Dying Light’s New Expansion Makes It The Walking Dead Game Everyone Wanted

Dying Light: The Beast is a fast-paced and terrifying take on the zombie genre, with some of modern gaming’s most brutal confrontations with the undead. Thanks to the game’s first-person perspective, vivid graphics, and brutal versions of the undead, Dying Light has created one of the most effectively immersive zombie horror games ever — which makes the sudden bursts of enhanced power all the more impressive and entertaining when it kicks in and allow players to just rip zombies apart.

Fans are getting a whole new way to play the game, too, thanks to the “Restored Land” update. A massive upgrade to the game that is free for players who already bought Dying Light: The Beast, the new elements include gameplay tweaks, different difficulty modes, and upgraded challenges. One of those elements in particular allows players to not just clear the undead from the city streets but make them safe again for other people — which could quietly make it the Walking Dead game fans always wanted but never got.

Restored Land Has Permanent Consequences For Player Choices

Dying Light: The Beast “Restored Land” update is a massive expansion of the underlying survival-horror game, with the new mode introducing elements that could effectively turn the title into The Walking Dead game fans never got. “Restored Land” comes with a lot of new updates and tweaks to the gameplay, including a “One Life” option that increases the difficulty and Roadkill Rallies that bring a sense of competition to the vehicular portions of the game. One of the more intriguing updates that comes with the Restored Land experience adds new depth to the game.

In this mode, all actions taken by the player have permanent consequences. That’s both a good thing (zombies killed by the players will no longer respawn) and a bad thing (item numbers have been reduced and also no longer respawn). It makes the player’s decisions and use of resources all the more important, especially as the game introduces new forms of enemies. These turns also introduce a new natural mechanic to the world, which allows other survivors to start to repopulate areas that the player has been able to clear of the undead.

This gives the player a more tangible sense of momentum and success, actually showcasing the impact of the player’s actions and providing a sense of the world picking up the pieces in the aftermath of the zombie outbreak and the player’s efforts to fix the world. While it’s unclear at the time of writing just how impactful these NPCs can be on the overall game, it does lay the groundwork for what could be a really compelling way to flesh out the world. All of these changes add depth to the setting and make your choices feel like they matter in a way that feels less like a video game and more like the kind of narratives seen in stuff like The Walking Dead.

Dying Light Could Become The True Walking Dead Experience We Never Got

While there have been plenty of Walking Dead games over the years, most of them have been directly focused on either original narratives (like the Telltale series) or adapting the AMC television show. Rarely do those games focus on the actual act of not just surviving the zombies but crafting a new future for the survivors. Despite not being a Walking Dead tie-in, Dying Light‘s “Restored Land” mode quietly implements one of the driving factors in the iconic zombie series’ story: actually clearing out the undead and making new homes for humanity.

Because the undead don’t respawn in this new mode, players are actually able to make safe zones for other people to come out of hiding and unite behind. This could pay off in new items becoming available or by having those NPC characters factor into new missions. It could also be a clever way for the game to insert new story beats, focusing on the interplay between the survivors and their own views on what to do with the restored land. Actually restoring part of the city and seeing people slowly lift it back up gives the entire game experience a natural sense of accomplishment.

It also gives Kyle Crane a new level of importance in the world, effectively becoming a Rick Grimes-esque figure to other survivors as he fights his way through hordes of the undead to save everyone else he can. It’ll be fascinating to see how these NPC interactions play out and if they impact the overall game in unexpected ways. Exploring the city streets and making it safe for people to recolonize was a key aspect of The Walking Dead, and Dying Light: The Beast now lets you live that story yourself (albeit with none of The Walking Dead‘s specific characters or tropes). The “Restored Land” update is a great addition to Dying Light: The Beast, but it could also be the key groundwork to set up the ultimate zombie apocalypse game and let players finally live out the full Walking Dead experience.