Compared to the rest of the series:
Having just finished a coop playthrough, I can recommend this latest installment of this franchise. If you liked a previous installment of this franchise, you will probably love this game. It is mostly the same, except better polished. It takes inspiration from both its predecessors, but is closer to the original Dying Light than to Dying Light 2: Stay Human. The night is once again truly dark, full of dangerous monsters and you probably shouldn't be out at night without a good reason. This game is more horizontal than vertical, particularly compared to Dying Light 2: Stay Human. The grappling hook is not necessary. The cars are mostly superfluous compared to walking, but you probably want to learn the controls anyway for quest reasons. There is a level system for loot in this game, which is a mechanic I usually hate, but in this game it didn't really bother me. With every level you get to loot mostly the same stuff, so in practice it kind of resembles weapon maintenance. It has the best pacing of the series: a mix of highs and lows. Once again running away is usually the best choice, unless you need to clear a location. Volatiles are once again a threat, instead of the token farm they were back in Dying Light 2.
The big new addition in this game is beast mode. It provides an interesting mix to the usual pacing: when the beast mode triggers most combats are quickly won. The beast mode flips the usual dynamic of strength between Kyle and the zombies on its head for a moment. This lets the player complete content that they "shouldn't" too early. It feels very powerful. On the other hand, it felt a little repetetive to go into the beast mode to defeat a boss for the eighth time.
The story:
This story is fully linear, unlike Dying Light 2: Stay Human. The Baron was a great villain: he was just truely evil from the start (even before the outbreak). Unforunately he doesn't get to talk much until the very end. The collectibles tell his story. For the first time in the series this game features an ending fully playable in coop and is great, instead of being terrible.
The writing:
The world of this game is visually beautiful, but also serious, tragic and cruel. It feels like real place, inhabited by people with real hopes and fears. The writing quality has improved, particularly compared to Dying Light 2. Every quest had a story to it. There are some interesting collectibles, such as an in-universe podcast. There is some humor in dialogue, but mostly in the quest names.
Negatives:
There were occasional technical issues. Sometimes the server booted me out just as quest rewards leaving me slightly behind in progression for the rest of the playthrough. I suffered from a very annoying memory leak that requires restarting the game every couple of hours as it turns into a slide show.
There were very few night missions. It is an improvement that the night is now something to be avoided, but a few more night missions could have provided a challenge.
Warning:
This game is grotesque. If you don't want to look at zombies (and humans) getting torn apart, this game probably isn't for you. There is a lot of blood, guts and body horror. Gore, gore everywhere.
