Behind the music of Dying Light: The Beast with Olivier Deriviere

Hi! Tymon here, your friendly neighborhood Dying Light Franchise Director. Today I will take you behind the scenes of one of the least talked about, but extremely important, exciting and emotional aspects of game development: MUSIC! 

Our soundtracks were always an integral part of the Dying Light franchise, as they created an unforgettable atmosphere in our games. For Dying Light: The Beast, we knew the music had to be something special, and to achieve that we’re once again teaming up with an amazing French composer — Olivier Deriviere. 

So for this blog, I sat down with Olivier to discuss the creation of the soundtrack, including the announcement trailer music that gave you a taste of the mood of Dying Light: The Beast. We talked about the creative process, the challenges of expressing Kyle’s inner emotions, and much, much more. Let me share with you what I have learned during this fascinating conversation.

The secrets of the Dying Light: The Beast announcement trailer track

With the announcement trailer of Dying Light: The Beast, we got a first glimpse of the new batch of music Olivier composed for the game. It was fascinating to learn that what we heard in the trailer will be part of the game’s soundtrack. Olivier shared that this was a bit uncommon for him. 

“It is very rare in my approach because we usually create a separate, special trailer track,” Olivier explained - “This time we decided to present an actual mood of the game by using a track taken right out of it. The franchise is moving on to a different realm now, and we wanted to convey this new direction to gamers — a direction that keeps the scary, visceral, brutal elements that the series is known for but also emphasizes the mature and serious more.”

I was curious if this track was created specifically for the trailer, however it turned out it existed much earlier. Of course, we couldn’t have included the whole thing and certain parts had to be adjusted to the video, but it all came together quite easily! “When the team at Techland sent over the trailer, I looked at it and I was like ‘Oh my God!’ [...] This track worked perfectly! It was super exciting for me to have the DNA of The Beast already out in the trailer.” - shared Olivier. 

Kyle's evolution expressed through music 

Elements of the Dying Light: The Beast DNA mentioned by Olivier — realism, the visceral, brutal, scary, mature — are a very important aspect of this new game. So it was also fundamental for Olivier to capture it all in the soundtrack. That’s why this time it is not focused on storytelling, but on reflecting Kyle’s emotions, what he has been through and how it changed him. To achieve that, Olivier needed to get inside the character, so he played the game extensively. I really respect that way of composing the soundtrack for a game. 

Olivier is not only a great composer, an artist, the creative soul behind it, but also a developer, a gamer who plays for many hours during the creative process. Olivier’s thoughts about it: “It’s very important for me to learn as much as possible about the main hero. I play the game a lot while composing the soundtrack — I often say that the game controller is my most important tool when I work — and it’s crucial for me to understand all the nuances and complexities of the character’s personality. In Dying Light: The Beast we meet Kyle after he escapes from 13 years of experiments. He’s different than he was in Dying Light 1, but at the same time “the old Kyle” is still around. The music explains the evolution of the character, but at the same time expresses his past.” As you can see on the image below, the controller is always on his desk!

The track used in the trailer is called “A Changed Man” and what you don’t know about and what I learnt from Olivier is that it blends elements from the original Dying Light soundtrack (composed by Polish composer — Paweł Błaszczak), with new sounds. “There are subtle elements in it that reminisce on the first Dying Light’s soundtrack, and I’m happy that players caught that.” - says Olivier - “But on top of that there’s this new sound in it, a new riff, which is all about loneliness, reflecting that Kyle was on his own, tortured, facing the experiments conducted by Baron. This riff shows that Kyle is dangerous, lethal and, especially at the beginning, he doesn’t trust anybody.”

Unveiling the creative process behind the Dying Light: The Beast soundtrack

Olivier’s creative process involves a lot of collaboration, he discusses ideas with the team, the Creative Director and gathers as many inspirations from the game as possible. 

