If you’ve managed to reach the end of Kyle Crane’s latest adventure in Dying Light: The Beast, you know that there’s more to come for the former mercenary-for-hire whose adventure we were a part of since his time in Harran. Techland’s darker, more personal take on the character saw him come into contact with a familiar face from past titles while making new allies in a world that’s been decimated by the effects of the THV virus.
But how does The Beast set up a sequel that could be the epitome of everything good about the franchise’s unique parkour-based survival horror formula? How could Kyle and his new allies begin to act on their vow to take on the root cause of all their current problems? Could his time as The Baron’s prized lab rat have further effects on his body and mind? That’s what we’re here to discuss.
Let’s take a look at what the future has in store for Kyle and crew in what’s going to be quite an explosive adventure in Dying Light 3.
Revenge and Redemption
Before we get started, we’re going to warn you that this next bit contains massive spoilers for The Beast. You might want to come back once you’ve rolled the credits on the new game because it’s a story that’s definitely worth the suspense.
For those among you who don’t mind spoilers, know that Kyle does get to the Baron, who is prepared to face him thanks to an enhanced version of the THV virus that grants him his own Beast Mode, It’s the kind of weaponized version that the GRE always wanted, and it’s no surprise that Kyle’s old GRE handler contacts him after he defeats The Baron’s Chimera form, offering him his freedom in exchange for his cooperation.
The Baron had become a liability to the organization, implying that he had ties to them, and the GRE is grateful to Kyle for taking him out of the equation. However, Kyle doesn’t reciprocate the sentiment, vowing to take the GRE down in a cliffhanger that’s our favorite in a franchise that has featured many such endings. With that out of the way, let’s look at the major story beats that could have an effect on the franchise’s overall narrative.
Of course, Aiden Caldwell’s return to the fold, complete with his own Beast mode, is certainly a factor that needs to be explored further. His choice to continue as a pilgrim at the end of Stay Human, and his subsequent attempt to rescue Crane, which led to his own capture by The Baron, still has a few mysteries that could be potential narrative threads in the sequel.
How did he come into contact with Spike, a friend of Crane’s? What did The Baron do that made him lose control of himself and turn into the Beast that Crane had to hunt in the game’s opening hours? Is he going to look up to Crane as a mentor or see him as an equal, considering their shared trauma and experiences? Aiden’s presence in Dying Light 3 is sure to bring more than a few interesting story beats to the table.
And then there’s Lydia. As one of The Baron’s former test subjects and an Infected capable of sentient thought along with the ability to telepathically communicate with other carriers of the THV virus, her role in The Beast was quite noteworthy and brings up several potential narrative threads for Techland to make use of in its sequel.
For starters, the similarities to The Mother from Dying Light: The Following cannot be ignored. Could she be a way for Kyle to assemble an Infected army of his own in his next adventure? Will she be the one to help both him and Aiden manage their more feral instincts if either one of them takes things too far in their next fight? She’s a character with a lot of potential, and Techland is sure to bring her over to the fight against the GRE.
Speaking of the GRE, it was a very well-planned surprise to hear from Kyle’s former handler, who hoped to get him over to his former employer’s side at the end of the game. It’s obvious they were invested in The Baron’s efforts to create a perfect strain of the virus and were the ones funding his research in the first place. It didn’t make sense for The Beast’s antagonist to know of Crane and also have the resources to fund all of his research on his own, after all.
As an organization that’s been quite interested in weaponizing the virus, their role in Kyle’s 13-year-long predicament could see him more determined to take them down than he was with The Baron. He’s already on a warpath with them, and that conflict could play out in a myriad of interesting ways.
The rest of The Beast’s cast could also manage to make their way to Dying Light 3, considering how Olivia, the Sheriff, Lydia’s exiles, and the survivors of New Town did play a role in the game. Olivia’s father could be an interesting addition to the cast of a new adventure, thanks to his history as a former citizen of Harran and a scientist who was looking into the virus that started it all. Could he be the one who finally manages to craft a cure, using the Chimeras’ GSB in the process?
But all of these factors are based on the story we witnessed from Techland. It’s time to look at all of the stuff that the studio left unsaid.
The Path to a Grand Finale
Aiden’s return to the franchise’s meta-narrative had us wondering about how The Baron made him so feral while Kyle managed to retain a hold on his own Beast powers. What could have made Aiden respond so badly to what looked like similar experiments? If things turn out like we suspect, the GRE had a hand in what happened to our two protagonists.
If they did, it would only make sense for them to have a few superpowered individuals of their own, thanks to their access to The Baron’s research. It’s an opportunity for Techland to bring more familiar faces and even new ones to its story. For instance, we know that Rais, the antagonist of the first Dying Light game, fell to his presumed death after Kyle stabbed him during their confrontation. But could he have been rescued and turned into one of the GRE’s first virus-powered soldiers? He would be a solid choice for a returning character, after all!
Speaking of returning characters, Lawan and Hakon were conspicuous only by their absence in The Beast. We know that at least one of them was accompanying Aiden on his travels as an Infected Pilgrim, after all. Why didn’t they attempt to rescue him after his failed attempt to rescue Kyle? Were they a part of the reason he came to the Castor Woods in the first place? Did Aiden’s transformation cause them to hesitate to reach out to him?
Could they perhaps have learned of the GRE’s motives and also resolved to attempt to put a stop to the organization? Considering that the GRE has remained aloof from events up until this point while continuing to pull the strings from far away, having the organisation take a more active role in the franchise’s narrative, and a more antagonistic one at that, could mean that Techland already has a perfect villain at its disposal for Dying Light 3. Making the root cause of the world’s troubles take a more active role in the story that’s yet to come makes sense for both the narrative and gameplay of the sequel for the reasons we’ve outlined above.
That’s because it’s quite possible that, like The Baron, the GRE could also have been behind Waltz’s own work with the X3 base, giving Aiden a potential reason for wanting to bring the fight to the ones who took so much away from him. The GRE’s kind of a perfect catalyst that could see Crane and Aiden work together to take it down, after all.
From a gameplay perspective, that could be a dream come true for Dying Light fans as it could mean that the game’s third mainline installment could have them switching between Crane and Aiden either at will or via parallelly running storylines as they both pursue different ways to carve a path to the organization’s leadership. Maybe we’d even get to see two Beasts tearing through its ranks if things go the way we’d like?
Perhaps Aiden’s Beast abilities are a way for him to circumvent his constant need for exposure to UV rays to retain his humanity, allowing him a lot more freedom in how he goes about his objectives in the new game? Crane could also learn to harness his own Beat abilities better, either with Lydia’s help or by defeating some of the GRE’s superpowered forces.
On the narrative front, Dying Light 3 is an opportunity for Techland to go even darker and more personal than it did in The Beast, considering the fact that the GRE is currently the most hated organization on the planet, thanks to its role in unleashing the THV virus on it. Crane and Co. could all come with a very big chip on their shoulder, and that could very well see them take on the fight of their lives in a sequel that could take things up a notch just as The Beast has managed to do.
At this point, we know that Dying Light 3 is definitely on the cards for Techland. The Beast, despite originally being intended as a DLC expansion for Stay Human, has snowballed into a standalone adventure that has been an absolute delight.
If Techland continues to cook, Dying Light 3 could be the staging ground for some very explosive action and a fitting end to the franchise’s story so far. Now all that’s left is to wait on Techland to bring us more news on when that new chapter’s going to find its way to us.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
