{"id":354929,"date":"2025-10-13T05:30:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/?p=354929"},"modified":"2025-10-13T05:31:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:31:24","slug":"franchise-director-tymon-smektala-talks-dying-light-the-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/featured\/franchise-director-tymon-smektala-talks-dying-light-the-beast","title":{"rendered":"Franchise Director Tymon Smekta\u0142a Talks Dying Light The Beast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had the chance to interview Tymon Smekta\u0142a, Franchise Director of the Dying Light series, about the third installment, Dying Light: The Beast. Not only does it bring back fan favorite Kyle Crane, the parkour master and melee combat powerhouse, but it also offers a fresh look at Techland\u2019s vision moving forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From new gameplay insights to the studio\u2019s development culture and the evolution of the franchise, here\u2019s what I learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dying Light: The Beast Interview with Tymon Smekta\u0142a<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> Questions for this interview were sent before<\/strong> the release of Dying Light: The Beast.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dying Light: The Beast sees the return of Kyle Crane, arguably one of the best parts of the original game. What is it like working with Roger Craig Smith again, and was it always a plan to bring Kyle back through an expansion?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tymon Smekta\u0142a (Franchise Director – Dying Light):<\/strong> Working with Roger again has been an absolute joy. His performance as Kyle Crane is iconic. He gave the character so much heart and grit that it\u2019s impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. Roger was thrilled to come back – even though at the beginning he was a little confused, saying \u201ceeeeh, didn\u2019t you kill me in the previous one?\u201d – and he really put himself into it. What I like most about his performance is that it\u2019s so multilayered – there\u2019s pain, exhaustion, but also this faint spark of the old, sarcastic Crane underneath all that darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Kyle
Image via Techland, Photograph by Jen Rosenstein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The original Dying Light had a great balance of always keeping you on your toes<\/strong> while giving you enough options to fend off threats. How is that balance maintained<\/strong> now that Kyle is essentially a beast himself?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That balance was something we obsessed over during the whole production. Yes, Kyle is stronger, faster, and more capable now, but we made sure that with great power comes, eh, great vulnerability. His beast-like abilities are limited, and you can’t really count on them all the time – but when they kick in, it feels empowering. Nighttime is still terrifying; we didn\u2019t want to lose that. You might have superhuman strength for a few seconds, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can outlast a pack of Volatiles. The fear is still there, and it comes from control – or rather, the lack of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s one new mechanic or skill you\u2019re most excited for players to experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definitely Crane\u2019s Beast Mode powers. They\u2019re not just flashy combat moves; we\u2019ve worked hard to make these powers feel very visceral, almost physical. I\u2019m really proud of what we achieved there – having something as powerful in a survival horror game creates a set of design challenges, but I think we really did deliver a great player fantasy without jeopardizing the balance of the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First-person melee combat is notoriously difficult to get right, yet your games make it feel consistently satisfying. What\u2019s your secret to nailing that balance?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great question. We approach melee combat almost religiously – and everything, every detail is important for us. Timing, weight, and enemy reactions all matter. Every swing of a weapon in Dying Light has mass – it hits, it sounds, it throws enemies off balance, it interrupts their attacks. You feel it because it\u2019s not just animation; we wrap it in brutal audio feedback – the sound of impact, the \u201cugh\u201d, the crunch of the cracked bone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Kyle
Screenshot by Prima Games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the narrative front, without spoiling too much, what themes or directions are you exploring in The Beast that set it apart from previous entries?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to oversell our story as we specialize mostly in gameplay, but Dying Light: The Beast is actually\u2026 quite a beast. On the surface, it\u2019s just about revenge, but there are more themes there. What makes someone human when they\u2019ve been pushed beyond human limits? We wanted to explore the line between power and getting lost in it, between the man Kyle was and the thing he might become. It\u2019s still a story about survival, but – to get poetic for a second – this time it\u2019s survival of the soul, not just the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many fans still return to Dying Light today, even over newer open-world games. From your perspective, what makes your world design stand out, and what do you prioritize that sets you apart from other studios?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s the focus on immersion that\u2019s the key for us, a pillar of all our design decisions. Everything in Dying Light feels tangible – realistic, physical and visceral. And our world is not just a playground, a character. You don\u2019t fast-travel in our games – you traverse them, and that movement gives you the connection to space. We also put a lot of attention into environmental storytelling – every corner has a story, every abandoned room has a reason it looks the way it does. It gives players a sense that the world existed before they arrived and will keep existing after they\u2019re gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Dying
