Why There Will Never Be a Better Time to Play Dying Light

Dying Light was first released over a decade ago on January 26, 2015. Following GRE agent Kyle Crane as he navigates the zombie-infested city of Harran, Dying Light garnered attention thanks to its first-person parkour gameplay and tense nighttime exploration. Techland built upon the success and narrative of Dying Light with The Following story DLC and a sequel in the form of Dying Light 2 — and even after all that, the best time to play Dying Light is now.

Due to Dying Light 2‘s mixed bag of gameplay mechanics and weak narrative, the original Dying Light is generally still viewed as the definitive Dying Light experience. To celebrate the game’s 10th anniversary and promote the upcoming sequel, Dying Light: The Beast, Techland has released a significant update make the first Dying Light worth revisiting in 2025.

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Dying Light’s Technical Improvements and Newfound Relevance

Techland had supported and updated Dying Light for years after its release, but when Dying Light 2 came out in 2022, the developer shifted its focus to the sequel. Techland shifted its focus even more so when it decided that The Beast — which was originally intended to be a story DLC for Dying Light 2 — could become a fully-fledged game of its own. Therefore, it came as a surprise when it was revealed that the original Dying Light would be receiving a brand-new update this year.

Every Enhancement in Dying Light’s Retouched Update

The Retouched Update for Dying Light released on June 26. Taking lessons learned from playing with the series’ engine in Dying Light 2, the development team has gone back and added a number of visual enhancements to the game. These include improvements to environmental textures, an increased LOD (level of detail) range, and the introduction of 8K Ultra shadow quality. Regarding the game’s engine, Technical Game Director Grzegorz Świstowski stated, “Over the past couple of years, we’ve added a lot, customized a lot, and learned how to squeeze more from the tech we already have. One day, someone just started applying those learnings to some old assets – and it just clicked that we could do that across the whole game.”

The Retouched Update has also impacted Dying Light‘s audio in a variety of ways. Besides enhancing the hit reaction audio in combat to make strikes feel and sound more satisfying, Techland also brought back the game’s composer, Paweł Blaszczak. Blaszczak not only fully remastered the game’s existing soundtrack but added brand-new tracks and ambient sounds in order to assist in “deepening the mood and cranking up the tension as you explore,” according to a recent Techland blog post.

How Dying Light: The Beast Makes the Original Game a Must-Play

Besides commemorating the game’s 10th anniversary, the decision to modernize Dying Light makes perfect sense given how crucial that game’s plot is to Dying Light: The Beast. This game is the next mainline entry in the series, and it sees the return of protagonist Kyle Crane, whose fate was previously left up in the air. Dying Light‘s The Following DLC had two drastically different endings that could be obtained depending on how the player decided to approach the story’s finale, and Kyle Crane was nowhere to be found in Dying Light 2 — save for a few references and Easter eggs. Now that Crane has returned to the series, the story of Dying Light will be much more integral to The Beast than it was to the mostly separated plot of Dying Light 2.

Between the Retouched Update and the game’s relevance to The Beast‘s narrative, now is the perfect time to play Dying Light. Veteran fans will be able to re-experience the game with enhanced visuals and audio while refreshing themselves on the game’s story. New fans, on the other hand, will be able to catch up on the first game’s plot and play through the most accessible version of the game yet. With the August 22 release of Dying Light: The Beast drawing near, players will have more than enough time to complete the first game in preparation.