by Sam Brown ’15
Rating: 18+
Disclaimer: This is not a full review, but more of a first impression. Take the information as you will, but I haven’t finished the game just yet.
Developed by Techland and released on January 27th, 2015 for Windows, Linux, Xbox One, and PS4, Dying Light is the latest survival horror video game added to the genre that was started with titles like DayZ (ARMA II), Dead Island, and others. Dying Light begins as what seems like a normal “zombie beat ‘em up”, but it turns out to be not only full of fast paced action and adventure. The game is also incredibly frightening and terrifying. While I only have around three hours completed since the game’s launch, I can see why so many people are raving about this game.
Warning: minor spoilers ahead!
The game begins in what one can only assume is a plane, flying high above the clouds while your futuristic HUD relays your latest mission through your earpiece. The player is to locate and kill a prominent- what is assumed gang- leader in a city, without being caught. As the player jumps out of the plane, your character, whom you have been introduced to as Kyle Crane, pulls open his parachute and begins a slow descent towards the city below. The player looks around and sees the destruction around the city as smoke and debris float in the air. The player lands, almost breaking Crane’s legs. Crane is almost immediately greeted by four gang thugs wrenches and pipes in hand. One thug smacks Crane on the head, and just before being struck once more, a zombie tackles another thug. In a hurry, Crane is swept up by two people, a man and a woman, who try to help him. Upon getting away, the man gets caught by zombies, and is eaten. The woman radios for help, and Crane blacks out. Crane wakes up in a small, dirty room, and the story begins.
As mentioned before, Dying Light is a single-player survival story game set in an open world. It’s not exactly a new invention on the genre, but it does have its moments. Even though survival horror seems like all we get lately in terms of games, Dying Light pushes the genre to the limit. What makes this game unlike the others is adding the ability to use your parkour abilities around the massive map (when I say massive, I mean huge!). Using the rooftops and ledges to your advantage, you can effectively stay out of combat completely by running and jumping all over the place. At night, however, things change as the setting becomes unsettling. The atmosphere created in this game is pretty mind blowing.
On the graphics side, the game is gorgeous. The textures themselves are incredibly detailed ,and the amount of work put into the scenery and the actual world is insane. The particle dust and debris effects combined with the bloom effects really sets the tone for the level. As this is a zombie game, it would not be considered complete without ragdoll physics and a justifiable combat engine. Bashing a zombies’ head in is extremely satisfying, and the kicking mechanic is as well; pressing the “E” key to kick a zombie off a rooftop after hitting him a couple times with your wrench is super fun.
Although the game is great, it’s not without its faults. The questing, especially in the beginning, seems boring and repetitive. The play can’t even get to go outside until an hour into the game, and that bugs me. Speaking of bugs, I haven’t had very many. The occasional crash is expected, as I have only had one. The only other bug I can think of is when one time a zombie was walking towards me and he somehow impaled himself with the side of a building. Not necessarily game-breaking, but it’s something. My only serious concern is with the framerate: it’s all over the place.
My framerate (on high settings) stays at around 60 in certain areas, but suddenly drops to 45-30 in others. Not sure if this is just a driver issue (as it is a new game, and GPU driver patches are common with newer games) or a legitimate issue with the game, but it certainly is annoying.
But in all honesty, I really enjoy the game. Although we’re kind of beating a dead horse with all these survival horror games, I think this one just might change things up enough where it’s actually pretty good. I can’t wait to play more! I definitely recommend this game, but please do be aware of the frame rate issues, especially if you’re running on a lower-tier rig or a console.
If you have any gaming related questions or article ideas, feel free to email me at [email protected], I’m always looking for new games to play!