Image via Techland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been over three years since Dying Light 2 launched. Looking back, what were the biggest lessons learned from its reception and feedback, and how are those shaping The Beast?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest lesson was clarity of focus and attention to details. Dying Light 2: Stay Human was ambitious – maybe too ambitious in some areas – and while we\u2019re proud of what we achieved, we also learned that sometimes less is more. For Dying Light: The Beast, we stripped away the noise to deliver a tighter, more purposeful experience. The game knows what it wants to be: intense, grounded, and emotional. We\u2019ve also taken community feedback – every little detail of it – to heart in terms of combat feel, movement precision, and pacing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re still using in-house technology for The Beast instead of moving to a<\/strong> commercial engine like Unreal Engine 5. With so many studios (unfortunately) adopting UE5 for<\/strong> ease of development, why is sticking with your own tech still the right move for<\/strong> Techland?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our proprietary C-Engine is tailored specifically for what Dying Light needs – fast streaming of high fidelity open worlds, dynamic day\/night systems, detailed lighting. On top of that, we have our two core mechanics – physics based, first person perspective parkour and melee combat nailed here. It’s our secret weapon. Using our own tech gives us full control – we can tweak, change, or rebuild any system without waiting for external updates or licensing restrictions. For Dying Light\u2019s DNA, C-Engine just fits better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Dying
Image via Techland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Previous Dying Light releases scaled well across a wide range of hardware, even on lower-end systems. Can players expect the same accessibility with The Beast?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely. Optimization is something we take great pride in – it\u2019s part of the Techland culture. We want as many players as possible to experience our worlds, so we spend an enormous amount of time on optimization, starting early to make sure we\u2019re ready for launch, at launch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dying Light and Dying Light 2 received plenty of post-launch support. Can players expect the same for The Beast, or is this more of a contained experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve always loved engaging with our community post-launch, and we plan to continue that tradition in meaningful ways. It\u2019s a little too early to answer that, but players can definitely expect more in Dying Light: The Beast, the same way as they expected (and got delivered) more in both previous games in the series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dying Light: The Beast<\/a> is now available on PC, Xbox Series S|X, and PS5. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019d like to see more helpful guides, news, or features from Prima Games, please consider <\/em>adding us to your preferred sources<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The big Techland interview!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":354948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_article_tier":null,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[10165,8919],"internal-label":[9322],"invoiceable_action":[9032],"article_type":[8352],"class_list":["post-354929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-dying-light-the-beast","tag-featured-well","article_type-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nFranchise 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Games","url":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/assets.primagames.com\/media\/\/PRIMA\/resize\/1200x500\/format\/jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/assets.primagames.com\/media\/\/PRIMA\/resize\/1200x500\/format\/jpg","width":183,"height":79,"caption":"Prima Games"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e2645ef9daf4d6e16b1f4c737102d6fd","name":"Ali Hashmi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/66b52f21d9e27b7c7f73bf1e0abf52f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/66b52f21d9e27b7c7f73bf1e0abf52f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ali Hashmi"},"description":"Ali has been writing about video games for the past six years and is always on the lookout for the next indie game to obsess over and recommend to everyone in sight. When he isn't spending an unhealthy amount of time in Slay the Spire, he's probably trying out yet another retro-shooter or playing Dark Souls for the 50th time.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ali-hashmi-34866a126\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gitrektali"],"url":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/author\/ali-hashmi"}]}},"apple_news_notices":[],"coauthors":[{"id":140,"display_name":"Ali Hashmi","user_login":"ali.hashmi","user_nicename":"ali-hashmi"}],"raw_content":"I had the chance to interview Tymon Smekta\u0142a, Franchise Director of the Dying Light series, about the third installment, Dying Light: The Beast. Not only does it bring back fan favorite Kyle Crane, the parkour master and melee combat powerhouse, but it also offers a fresh look at Techland\u2019s vision moving forward. From new gameplay insights to the studio\u2019s development culture and the evolution of the franchise, here\u2019s what I learned. Dying Light: The Beast Interview with Tymon Smekta\u0142a Note: Questions for this interview were sent before the release of Dying Light: The Beast. Dying Light: The Beast sees the return of Kyle Crane, arguably one of the best parts of the original game. What is it like working with Roger Craig Smith again, and was it always a plan to bring Kyle back through an expansion? Tymon Smekta\u0142a (Franchise Director - Dying Light): Working with Roger again has been an absolute joy. His performance as Kyle Crane is iconic. He gave the character so much heart and grit that it\u2019s impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. Roger was thrilled to come back - even though at the beginning he was a little confused, saying \u201ceeeeh, didn\u2019t you kill me in the previous one?