Dying Light

First off, my apologies for this review being so untimely. Originally, I wasn't even going to review this game -- mainly because I didn't even really know/care about its existence. Thus, its release day came and went, and I had my sights set on other games. Those other games also came and went, and upon the sale of one of them to Craigslist (I sell most of my games to keep it an affordable hobby), I was offered a straight up trade for Dying Light. 

As I usually do with my games, I researched it first. I asked friends how they liked it, did some digging into related articles, etc. Low and behold, many gamers were addicted to Dying Light and calling it an early GOTY contender. How a game with that high of praise slipped under my radar, I'll never know (probably my general disinterest in zombie games), but I took the trade. 

DJ Zombie Beast...about to bring the bass

What I found was an imperfect gem; a game that has its flaws, but is so addicting, fun, and memorable that it's easy to look past them. It's a game where you alter your style, just to adhere to some of the poorer aspects of it, and before long, you don't even notice they are there. If you don't know what I'm talking about, a perfect example of this would be one of my personal favorite games ever, Just Cause 2. That game had so many issues: atrocious gunplay, horrendous voice acting, short story, etc. But it was so much damn fun, and so addicting to watch/play/experiment, that I would argue a 10/10 score for that game any day of the week.

Trophy screen-grab FTW!

Regardless of whether or not that example hits home with you or not, I'll state that Dying Light is at its best several hours into the game. Not only is this when there are more areas to explore, better weapons and powers, and just general zombie mayhem, but it's also when the player becomes accustomed to the game's mechanics, which are surprisingly deep. Dying Light is best described as Left 4 Dead meets Mirror's Edge meets Fallout 3. If that sounds like a titillating combination, that's because it is. Rather than just making a zombie game, or rather than just making another open world game, developer Techland has come up with a unique combination of the three for a game that is rich and truly plays like nothing you've seen before, but yet it all feels inherently familiar. It's hard to imagine the game without one of its elements (parkour, zombies, RPG elements) and that should be a testament to just how well integrated everything is. 

Bringing a whole new meaning to the term "saving face"

It is a game that takes some time to get used to though, but I'm not sure I necessary consider that a CON. For example, jumping is mapped to the R1 button (on PS4) which is incredibly odd at first. I found myself pressing "X" to jump in several situations and hilariously (and sometimes frustratingly) falling to my death. Other than that, most of the other buttons are mapped logically, and once you unlock some of the more complex acrobatic maneuvers, you realize why they mapped the jump button to the shoulders. In that same vein, Dying Light is a rough game for the first 3-4 hours, which is arguably its biggest fault. It takes a few hours to even see your first gun, which, by the way, you hardly use anyway once you have it, and those first weapons like water pipes, floorboards, and wrenches are weak, break easy, and do little damage to your enemies. It's nothing that kills the game, but the first few hours are a bit of a slog and killing enemies is little more than button mashing since you have weak weapons and no cool moves. Luckily, leveling up is decently fast and the weapons become better with each level unlocked. In fact, that leads to another slight issue: by the time you have leveled up enough, you're so powerful that you don't fear many things the game throws at you anymore. As of writing this, I have Katana that lights enemies on fire AND electrocutes them, access to over 50 med-kits, over 100 lockpicks, and I have a grappling hook that lets me escape hairy situations ASAP. I still die, mind you, but that's usually when I play too aggressively. 

"Bus monitor! Have your tickets or
I'll pummel you!"

The feeling of being a near-superhero is awesome during the day cycle of the game, but it's the night cycle that really suffers because of it. The mechanic of day and night is one that Dying Light focuses on heavily, and it's a pretty brilliant implementation. At night, the more violent enemies come out (more health, relentless pursuit, faster, etc.) and your XP is doubled for as long as you're alive. In the early stages, night is absolutely terrifying, signaled by a haunting, yet genius, "Beep-beep, Beep-beep" coming through the DualShock 4 controller. Whenever that sound would echo, and I'd see the last limits of sunlight dip behind the horizon, I'd start to tense up, get sweaty palms, and decide if I actually wanted to stay out, or return to a safe house. Nighttime creates almost an entirely different game when you're a weaker character -- it's one that forces you to stick to the shadows, use stealth, be quiet, and use your flashlight sparingly. If you're spotted, it's a full-out, balls-to-the-wall chase for your life until you find safe haven or break the line of sight. Once your character is really powerful, nighttime doesn't become too scary because how much damage you can deal (or how fast you can escape) so the tension decreased considerably. It was still tons of fun, but no where near as intense as those first few nights I spent in Harran, the game's fictional city. 

Watching the sun go down is both gorgeous and terrifying.

