Techland has finally announced the release date of the much-awaited Dying Light expansion, with the entire gaming community going bonkers around it. The DLC is scheduled to drop on the 19th of September, preorder is presently underway through the official game website. After such a long wait, the community’s response has indeed taken a strange turn.
So, what is Unleash The Beast? Judging from the teaser and brief, I think it’s huge transformation mechanics-maybe werewolf-style gameplay or an infected power-up system. The tweet states that “the beast within is waiting its turn to come out,” and to me, this sounds very exciting. After so much parkour and zombie slaying in the main game, unleashing that inner beast is probably the way to go.
This was met with largely positive reactions with some humorous comments that only the gaming community might come up with. A player, Ounce, stated in a tweet that he had pre-ordered the game “for so long” and was ready to do a review on his channel, which I would very much want to watch as well. The hype is real when you’ve been rooting for a game since day one.
Then the word spread that the person who got to play it at Gamescom used a hands-on experience to give themselves a preorder; it’s a good sign when certain participants try out a game for the first time at a convention and are convinced enough to part with their cash at the very same moment. These demos can go from a hit to a miss, and this one seems to have gone as a hit.
Remember this isn’t a proper gaming announcement without some good chaos in the comments? I see players begging for no more delays (looking at you, callam__xo), someone demanding ultrawide with no black bars during cutscenes (very specific but justified), and my favorite: someone complaining they have to choose between Unleash The Beast and Borderlands 4 because “I don’t have time for both.” This is as first world as it gets.
There is some international flair in the reply, too, with the Portuguese speakers counting down the days -“Falta só 13 dias,” which means “Only 13 days left” for those who don’t speak the language. The hype is truly global for this one.
A laughable interaction has to be the player who bought the Ultimate Edition for Xbox, sold their Xbox, is now PS5-only, and then asks Techland for a free PS5 code since they’ve already purchased the game for Xbox. The official Dying Light account replied with “contact our support,” which is basically the polite corporate way of saying, “Dismiss.”
What really is interesting is how many people are referencing Crane’s story from the first game, especially someone mentioning looking forward to seeing “how they show Crane’s change from volatile to human again.” That topic suggests that Unleash The Beast might be continuing or at least expanding the storyline from the original Dying Light, which would be great for existing fans.
It is seeming like this might be one of the most anticipated DLC drops of the year from the community. Some calls have been thrown around calling it potential ‘game of the year’ material, which is saying something given how stacked 2023 has been with releases. When players are counting down days and pre-ordering months in advance-so much goodwill had to have been built for this.
Technically, Techland has played all their cards well to raise anticipation – between demos at conventions, influencer previews, (shoutout to Hollow who evidently sold at least one person on the game), and then these social media teases. They have done a great job riding the hype without tipping too much and ruining the surprise.
The only real complaint in the replies seems to be about the lack of a physical edition, which is more and more common as time goes by with digital distribution. Still, there’ll be those collectors who just want to see a disc on their shelves, so they’re understandable due to their disappointment.
From here on in, the countdown for the few days until 19 September marks the scene-down for Unleash The Beast grabbed ever so widely by the community’s imagination. Between the ominous “beast within” mechanic, the continuation of Crane’s story and the consistent quality from Techland, this could very well be one DLC expansion people remember for years.
The big question now is whether the gameplay can live up to the hype; with Techland’s history of great content for Dying Light, most of these players are hoping for something special. Well, I have to go and basement-pre-order it before I get distracted…
