Developed by: Techland
Published by: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Release Date: January 27th, 2015
Available on: PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One & PC
I’m out and about doing side missions and collecting many different items when my radio goes off and warns me that it’s almost night time. It warns me to get into a safe house, but I decide to take on the night as I need to finish the mission. This is something I’ve done many times before in games with no real sense of danger. But what happened next is something unique to my zombie killing experience: instead of being the hunter, I became the prey. These weren’t just slightly smarter zombies, these were faster, more agile, and more deadly. As I started to parkour onto rooftops to get away – all the while panicking, running, panicking some more, and regretting my decision to fight the night – I was suddenly pounced and killed by volatile (The deadlier zombies at night). This is just a small taste of what Dying Light has to offer.
One of the things that took me by surprise with Dying Light was how invested I got into the story, even though, the characters were hit or miss. You play as Kyle Crane – a GRE operative – send into the city of Harran to recover a stolen file. After landing in the city you are bitten by a zombie and then taken into care by a group of survivors. As you progress through the story, you’re introduced to multiple characters who, while interesting, ultimately fall short of being cared for by the player. The main character not only feels unique and not someone who’s just there to do a job, he creates a both believable and understandable attitude through the campaign. This, coupled with fantastic voice acting is what made me care about the story. Kyle alone was able to keep me interested and wanting to learn more about the city of Harran, the stolen document and the overall arch he goes through. That being said as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t really care too much for the supporting character like I did for the main protagonist. The game tries multiple times to create a strong relationship between you and the other character, but no matter what it tried, it failed to make me care. The main antagonist, Rais, is also just a generic crazy person with a motive that’s been so overdone, it felt forced. However, my main issue with the story is a lack of choices. There are multiple times in the game where you are presented a choice of what to do, instead of letting you choose the course of the story, the game just makes this decision for you. It feels wasted and almost pointless to present you with a choice but then have it simply picked for you. If I was given more control over how the story went, I think it would have stuck with me a lot more than it did.
Luckily, while the story was only interesting thanks to the protagonist, Dying Light really shines in its gameplay. Techland chose the route of Parkour, making exploring the city of Harran fun, interesting, and unique to any other game I’ve played. Plenty of times, I found myself avoiding the ground as much as possible and trying to find the best route across many roofs. While it takes getting used to, as jump is mapped to the shoulder button, the movement is fluid, fun, and creates some real intense moments when you’re escaping from a horde of zombies. You get a real sense of movement and that nothing can stop you from getting to your destination. Many times I ended up ignoring my missions to simply go around Harren parkouring anywhere I could, see what jumps I could make and how far I can get without having to restart my momentum.
If you do happen to get into a pickle, the game’s combat is also something I found to be pretty fun. It is very similar to Dead Island: you’ll be hitting zombies with lead pipes, swords, floor boards, bats, shovels, etc., and it all feels impactful and painful. Dying Light also keeps the ability to upgrade and improve your weapons with various mods. Unlike Dead Island, you can do these are any time during your playtime!No more finding workbenches or special areas where this is allowed. Instead, simply if you have the weapon and blueprint, you can make the weapon right away. But, one problem here is that it pauses the game and takes away from what could be even more intense moments in the game (Think tense crafting like in The Last of Us). Several times when I was chased by a huge horde of zombies, I just opened my inventory, pausing the game, taking a moment to breathe and make that weapon that can finally go to town on these zombies. While convenient, it broke the mood and the panic. I’d like to see the game just keep going no matter what menu you’re in, causing you to think about your inventory and when it’s right to make weapons and other utilities. Also – grappling hook is just the best thing ever.
Dying Light also does something unique with its day and night cycles. When it’s daytime, you are free to roam around as you please without the worry of the zombies. Once night time hits, though, the volatile come out and turns the game into something completely different. The game makes you really feel helpless when you start getting chased. Your weapons don’t do much damage to the zombies, they are almost as fast as you and can climb buildings! These are ninja zombies. At night, there is no place you are safe and your best chance is to run and avoid them as best as possible. Many times, I found myself being sneaky at night and playing the game as if it was a stealth game. Dying Light also gives you an incentive to stay out at night rather than skip it all together. You are given double the experience meaning you can get the skill you want to make it easier much sooner. While the game is easier during the day, the night tends to be more fun, in the long run.
Dying Light is quite a beautiful looking game. Whether it’s the city of Harran, the design of the volatile and other zombies, or the high detail of the weapons, it’s sure to make you stop and look around more than once (which, frankly, could lead to you being pummeled by a half dozen zombies, so please be careful). One thing I noticed that I really enjoyed was the many different ways the zombies take damage. Hit one in the face, and part of it gets bashed or sliced off. Hit it in the stomach, a chuck is taken off, or if you hit it hard enough in the head, you stun them seeing the entire skeleton as the part you hit becomes red. I’ve only had a couple of minor texture pop-ins or odd times zombies would show through doors or walls. Nothing that took away from the experience, but it did make it odd sometimes.
If playing alone isn’t your thing, Dying Light also offers a full campaign co-op with up to 3 of your friends. Luckily Dying Light co-op takes all the best parts of the game and adds your friends to the mix. I found that I was enjoying the game a lot more when a few friends hopped on to do missions and made for an easier experience all together. The other thing Dying Light does for co-op is create random competition between you and your friends. Whether you’re doing main missions or side missions, you are given different challenges such as “Be the first to read the exit”, “Kill the most zombies in X amount of time”, “Loot the most from the room”, etc. There were some funny moments as friends and I tried to compete for the experience. However, matchmaking was hit or miss for me. Multiple times I lost my co-op partner mid-mission, while other times the game just wouldn’t connect us even though we just were playing moments before the disconnection.
Techland’s Dying Light is what Dead Island should have been. While the story is hit or miss and is largely interesting due to the protagonist, the game is simply a blast to play. Whether it’s the parkour that creates a great way to move throughout the city of Harran, the many weapons used to kill the hordes of zombies, or the fun and addicting co-op mode, Dying Light never becomes a bore or feels like a chore. There’s enough side missions and things to collect to make it last for days, with the main campaign lasting about 8 hours. If you were fan of Dead Island, or want to play a unique and fun zombie game with a ton of content, look no further than Dying Light.
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