Dying Light 3 Has To Seriously Improve Upon Its Predecessor's Biggest Shortcoming

Story Highlights

Dying Light holds precedence as one of the finest zombie game franchises in the last decade.
With a new iteration incoming, there are some feature additions and changes Dying Light 3 should have.
Techland has already teased the existence of Dying Light 3, stating the future of the zombie game series.

Dying Light, being one of the most surprisingly good zombie game franchises in the gaming landscape, is about to get a spin-off standalone title in the name of Dying Light: The Beast soon, but that’s not what I’m most excited about. What has me enthralled more is the existence of Dying Light 3, which series director Tymon Smektala subtly confirmed in an interview about a month ago.

Because we have different plans for Dying Light 3. We already see the future of the series. [Dying Light: The Beast] wasn’t part of that bigger plan really, but because we got so into it, so passionate about it, that’s that,” says Tymon Smektala.

With that being said, the case of Dying Light 3 presenting a well-grounded storyline comes with many raised eyebrows, primarily because of how Techland dealt with things on that front in Dying Light 2. It introduced a brand-new main character, with Kyle Crane — the daring protagonist of the first Dying Light, being nowhere in sight.

That did spell disappointment for those wanting to see Crane’s return, but no one expected it to be flat-out bad, because that’s what it genuinely is.

Dying Light 2 Misfired With The Story And The Protagonist

My colleague, Huzaifah Khan, shares my sentiment when he says that despite the 2-year-old age of Dying Light 2 and more and more people starting to pick the title up, it does not beat the original experience, and there are plenty of veritable reasons for that.

For starters, Dying Light 2’s protagonist Aiden Caldwell compared to Kyle Crane is not as interesting for the player to immerse in. Techland showcased immense growth with the main character of the first Dying Light, starting off as a regular GRE agent but quickly realizing that there’s a lot more at play here than just simple infiltration.

By the end of the story, Crane is a no-nonsense, serious ass-kicking guy whose orders-taking days are far behind him. On the other side of the coin, however, you cannot help but feel disgruntled with the way Techland handles the protagonist of Dying Light 2 and the overall story of the title.

There’s a clear lack of oomph there, you know what I mean?

I hate the dying light 2 story so much that it’s the only thing holding me back from replaying it.
byu/Daisukin indyinglight

The ending, in particular, is where things fall off the most even if you course through the rest of the story somehow, giving it a chance. I’ll try my best to keep it spoiler-free in case you haven’t played it, but the fact that Dying Light 2 stayed in development hell for so long is really showing in the title’s conclusion part, because the way Techland has pieced things together isn’t working for the most part.

Dying Light: The Beast Should Answer Our Questions For The Sequel

On August 20, 2024, the Polish developer officially announced Dying Light: The Beast, a new upcoming iteration in the franchise and a standalone title that will bring back Kyle Crane from the depths of experimental ruins. It has me tantalized, really, because I do not know what direction Techland is going to take for Crane in the game, but I sure hope the dev does not kill him off.

A ton of other people and I would be gutted if it all went down that way.

So Dying light 3 is confirmed. Who you want to see as the main character?. Kyle Crane or Aiden Caldwell or a new character that nobody know?. Or maybe there's a specific character in the game you want to be as the new protagonist. Let me know in the replies.
byu/Admirable_Bug2373 indyinglight

In any case, one thing is clear: The Beast is going to answer a lot of our questions tied to Dying Light 3, and whether Kyle Crane will belong to it or not.

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That said, Techland might as well pull an Uno Reverse on us, declaring that Dying Light 3 will be a “prequel” type of game, set before the events of even Harran, just when the zombie outbreak is about to happen, making you play as a regular dude who just has to figure out a way to survive. Of course, this would also translate to a more realistic crafting system, one that’s not as simplistic as the ones already existing in both Dying Lights.

The story of Dying Light 3 can go in any direction Techland wants, but all we fans plead from the developer is to make it make proper sense and not treat it like an afterthought. It’s a shame both Dying Light iterations have such great gameplay, but in the plot department, they seem to be falling short, the second more than the first.