\u201d - and he really put himself into it. What I like most about his performance is that it\u2019s so multilayered - there\u2019s pain, exhaustion, but also this faint spark of the old, sarcastic Crane underneath all that darkness. The original Dying Light had a great balance of always keeping you on your toes while giving you enough options to fend off threats. How is that balance maintained now that Kyle is essentially a beast himself? That balance was something we obsessed over during the whole production. Yes, Kyle is stronger, faster, and more capable now, but we made sure that with great power comes, eh, great vulnerability. His beast-like abilities are limited, and you can't really count on them all the time - but when they kick in, it feels empowering. Nighttime is still terrifying; we didn\u2019t want to lose that. You might have superhuman strength for a few seconds, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can outlast a pack of Volatiles. The fear is still there, and it comes from control - or rather, the lack of it. What\u2019s one new mechanic or skill you\u2019re most excited for players to experience? Definitely Crane\u2019s Beast Mode powers. They\u2019re not just flashy combat moves; we\u2019ve worked hard to make these powers feel very visceral, almost physical. I\u2019m really proud of what we achieved there - having something as powerful in a survival horror game creates a set of design challenges, but I think we really did deliver a great player fantasy without jeopardizing the balance of the game.\u00a0 First-person melee combat is notoriously difficult to get right, yet your games make it feel consistently satisfying. What\u2019s your secret to nailing that balance? Great question. We approach melee combat almost religiously - and everything, every detail is important for us. Timing, weight, and enemy reactions all matter. Every swing of a weapon in Dying Light has mass - it hits, it sounds, it throws enemies off balance, it interrupts their attacks. You feel it because it\u2019s not just animation; we wrap it in brutal audio feedback - the sound of impact, the \u201cugh\u201d, the crunch of the cracked bone.\u00a0 On the narrative front, without spoiling too much, what themes or directions are you exploring in The Beast that set it apart from previous entries? I don\u2019t want to oversell our story as we specialize mostly in gameplay, but Dying Light: The Beast is actually\u2026 quite a beast. On the surface, it\u2019s just about revenge, but there are more themes there. What makes someone human when they\u2019ve been pushed beyond human limits? We wanted to explore the line between power and getting lost in it, between the man Kyle was and the thing he might become. It\u2019s still a story about survival, but - to get poetic for a second - this time it\u2019s survival of the soul, not just the body. Many fans still return to Dying Light today, even over newer open-world games. From your perspective, what makes your world design stand out, and what do you prioritize that sets you apart from other studios? I think it\u2019s the focus on immersion that\u2019s the key for us, a pillar of all our design decisions. Everything in Dying Light feels tangible - realistic, physical and visceral. And our world is not just a playground, a character. You don\u2019t fast-travel in our games - you traverse them, and that movement gives you the connection to space. We also put a lot of attention into environmental storytelling - every corner has a story, every abandoned room has a reason it looks the way it does. It gives players a sense that the world existed before they arrived and will keep existing after they\u2019re gone. It\u2019s been over three years since Dying Light 2 launched. Looking back, what were the biggest lessons learned from its reception and feedback, and how are those shaping The Beast? The biggest lesson was clarity of focus and attention to details. Dying Light 2: Stay Human was ambitious - maybe too ambitious in some areas - and while we\u2019re proud of what we achieved, we also learned that sometimes less is more. For Dying Light: The Beast, we stripped away the noise to deliver a tighter, more purposeful experience. The game knows what it wants to be: intense, grounded, and emotional. We\u2019ve also taken community feedback - every little detail of it - to heart in terms of combat feel, movement precision, and pacing. You\u2019re still using in-house technology for The Beast instead of moving to a commercial engine like Unreal Engine 5. With so many studios (unfortunately) adopting UE5 for ease of development, why is sticking with your own tech still the right move for Techland? Our proprietary C-Engine is tailored specifically for what Dying Light needs - fast streaming of high fidelity open worlds, dynamic day\/night systems, detailed lighting. On top of that, we have our two core mechanics - physics based, first person perspective parkour and melee combat nailed here. It's our secret weapon. Using our own tech gives us full control - we can tweak, change, or rebuild any system without waiting for external updates or licensing restrictions. For Dying Light\u2019s DNA, C-Engine just fits better. Previous Dying Light releases scaled well across a wide range of hardware, even on lower-end systems. Can players expect the same accessibility with The Beast? Absolutely. Optimization is something we take great pride in - it\u2019s part of the Techland culture. We want as many players as possible to experience our worlds, so we spend an enormous amount of time on optimization, starting early to make sure we\u2019re ready for launch, at launch.\u00a0 Dying Light and Dying Light 2 received plenty of post-launch support. Can players expect the same for The Beast, or is this more of a contained experience? We\u2019ve always loved engaging with our community post-launch, and we plan to continue that tradition in meaningful ways. It\u2019s a little too early to answer that, but players can definitely expect more in Dying Light: The Beast, the same way as they expected (and got delivered) more in both previous games in the series.\u00a0 Dying Light: The Beast is now available on PC, Xbox Series S|X, and PS5. If you\u2019d like to see more helpful guides, news, or features from Prima Games, please consider adding us to your preferred sources.","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Dying-Light-The-Beast-Tymon-Smektala.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354929"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":354954,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354929\/revisions\/354954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354929"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=354929"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=354929"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primagames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=354929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}