Dying Light

By: Robert Murphy

While going into Gamestop one day, I had the clerk stop me before I left with my purchase and ask me if I was going to be getting Dying Light, it was a game I knew little about but one I was going to dismiss because it looked like another generic zombie game. This thought soon changed when about a week after it released I felt the need to own it. Quickly climbing up buildings and smashing the undead's brains in with various melee weapons was an instant joy for me as I jumped rooftop to rooftop across Harran. A virus of unknown origin has broken out in this city and since then communications have been shut down and the city has gone dark. Left to fend for themselves, the few remaining survivors are doing what they can to prevent themselves from being part of a fleshy sandwich but supplies are running low and a cure of some kind needs to be found. Enter your character, Kyle Crane, who is a member of a shady but supposedly good organization that is after a rogue agent and a file that he stole. Almost immediately though you find yourself in hot water and meet up with a group of survivors, helping them in various ways while trying to secretly complete his mission. 

Before I was able to get to the more enjoyable aspects of Dying Light, I had to sit through the brief opening sequence for the game but I didn't realize that the whole thing would set the tempo for the type of missions and story I'd be facing. Our hero, Crane, starts off jumping out of a plane into the blacked out Harran and immediately gets screwed when his shoot hits a lamp post and you get surrounded by unknown thugs, some secret agent you are. This mellow drama continues when you stir up a horde of zombies and are saved by some locals, only to have one of them be killed in the process, he was supposedly the best of the best. It is stuff like this that tried to open up massive amounts of feels for the player that just doesn't happen. The rest of the story mode missions follow this sort of trend, I believe one of your first missions for the game you go after three air drops only to have them already be raided by the same group of goons as before. You are told to move on but I took them out, an option that the game didn't want you to do but oh well. 

Other mission continue the "go fetch this" style of missions, I did so many of them that they frankly just blurred together after awhile. It doesn't help that the characters giving you the missions are none too appealing either and were just there to generate quests. Your character isn't much better either, I was already not impressed when I got taken out so easily in the first few minutes of the game but add on top of that the fact that you're just a gruff "yes man" character, I wasn't impressed. Moments when I spouted out sarcastic remarks are under cut by the otherwise lack of personality my character had.

That being sad, you remember me saying that I liked this game, well I do. These grievances were something I wanted out of the way as I talked about what good Dying Light has to offer. Once you're set loose to do what you like in the world, everything becomes your playground to jump, climb and explore. The game has the perfect setting for the parkour mechanic you will be using, close together buildings, homes and nearby cars will all be stepping stones for you to soar across the city on. I have a personal problem with heights so at first I was nervous about just jumping without looking where I was going first but this feeling almost immediately goes away as you begin to trust the fact that there is something to either land or catch yourself on. It's an invigorating feeling to the game and Harran is a perfect setting to have it take place in. 

As for your enemies, the zombies you will be facing do vary just like the ones in a Left 4 Dead game with different special infected to contend with but they aren't too frequent and aren't much more dangerous than a regular infected if you stay up high and keep your head. Except for the ones you'll be facing at night. The first time that I was stuck out after dark I thought nothing of it but I was shitting myself within minutes. Night is actual pitch darkness in Dying Light and terrifyingly powerful infected roam the streets with the regular ones, they will tear you apart in moments if you don't keep up the pace and get to a nearby safe house spread throughout the city. It is a gruesome aspect to the game and adds a difficulty that most games don't tread into but it is a great one to say the least. When you're safe in the daylight though, zombies aren't much of a problem, you can spend your time ignoring them or find just as much joy in bashing their skulls all over the place. It's an unbelievable thrill to smash these lumbering souls around especially when you knock them into a nearby trap set around the city but obviously avoid large groups because they will pose a threat.

The other enemies you'll face are people, I tried attacking regular men with my melee weapon but it proved to be annoying because they're just as smart as you and while you can find a gun, I would avoid it because it attracts zombies. However, they're just men so burning them works great and I chuck a quick molotov and get to the airdropped goods. Even when you're faced with armed goons this method seems to work because they're just men but the system of fighting them does feel off. Avoiding conflict is something you feel when you're in the game especially when you're outgunned but yet you're forced to fight them in the story from time to time. It's a bit of a flop for the style that you have seen work for the game and definitely makes you question whether or not they should have included human enemies to begin with when it doesn't fit what you have been playing this whole time.

Last but not least is the multiplayer which gets unlocked after you activate your first safe house. Players can take part in up to four player co-op and completely the in game missions as a team. Bringing your friends along adds an enjoyable element to Dying Light as you all jump across rooftops and smash zombies brains in together. Players can also create small challenges in-game for them to compete in such as the first to reach the top of an electric tower or the first to make it to a specified zone labeled on the map just like one of the time trial missions you can do in the game. For added enjoyment, another player or friend can invade your game when night falls and play as the zombie. That player plays a special infected with terrifying abilities like night vision, tentacles and spewing liquid that will attract a horde if it gets on a player. The Night Hunter zombie has to kill ten players to win and the humans have to eliminate five nests for the match to end.

What else can I say about Dying Light, it was exhilerating to explore the city of Harran, jumping across rooftops and doing something I would never be able to do in a lifetime which is parkour. Zombies are also insanely fun to bash into, drop kick and dismantle. It's like whacking a pinata over and over till you win a prize. If it weren't for the lack of a good story and the sub par characters then my score would be much higher for the game but when all you're doing is running around fetching this or that, it's hard to even bother progressing in the game to begin with. 

Good:

- Messing up zombies with your preferred melee weapon

- The wonderful setting of Harran

- Parkouring, climbing and exploring the entire city

Bad:

- Fighting the human NPC's just doesn't feel right and it's annoyingly difficult if you don't have your trusty molotov

- Lack luster story

- Dull and uninteresting characters that include your own

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10