Review: Dying Light

In Dying Light, the city of Haran is facing a viral outbreak. In an attempt to  keep the Rabies-like virus from spreading, a government body responsible for responding to this catastrophe is planning to nuke the city. But before this drastic measure is taken, you play as Kyle Crane, an agent charged with finding out about a potential cure and also pursue a high profile political figure.

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One standout part of Dying Light’s gameplay is it’s parkour, a system that with mastery, plays out flawlessly. You are not prone to the same annoyances that come with assassins creed such as sticking buildings edges, and it is simpler than the free running featured in Mirror’s Edge. By simply looking at the ledge you intend to leap towards or grab, your character will latch on, easy as that. While deceptively simple the system seems at first, Dying Light will put you through your paces in challenges such as climbing towers to gain new vantage points of the area. While I am against shoehorning parkour into every video game for the sake of convenience, it doesn’t feel forced here . You are agile as you are deadly, especially with the games simple and streamlined combat system.

A staple of Techlands work is the use of weapon crafting. Players can scrounge together various bits and bobs and modify their guns and blunt weapons for added effectiveness. Useful weapons such as electrically charged batons and even knives that light your stabbing victims on fire can be crafted easily. Blunt weapons are easily found across the game world, while guns can be extremely scarce, never allowing players to feel overpowered. Improvised explosives can also aid in taking larger enemies down, but can lead to even larger standoffs as loud noises attract hordes of zombies.

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Terrain and weaponry are not the only varied things in Dying Light, however. The zombies looking to make you into a snack come in all shapes and sizes. Enemies range from your run of the mill mindless slow biter, to hulking beasts wielding sledgehammers, and even zombies that can run and climb as fast as you can. If Harran weren’t enough of a death trap in the daytime, the city becomes very different upon nightfall. If you wish to survive the night, not only must you avoid even larger herds, but also elite enemies who can track you, will actively seek you out, and chase you almost unendingly. A fun and unique feature allows players to quickly look behind them as they run away from pursuing enemies, don’t do it. Just don’t.

Quality sound design delivers well read lines, but some jarringly bad accents. This doesn’t ruin the experience however as the main casts performance is expertly delivered.  As you traverse the expansive map, horrifying zombie sound effects will terrorize you, constantly groaning  and growling.

Aside from some unrealistic accents, there are a few headaches to be found within the games story missions. Difficulty rises and falls sharply, as one minute you are collecting coffee grounds, or medicine, and then the next being fired at by machine guns. Some boss encounters are frustratingly designed as well. Dying Light fights to find balance, as some missions grow monotonous leaving you feel like an errand boy (which Kyle Crane points out jokingly), while others leave you frustrated.

As you run, fight, and quest your way throughout Haran, skill points are awarded to you. A three pronged leveling system allows you to either level up your Stamina abilities, Combat abilities, and Survivor abilities. Each skill point spent feels meaningful and awards you with perks and skills that you can immediately put to use.

Normally Zombie themed titles would bring past greats such as the Resident Evil games or Left 4 Dead to mind, but as an open world Zombie title, I could not help but compare it to Day Z and H1Z1.  Viewed from that perspective, DL is fantastic. If you enjoy the struggle to survive in a post apocalyptic world, scavenging and fighting off the dead there is a lot for you here, especially because these game mechanics can save you from the monotony of the games many fetch quests. With various side quests and general exploring, DL can still deliver some great moments. Dying Light is nowhere near perfect, yet it is still very enjoyable.