I quite like a bit of permanency in games. Well, like might be too positive, I’m more intrigued by it and the friction it provides. It’s interesting that if you’re silly enough to kill an NPC in Dark Souls, for example, that’s it, no take backsies. So despite honestly not caring all that much for zombie games, I’m still a bit interested in Dying Light: The Beast and its new Restored Land update which introduces a mode where if you kill a zombie once, it truly is gone for good.
This big, and free, update and new persistent world feature is one that you can only do on the game’s Survivor or Brutal difficulty levels, and in solo mode. And as mentioned, once a zombie is dead, however you go about that, they won’t respawn. With enough effort you could probably turn the game into a bit of a gritty-looking walking sim, though I think indulging in such a degree of violence, even in a game like this, might be a tad too much.
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On top of that, according to the game’s release notes, any loot you acquire can only be collected once too, with containers containing less supplies than usual. Shops will have less stock and will cost more as well. Price gouging, in the apocalypse? Unheard of! Beyond that, you’ll also only need to do Convoys, Dark Zones and Hives once to complete them, and there are some survival mechanics like hunger you need to manage or batteries that run out in your flashlight. For the true masochists out there, there’s also an extra optional option to turn on a One Life mode which, as you can probably guess, means once you die, that’s your save file done with permanently.
I’m sure someone out there will go the full length to make the map zombie free, which does leave me wondering what kind of game it would be. Or if that’s even possible with the limited resources! Anyway, you can try out this new take on Dying Light: The Beast Restored right now, as the update’s already out.
