Dying Light: The Beast’s Baron Is Easy to Hate, Hard to Fear

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The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Dying Light: The Beast.

It’s good to have Kyle Crane back in *Dying Light: The Beast*, although the circumstances aren’t ideal. After being held captive and experimented on for over a decade by the cruel scientist known as “The Baron,” Crane has escaped and is seeking revenge. However, as a revenge story, *Dying Light: The Beast* doesn’t quite succeed. This is mainly because the game doesn’t fully develop The Baron as a compelling villain.

Revenge stories usually focus on a personal vendetta, not saving the world. To be truly compelling, these stories need well-developed characters: the hero needs a tragic and understandable backstory to make the audience share their anger, and the villain needs to be convincingly evil, yet complex enough that their defeat feels impactful. However, the revenge story in *Dying Light: The Beast* doesn’t make the villain, the Baron, truly hateful enough until it’s too late for it to matter.

Dying Light: The Beast’s Baron Lacks the Fear Factor

A Villain Defined by Distance

The core conflict of *Dying Light: The Beast* is immediately established: the Baron is the villain, and Kyle Crane has understandable reasons to oppose him. However, despite this clear setup and an initial reveal from Crane’s perspective, the Baron largely disappears until the game’s finale. Instead of frequent confrontations or character development through cutscenes, the Baron remains a distant, looming threat throughout most of the story.

The game is more frustrating than scary, relying on repetitive sequences where you repeatedly rush to rescue people from the Baron and his forces. These moments don’t really add depth to the Baron’s character; they just serve as reminders that he’s the villain, as if that’s not already clear. The biggest problem is that these rescues never actually lead to a confrontation with the Baron – he always escapes or isn’t there when you arrive.

When Hatred Finally Catches Up

As *Dying Light: The Beast* nears its conclusion, there’s a lot to dislike about the Baron. Similar to a shocking scene with Negan in *The Walking Dead*, Crane is forced to watch the Baron harm and try to kill people he knows. This moment fully reveals the Baron’s cruelty, establishing him as a serious threat. After this, the game’s revenge story reaches its most intense point, but it wraps up fairly quickly.

It’s disappointing that the Baron felt like a supporting character in *Dying Light: The Beast*, considering how important he was to Kyle Crane’s original story. Giving him more screen time and direct interactions with Crane could have made his eventual death even more impactful. Still, the game does eventually reveal his true nature, and players get the satisfying opportunity to defeat him before the story ends.

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2025-09-25 23:09