How 28 Days Later, Stranger Things, and Pac-Man Influenced Dying Light: The Beast

Ahead of Dying Light: The Beast, TechRaptor was invited to a hands-on preview where we played the game for a handful of hours. On top of hacking and slashing the army of the dead, we also got to sit down and chat with Tymon Smektala, the franchise director for the Dying Light series, about where the team draws inspiration from and where the series can go from here.

One of the most significant changes about The Beast in comparison to previous games is that a large portion of the game takes place in the woods, where there are few to no areas for players to use parkour to help them get out of a tricky situation. Smektala explains that they wanted to try this out and see if they could take the series to a new location and still feel authentic.

"We wanted to see if we could have a Dying Light game where we could [occasionally] take away parkour. What we discovered is that it works very well for us because, in a way, parkour is a survival mechanic. You can use it to get away quickly. [Taking away parkour] even adds to the survival aspect because suddenly you feel more exposed and fragile against threats. It adds a lot of tension," Smektala said.

Many survival-horror games involve players running for their lives, but the latest installment of Dying Light introduces a new mechanic called "Beast Mode." In short, this makes you an unstoppable force of nature that can kill just about everything in your path. Smektala told TechRaptor that this was implemented so they could give players a fighting chance when they find themselves overwhelmed by zombies. The idea of having this second wind stemmed from an unlikely game… Pac-Man.

"It's kind of the same setup. You feel very fragile because when the ghosts are chasing you, all they need to do is touch you, and you'll die. But when you grab the power pellet, that's when you turn the tables. [Beast Mode] is the same mechanic, and in Pac-Man, the uncertainty of not knowing if you'd reach the power pellet adds to the excitement like in Dying Light: The Beast," Smektala said.

As mentioned in our recent preview, a prominent theme of The Beast is the main character literally becoming a beast to stop someone who's metaphorically a beast. This idea largely stemmed from a Korean film called Old Boy.

The film explores similar themes and shares similar story beats of a person being captured for years, and once they escape, they set out to kill everyone who has wronged them. But Old Boy wasn't the only piece of media that helped inspire Dying Light: The Beast. Smektala went on to cite shows such as Twin Peaks and Stranger Things as also playing a huge role in setting the narrative location for the upcoming game.

"Both take place in those little towns, where they are [cut off from] the outside world, and the outside world doesn't matter," he said. "It all happens within this town, and a lot of very weird and strange things transpire."

Zombie fans may quickly notice how much the game draws inspiration from the 28 movie trilogy. This can be seen in the music, scenery, and chases players encounter. When asked if the team used the movie series as a point of reference, Smektala said that Techland views Dying Light as "[one of the] top games in the zombie genre." But the 28 series has been a big inspiration for Techland, and he discussed how both series have gone down similar paths.

"All of those movies try to do something different. If you compare 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, they are completely different movies. Again, 28 Years Later is very different when compared to the first two," Smektala said. "What happens in those movies is very similar to what we are doing with Dying Light. 28 Days Later was a very intimate movie with mostly one character in a very empty space, where he was feeling weak against zombies. This was a similar feeling to the early hours of Dying Light 1.

"When you look at 28 Weeks Later, it's much more focused on action. With people in big action sequences, people shooting guns, and a lot more blockbuster moments. This is the same with Dying Light 2 Stay Human. This was our action game; it was focused on big moments. Now, 28 Years Later, is a different story that is similar to The Beast, because it's very experimental in a way. A lot of weird things are happening in 28 Years Later, as in The Beast."

Speaking of a lot of weird things happening, Dying Light: The Beast introduces a new zombie variant called Chimeras. Smektala said that introducing a new zombie variant can always be difficult because they don't want to lean too far out of the world of realism. So the Chimeras came from the idea of "something that could have happened if you applied proper science to it." That's where a lot of the visual inspiration came into play.

"When it comes to the design of the Chimeras, two main sources of inspiration are anatomy books. The second one is an anime series called Attack on Titan, which has those types of monsters that are skinless with all of their bodies exposed. That informed the visual designs for the Chimera," he said.

One final piece of information that long-time franchise fans may be excited to hear is that The Beast is supposed to set the canon for the franchise going forward, and it takes place after the first two installments. This is notable because every Dying Light game has multiple endings, and it's left up to the player to decide what ending they want. But according to Smektala, The Beast will have one ending because the team wanted "to set the canon for the universe."

Smektala even teased that The Beast's ending will "answer several questions from both the first and second game." Dying Light: The Beast will release on August 22 and will be playable on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.