combat sounds enhances the sense of satisfaction and the raw brutality of action, making it very realistic.
The sound of the zombies has also been reworked. Biters and Virals now sound more human - aggressively human - so players sense that they are facing infected people, not monsters. Their growls, shrieks, and movements carry a raw, almost desperate intensity, emphasizing the horror of their transformation. This makes encounters feel more tense and immersive, as you can almost hear the struggle between the human and Infected within them. Yet, achieving that level of quality is a tremendous amount of work - can you imagine that our game uses more than 9000 soundbites for zombie screams and shrieks?
The Handcrafted World of Castor Woods
Finally, visuals bring the world of Dying Light: The Beast to life. We wanted to create a game that feels rich, dense, and varied, inviting players to explore every corner. How did we achieve that? By focusing on the details and background stories for all locations.
Castor Woods is packed with hidden secrets and surprises. You can wander past souvenir shops with magnets still hanging on the displays, visit abandoned restaurants where menus are still readable and walls are decorated with pictures of dumplings taken from one of Concept Artist’s private archives. Even the city’s coat of arms and some of the logos of local businesses are designed to be consistent with each other, and they all feature beavers. Why beavers? Castor Woods Valley has always been home to a large beaver population, so the beaver became both the symbol of the region and the mascot of its nature reserve, so you’ll meet them throughout the area.
Artists even imagined a summer festival planned for Castor Woods in 2022 - but it never took place because of the zombie pandemic. Still, you can find its traces: promotional posters, abandoned decorations, and even lineups of artists who were supposed to perform. We know that there are players that appreciate that level of detail in world building.
In areas like the farmlands or the villa district, every house has its own unique garden with subtle clues about the people who once lived there. Our artists did extensive research on plants and flowers to ensure the overgrown gardens look natural and believable. They carefully selected species that could survive without human care while still remaining lush and beautiful. And when you explore the Castor Woods Nature Reserve, don’t forget to read the information boards designed by our team to give you the feeling of walking through a real reserve.
One of the most picturesque parts of the reserve is the monastery, set on the hill in the heart of this beautiful location. Once inhabited by monks, it’s a place you can check their rooms, browse through the small shop where they sold handmade goods, or wander in the gardens they once tended to with care. It’s a truly stunning place with a rich history.
But that’s definitely not all! We can’t wait for you to explore the map yourselves, discovering all of the little details. And if that’s not enough, well, we’ve hidden over 100 collectibles and countless easter eggs across the world. Ready for the challenge? See you in Castor Woods on September 19!