In the first quarter of 2015, a Poland-based development team at Techland introduced the game, “Dying Light” – a thrilling, open-world exploration of the zombie genre characterized by intense violence.
In contrast to their initial zombie game, which was “Dead Island” from 2011, it was “Dying Light” that would present the character of Kyle Crane, the hero of Harran, to the world.
In the DLC titled The Following, released in 2016, Crane’s narrative as the main character of Dying Light would have continued. However, when Techland revealed Dying Light: Stay Human in 2022, Crane was conspicuously missing and a new character named Aiden Caldwell took center stage instead.
The disclosure by Aiden caused a stir among the Dying Light community, as they were left wondering what became of Crane following the DLC’s events.
Tymon Smektala, the head of the Dying Light franchise at Techland, admitted that they didn’t realize just how much [the community] cherished him,” stated Tymon Smektala.
For the past ten years, I’ve been conducting numerous interviews about Dying Light. Regardless if it’s during community meetings or online Q&A sessions, the same question always comes up: What happened to Kyle Crane after Dying Light 1? To put an end to the speculation, we’ve decided to reveal the true story of Kyle Crane post-Dying Light 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0GCr2P9510
Enthusiasts of the Dying Light series eagerly anticipate that Kyle Crane will make a comeback in Techland’s upcoming spin-off, Dying Light: The Beast, due to the strong support from the gaming community and the development team’s fondness for this character.
Smektala mentioned that we have quite a group of admirers for Kyle Crane here in our studio,” he joked, explaining how Techland’s environment director has his own office adorned with pictures and souvenirs of Crane.
Reaching that point was a result of both the encouragement from our community and our personal drive and readiness to return to our characters. For the ten-year milestone of the series, it simply seemed fitting.
Before my conversation with Smektala, I got the chance to delve right into Dying Light: The Beast. It’s been quite some time since I last explored the universe of Dying Light, yet putting on Kyle Crane’s boots felt remarkably familiar.
In a new rendition, Roger Craig Smith once again lent his voice to the character Crane, maintaining the charisma of the rough-edged and grumpy hero while guiding us through an unfamiliar setting – the mysterious expanse of Castor Woods, in Dying Light: The Beast.
The lively greenery of a national park serves as an extraordinary setting for a survival-horror game like Dying Light. This series emphasizes parkour movements for maneuvering, where players leap and scramble over rooftops to dodge hordes of shuffling Virals in the daytime, while evading more dangerous zombie species that pursue you through the streets at night. Smektala mentioned, “We wanted to explore if we could introduce Dying Light gameplay in other locations, not just within a city.
To explore various geographical settings for Dying Light, we initially felt apprehensive but proceeded. To our surprise, Dying Light functions effectively beyond the city limits. Players can experience the game in forests or open farmlands, which not only offer a change of scenery but also introduce new dimensions, hues, and aspects to the gaming experience in Dying Light.
In a somewhat playful manner, I’m suggesting that we should clean our web browsing history monthly, considering the level of detail our artists put into ensuring the portrayed violence feels authentic.
Tymon Smektala, franchise director for Dying Light: The Beast
In the farm fields, one interesting find is that it significantly increases players’ vulnerability and frailty. This sense of vulnerability adds an authentic touch to survival games, as it mirrors the real-life struggle for survival. Survival games thrive on this delicate balance between the player and potential threats.
Smektala’s words resonated deeply within me as I plodded my way through the murky expanse of Castor Woods, determinedly pursuing one of Dying Light: The Beast’s Chimeras – colossal, lumbering undead monstrosities that were as fascinating as they were repulsive. As twilight approached, I found myself growing increasingly apprehensive about the impending confrontation.
In my exploration of the Chimera battlefield, I found myself unprepared for a swift exit should events take a turn for the worse. Clambering up to a nearby rooftop or squeezing through narrow alleys were not viable options in such a critical situation.
In Dying Light: The Beast, they added vehicles, but I hadn’t considered bringing one with me. Since there were no gas stations in the forest anyway, I suppose it wouldn’t have mattered if I had brought one.