“And then I start the creative process in my head, trying to translate it into music. Of course, I’m adding a lot from myself, but it’s a very collaborative way of working, as there’s always a vision for the game and we all combine our work to convey it. I need to understand the vision to be able to add to it with my music.”

For this project he worked, among others, with a guitar player Giani Caserotto to craft unique sounds. And what’s most interesting is that they didn’t use notes. Quite outstanding for a composer, right? “I told him” - remembers Olivier - “‘Listen, I don’t want notes, I don’t want music, I want something that is neither metal nor rock, but is as aggressive as those genres can be.’ At the same time, I wanted something that was aggressive but warm… and I know it sounded impossible, but we started challenging ourselves like that. So he started playing, searching for the right tones.” 

I wondered if this time Olivier was using any unique instruments. I hope you remember (if not, let me remind you) that for the Dying Light 2 Stay Human soundtrack, Olivier, together with his friend, Nicolas Bras, created an instrument called the Electric Psaltery (screenshot below taken from one of Dying2Know More episodes).

This time his approach is more traditional, but with a twist. “Our guitar player, Giani Caserotto, has tons of pedals to create music (screenshot below) and he’s known in the world for creating the kind of sounds that we use in the Dying Light: The Beast soundtrack” - explains Deriviere. “We also have a drummer, Julien Lautelier, and the way we’re using drums is more… acoustic! So even though we’re searching for music that’s intense and aggressive, it is also meant to feel warm and organic. So the player will hear that this is not a machine playing but an actual drummer, using drums in a very subtle and unique way.”

Olivier wants players to experience his music in a way that doesn't make them feel comfortable, especially with "The Beast" sound. It should be scary, aggressive, and rough, yet also empowering and strong, emphasizing that Kyle is a powerful character.

For me, it’s amazing to see how a spontaneous moment of creativity can capture the essence of The Beast so perfectly. I was wondering if Olivier searches for inspiration through other means, like meditation in the woods with no eating and drinking, but what I got from him was: “I don’t know. It just happened. It’s a creative process, you can’t really put logic behind it.”

A fresh approach to Dying Light: The Beast's soundtrack

“A Changed Man” wasn’t the first track Olivier has created for Dying Light: The Beast. He spilled the beans on another one, called “Kyle” which presents a previously unexplored level of emotions. Olivier explained that with this piece, we start to understand Kyle. That makes me even more excited to hear the whole soundtrack. It takes a little bit from both Dying Light and Dying Light 2 Stay Human soundtracks to form something unlike anything Olivier has done for the series so far. “Dying Light: The Beast is a different game, so we want to have a different approach. Yet, it will be dynamic but in another way. First of all, there will generally be less music, as we want the game to be more grounded in the sounds of the environment. Second, Kyle is not Aiden, and the story we want to tell with the music is different — it is much more personal, much more individual. It's not about the world but about the inner feelings of Kyle Crane, so the music will leave a lot of space for players to enjoy the immersion of the game. And when it kicks in, it will give you this adrenaline and these exact emotions.”

As you can see, the soundtrack of Dying Light: The Beast is not just a roam-in-the-forest background kind of music. It is an essential part of Kyle Crane’s journey and player’s immersion. Every tone is crafted with the purpose of pulling you even deeper into the gloomy forestry, the mysterious world of this new game. 

I asked Olivier if there were any challenges for him in this project and his answer really surprised me: “Oh man, It’s always scary… Each time when I start I have a feeling that I have no idea how to do it, that I’ve never done this before… Then as I move forward with work I get a grip on it, but I’m always challenging myself somehow. With Dying Light: The Beast we don’t want to have too many notes, we want to have sounds, if that makes sense. The fewer notes, the better, at least for a big part of this particular soundtrack. So that’s the challenge there, as everything is very organic, real, coming from the inside.”

I wish you could see Olivier’s passion and the spark in his eyes that appears as soon as he starts talking about composing music. We can’t wait for you to experience this soundtrack yourself. Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes insights, as we’d like to share more of them with you soon. Until then, stay human… or I should say, just this once… unleash the beast!