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'Restored Land' in 'Dying Light': Game director shares key survival tips for its hardest mode
Nathan Lemaire breaks down the design philosophy behind 'Restored Land,' a mode that removes respawns and limits resources in Techland's 'Dying Light: The Beast'
- PUBLISHED: Tue 7 Apr 2026, 4:33 PM
For years, Dying Light has thrived on its blend of parkour, combat, and open-world chaos, but with its latest update, Dying Light: The Beast is taking a far more deliberate, survival-first turn.
The new Restored Land mode strips away one of the genre’s most comforting options, the reset button. Enemies don’t respawn, resources are finite, and every decision carries weight. To understand the thinking behind this direction, I spoke to Nathan Lemaire, game director at Techland, about designing with scarcity, balancing frustration with fairness, tips for the unforgiving mode, and why sometimes the most polarising ideas are the ones worth pursuing. Edited excerpts from the conversation:
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With everything we’ve seen so far, it feels like the new mode makes the game tougher, more survival-oriented, and potentially quite unforgiving. What was the reasoning behind pushing the game in this direction?
The idea was to create a new take on Dying Light: The Beast by building an environment where the world doesn’t reset. Loot and enemies don’t respawn. You can loot everything, clean everything, and even get rid of the infection, at least during the day, because the night is still dangerous. We wanted to lean into that experience by adding survival mechanics like limited flashlight batteries and restricted inventory. For us, it was important to deliver a fresh experience.
Some of these features go against typical open-world design, which could potentially frustrate players. How did you balance that?
It was a very iterative process. At first, we simply removed respawns and implemented limited resources to see how it felt. Surprisingly, the game already had a lot of loot, so if players explored and prepared well, they still had enough to work with. We wanted to encourage players to explore more, loot more, and be more thoughtful about their choices; what they upgrade, what they use, and how they play. From there, we relied heavily on playtesting. We played the mode extensively, gathered feedback, and continuously adjusted the balance to make sure it felt fair and engaging.
Was there anything interesting you noticed during testing?
What stood out was how polarising the experience was. Some players really liked it, while others didn’t. But that’s expected with this kind of design. Our goal wasn’t to please everyone, it was to create something impactful, playable, and meaningful. A big part of that comes down to preparation. In Restored Land, players need to think and prepare more carefully as survivors. We did a lot of balancing to make the experience feel believable and engaging, and we continue to monitor community feedback to make further adjustments.
Given your background in video games, was this mode about trying something new, or more of an experiment?
The goal was to create meaningful choices for players, especially early on, and to maintain those choices throughout the game. In Restored Land, you can’t upgrade everything, you have to make decisions based on your playstyle. That’s the core of the experience. But it also means we had to be very careful with balance, because you don’t want players to feel like their choices are wasted. That precision is what we aimed for.
Let’s talk about the permadeath “One Life” mode. Did you try it yourself, and how was the experience?
Of course, I tried. One of our main goals was to remove anything that felt unfair. Some unpredictability is fine in a normal mode, but in permadeath, players need to feel that every failure is their own mistake. During testing, we adjusted things like fall damage and environmental damage; explosions from gas tanks, fire extinguishers, and so on, to make sure they felt fair.
For me personally, the biggest danger was in Dark Zones. It’s very easy to get surrounded and trapped if you’re not careful. That’s where most of my runs ended. So now, whenever I play One Life, I approach those areas very cautiously.
As the game director, what’s one survival tip you’d give players in this mode?
Stay aware of your environment. Don’t get carried away by the action. Things can go wrong very quickly if you’re not careful. Even a small group of enemies isn’t necessarily dangerous on its own, but if you don’t manage the situation properly, you can trigger reinforcements, waste resources, and put yourself at serious risk. It’s about thinking tactically.
What about Roadkill Rallies mode? They feel almost arcade-like in a survival-focused game. Was that intentional?
Yes, absolutely. We wanted something that felt more than just a race, closer to a Carmageddon-style experience. It’s not always about taking the shortest route. It’s about making smart, moment-to-moment decisions. For example, you might want to take a shorter path, but instead choose a longer one because you need more kills. Those micro-decisions are what define the experience.
Looking ahead, where do you see the game going? Is Restored Land a one-off experiment, or part of a bigger direction?
Game development is always iterative. With everything we do, we learn something. Sometimes it’s exactly what we expected, and sometimes it’s completely new. That learning process is very important. With Restored Land, like any other update, we’re learning more about the game, our players, and what we might want to do next.