In the heart of the forest under the cover of darkness, none of my abilities to crush hordes of the undead using a hammer in the cobblestone streets of an ancient town, nor my agility to bound over rooftops or glide on cables, made a difference.
At that moment, only one thing was important: determining if I could outlive the Chimera and the other bloodcurdling monsters hidden within the blackness of that marsh. With bated breath, I chipped away at the beast, continuing my efforts even when visibility was poor, always on guard for any sudden surprises, much like one that had caught me off-guard earlier in the trailer.
At the health bar of Chimera’s establishment, I wore down my tools – shovel, hammer, and machete – which served as my close combat weapons. With an abundance of bandages keeping me upright and protein bars from my urban loot stash providing energy, I was reduced to carrying only a handgun with limited ammunition.
Prior to succumbing to the Chimera, I noticed that Crane’s Beast mode bar was almost completely filled, hinting at the possibility of activating the newly added feature shortly.
In the game they’re developing, known as a survival game, Smektala from Beast mode mentioned there will be instances where players can briefly let go and act unpredictably, even turning the situation around against the game world. He explained that this new feature is one of the rare areas in Dying Light where the development team is trying out something new and different.
“We allow ourselves to add new things to the formula, but we are also very careful about it.”
Regardless of introducing innovations such as Beast mode and setting the action in diverse locations like the farmlands and wooded slopes of Castor Woods, Smektala notes that the team has gleaned over the past decade what truly matters for the recipe that defines a Dying Light game.
He pointed out, “At first glance, it seems rather apparent: it’s the personal parkour experience, the emphasis on close-combat weapons, the day and night cycle affecting both visuals and gameplay. However, to truly understand Dying Light games, one must delve deeper, as they are intricately crafted with numerous subtle details that can easily be overlooked.
For developers, grasping the intricacies is crucial. We must comprehend the finesse of the game’s mechanics: for instance, knowing how many strikes your weapon can withstand before exhausting your stamina, or determining the number of blows needed to slay an ordinary zombie. While these aspects may appear insignificant initially, they hold immense importance. Altering them or getting them wrong could transform the entire gaming experience.
In Crane’s transformed state, I felt a surge of fresh energy. Disarmed and without resorting to weapons, Crane brutally repelled the horde that attacked him using only his fists. With an unprecedented level of gruesome detail, he shredded the zombies apart as I pressed the buttons on the Xbox controller frantically.
A crane swoops down forcefully on the horde, tearing off their limbs and decapitating the ghouls in a spectacularly precise display of bloodshed.
Smektala humorously suggested that we might want to clear our browser history monthly, as a tribute to the hard work our artists put into ensuring the portrayed brutality feels authentic.
Techland is proud of its commitment to depicting gruesome scenes in the Dying Light series, and they didn’t hold back when creating an extensive slaughter for Dying Light: The Beast.
Previously, our team shared a behind-the-scenes video titled “Dev Diary,” which highlighted how the artists employed photogrammetry tech, simulated blood and detergent, along with an actor, to generate authentic-looking splatter patterns for visual effects.
The combination of technical and artistic choices results in an environment where, unexpectedly, a grotesque zombie appears, missing chunks of skin from its scalp and lower jaw, attempting to grab you. Every gory detail is strikingly clear.
Smektala explained that their team drew inspiration from anatomical books, medical records, criminal reports, and even gory depictions in Zombie media for their work. In other words, they needed a strong constitution to handle the high-definition portrayal of combat scenes. They aimed to elevate the quality of what they were creating in this area.
In Dying Light: The Beast, the high-quality graphics aren’t just about blood and gore. They permeate every corner of the new settings in each scene.
Techland’s artists ensured that the vegetation in Castor Woods was accurate from a biological perspective.
Smektala stated, “Castor Woods is a made-up location, yet it draws inspiration from the Swiss Alps. Our artists immersed themselves in studying the real flora and fauna found there. They accumulated numerous botanical books about that specific ecosystem and aimed to replicate as much of it as was necessary to construct a digital version of it.