Speaking of Harran, it's a damn beautiful city. I'm fairly certain it's located in the Middle East, and the ravaged town is full of shades of yellow, gold, and brown during the day and pitch black at night. Some of the character models are pretty rough and have some odd facial animations, but the city itself, and the surrounding mountain ranges, are jaw dropping, especially when the sun is rising or setting -- leading to some amazing particle effects of the desert dust hanging in the air. The zombies also look great, and move great, leading to some intense character models. I was also really impressed with the gore's accuracy. A strange statement, yes, but when you would slice a zombie across the waist, they would separate at the waist. If you bring the sword down vertically? They split vertically. How and where you hit them is well represented by the game engine which leads to tactics in and of itself. I quickly began to target all necks/heads to go for kill shots. And make no mistake, this game is incredibly gory. Grotesque sounds are coupled with spurts of blood when a zombie's head goes flying, and there are sometimes where the game even goes into slow motion for extra effect. I don't think it really "overdoes" it, and most of the time I found it pretty hilarious...it's truly something that comes with the territory of the zombie genre. The zombie enemies are good from an AI standpoint. Approaching one by itself is an easy win, but a horde of 20+ becomes really intense, even on higher levels. Some of them chase you, even during the day, although they are pretty weak, and then there are variations that spit at you and versions of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson who are huge, and take several hits to take down. Human enemies are intense at first, especially without guns, but are pretty stupid and easy once you get more powerful. They run around to get angles on you with weapons, or attack and back up with hand to hand, but are easy to dispose of. Again, in groups they can be hard, but generally they aren't as rough as you would expect. 

Luckily, battling the terrain and enemies in Harran is a ton of fun with some awesome moves and some smart leveling up systems. Your levels are split up into Power, Agility, and Survival points. The power tree is all melee attacks/upgrades, Agility is for parkour, and Survival is general health and crafting upgrades. The balance between the three is a little off (for example, I'm significantly ahead in my Power level compared to the other two) but the unlocks are pretty awesome. My personal favorite, as well as the collective internet's it seems, is the dropkick bomb. It's especially hilarious because it's in first person, but it's basically a dropkick your character can perform that sends the zombies flying back at least 10 feet. I'm not going to lie...even after 35+ hours, it still doesn't get old. Mark my words, when gamers look back on Dying Light in ten years with fondness, the most talked about feature will be the drop kicking. My particular favorite is finding an enemy on a roof or cliff, and drop kicking them off it. It's hilarious and oddly satisfying. 

From a story standpoint, Dying Light has a surprisingly decent one. Your character is an agent, dropped into Harran to help survivors, but you quickly find out that your superiors, whom you communicate with via satellite phone, have ulterior motives. Not all of the side quests are super engaging and they begin to blend a bit with one another, but the main story is well crafted and features some good characters and a decent script. For a zombie game it was impressive and offered a bit of a unique twist to the genre's usual strictly-survival-based tales. 

I'm gonna need a bigger sword...

There is also a co-op option and a multiplayer suite, neither of which I really felt obligated to test out. I did a bit of research on them and they seem to be pretty cool and the MP seems unique, but I'd imagine that neither are anything that should factor significantly into your purchase decision. 

I'm always amazed by how much I can write about a videogame (this review is over 2,000 words, for example), and it's usually easy when I'm writing about one that I really enjoyed. As I stated at the beginning of this review, Dying Light isn't perfect. But it tries new things, has it's own voice and style, and above all, is tons of fun. 

Sometimes it's games like this that stick with us much longer than games that may be "better" and I have a feeling that no matter what score any other critic, or even myself, gives Dying Light it will be on a lot of gamers' "Best of 2015" lists at the end of the year. It definitely will on mine.

Now please excuse me as I go dropkick a zombie into a spiked pole...

CONS:

• The beginning of the game is a bit rough because of how weak your character is. It would have been nice to have a gun, even a weak pistol, from the start to at least handle certain situations
• Once you've leveled up enough, the game loses some of its difficulty and intensity particularly at night
• Leveling up across the three categories isn't all that balanced. I'm at least 3-4 levels ahead in "Power" compared to "Agility" and "Survival"
• Some pretty ugly character models for non-zombies with awkward facial animations
• Side quests become a bit mundane eventually
• I've had a few instances where the character doesn't do what you want him to (i.e. jumping to grab a ledge and it takes 3-4 attempts)
• Some items aren't worth crafting. At the end of the day, I think there were too many crafting options, many are just slight variations of one another
• Human enemy AI is laughable for the most part

PROS:

• Brilliant blend of the zombie genre, parkour, and RPG elements. The game certainly feels unique and familiar, all at the same time
• Gorgeous graphics most of the time. Harran is an eerily beautiful place
• Great zombie enemies that capture the general nature of zombies well: single enemies pose no threat, but hoards can be intense and deadly
• The distinction between night and day is well implemented and an awesome mechanic for a game like this. The first several times you are out at night are scary, intense, and nerve-racking
• Weapons are freakin awesome later in the game and some of the variations you can create through crafting are truly badass
• Fantastic sound design and an awesome original score
• Unique button mapping that makes sense
• Some very good DS4 controller speaker utilization
• A good story that has a worthwhile plot, interesting characters, and fun missions
• Great open world design with lots of verticality. Not the biggest open world ever, but great for this game
• Dropkick bombs. For the win. So much win
• Highly accurate gore creates its own strategies and goes a long way into making the game feel like a proper zombie game
• Based on a foundation of strong game mechanics. This is a great first game for a new IP
• I've had fun every single time I've put the disc in my PS4. That's awesome in and of itself and its the sign of a game that deserves praise

Rath's Review Score: 9/10