Today I'm here to talk to you about the near masterpiece Dying Light!
Now a little bit of disclosure, it was until December that this game was my GotY, but due to reasons another game squeezed ahead of this.
Now for those who don't know, Dying Light is the spiritual successor to the zombie apocalypse game; Dead Island. Developed by the original team and using an enhanced version of the Dead Island game engine; Dying Light was released in Q1 of 2015 to a quiet celebration. It seemed that those who played the game had nothing but very positive things to say about the game, but the issue was that at the time there were very few people who had played it to give that good feedback.
The only reason I can give for this considering the popularity of zombie games is down to either the let down that Dead Island was before it, or more importantly; the poor marketing that came for Dying Light.
From my experience, most people thought that Dying Light was a Zombie game that focuses on a day/night cycle, with night time being the most dangerous due to the zombies being turbo charged during this time. Oh and you can climb on things...
All of this is true, but truly the focus is totally off.
Dying Light is not a Zombie game with free running, it is a Free Running game with Zombies.
That is a very important distinction. There are countless times where the best outcome in this game can only be reached via running away, when you turn tail on the Night Hunters and sprint with all your might, vaulting over fences and gates, climbing up and through buildings and releasing noise crackers to try and confuse or distract the terrifying horde just inches behind you.
There are so many moments within this game that you get so sucked into the game, and when you are required to perform vertigo inducing high-rise walks, or shriek forcing jumps down more stories than should be humanly possible to survive never mind walk away without a limp.
What is possibly most notable about Dying Light however is the location. The dying city you find yourself in is a place that feels natural in itself. It is filled with locations where your parqkore skills are in constant use, but it doesn't feel like these sites have been conveniently placed, which when you compare with similar free running games like Mirrors Edge for example, is a refreshing change.
So there we have the final runner up; Dying Light. Do you like zombie games? Do you like free running games? Do you like engaging characters? Do you like running for your life while your heart is pounding in your throat?
If the answer to this is yes, play Dying Light!
Until next time; stay safe and be excellent to each other!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
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