Even though the team made every effort to maintain precision, they still had some creative freedom left to explore. Smektala recounted a story involving a group of artists residing in what is popularly known as “the Polish Alps.
Absolutely, Poland doesn’t boast the grandeur of the Alps, but there lies a small corner known as the Polish Tatra Mountains, sharing a striking resemblance. In the imaginative realm of Castor Woods, elements from this distant land have found their way in. You’ll discover architectural gems, mirrored from this region some 2000 km east of the Swiss Alps.
Observing the intricate blend of gore and foliage in Castor Woods, one might anticipate that bringing Dying Light: The Beast to life could be a daunting task for certain platforms, such as the Xbox Series S. However, Smektala seems unfazed by any speculations regarding The Beast’s performance.
Initially, we developed the game utilizing our self-made engine, the C-Engine. Similarly, Dying Light 2 was launched with this technology. However, since then, we’ve significantly improved and fine-tuned the engine for greater stability and optimization.
According to Smektala, Techland has been focusing on enhancing its streaming technology for Dying Light: The Beast, moving beyond just shaders to stream entire scene components. In simpler terms, he explained that this allows them to reduce the amount of data stored in the machine’s memory, enabling them to quickly load and display only the necessary elements for the specific scene you are viewing.
Since The Beast utilizes an engine developed internally by Techland, Smektala notes that the team enjoys greater flexibility when it comes to optimizing performance and implementing new features.
When it comes to enhancing the Series S, we don’t require the engine owner’s assistance. Instead, we simply head up one floor since our development team resides on the second floor, while the engine team is on the third. We can easily communicate with them and request more processing power or slight optimization by saying something like, ‘Hey, could you boost this aspect a bit for us?’ Since it’s our technology, we have considerable control over its modifications.
The Beast, and it is also responsible for establishing the distinctive gameplay that defines this franchise.
As Techland’s team dared to explore and innovate with various vehicles, weapons, settings, and Crane’s Beast mode, they ensured not to compromise the unique qualities that set the Dying Light series apart within a competitive gaming genre.
Smektala attributes the team’s readiness to learn from the successes and failures of Dying Light 1 and 2 as key factors that guided their approach when commencing work on The Beast.
It is my happy place, even if it is full of zombies.
Tymon Smektala, franchise director for Dying Light: The Beast
In the past, while developing Dying Light games, we were constantly trying new approaches since we didn’t always stick to the planned features. We would often conduct experiments and test ideas as we progressed with the game development. However, Smektala noted that the current trend in the gaming industry makes experimenting during development less favorable.
Rather than opting for an extended development phase prior to release, Techland chose to launch Dying Light: The Beast directly – a project that initially began as an expansion pack for Dying Light 2 but later transformed into a separate, standalone game.
During the initial stages of our project’s development, my team clearly outlined the boundaries and workings of Dying Light: The Beast. We were assured that this game would carry the distinctive features that are synonymous with our franchise, instilling in us a strong sense of confidence.
All our initial ideas found their place within the game, and it worked flawlessly! As we envisioned it, we’re seeing it come to fruition!
As the Chimera collapsed, I leaned back and observed the unfolding sequence of events with a contented sigh. Once the scene wrapped up, I regained command over Crane and promptly navigated to the menu to review my earned skill points, malfunctioning equipment, and meager supply of bandages.
Stepping out of the game’s menu, I found myself in the foggy marsh at dawn. Although signs pointed towards reduced danger in Castor Woods, it was palpable that Crane, and by association, I, were still far from secure.
Despite that, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of achievement as I sprinted through the park, heading for a refuge, with Smektala’s last words reverberating in my mind, “It’s my sanctuary, though it may be infested with zombies.
“Dying Light: The Beast, the latest expansion, is scheduled to release on Xbox, PlayStation consoles, and both Steam and Epic Games Store for PC on August 22. Currently, pre-orders are available at $59.99. If you own Dying Light 2: Stay Human Ultimate Edition, you’ll get Dying Light: The Beast without any additional cost.”
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2025-07-21 17:11