Dying Light Reviews
Dying Light isn't a bad game, it's just one that feels like it goes on a bit too long, and was too invested in the trappings of an "open world" to make itself really stand out.
If you're a Dead Island enthusiast, zombie addict, or free running connoisseur, Dying Light is the game for you. Its parkour is addicting and the way it eases your character into power is something other games can learn from. But if you're looking for a story that isn't frustrating, weapons that don't break after ten swings, and basically anything else that makes a game great, you're better off keeping your wallet in your pocket.
Techland has shown us that they've learned from their past experience with the Dead Island series and given us the first stand out title of 2015.
Dying Light presents fun mechanics and a gorgeous world, but that comes with often boring quests and combat.
Without being perfect, Dying Light undeniably fulfills its objectives.
Review in French | Read full review
Dying Light is a good experiment that with greater attention to detail could have positioned itself as one of the best games of the year, but it remains only with the merits of offering excellent parkour, an exciting asymmetrical multiplayer mode and above all, a new way to experience horror at full speed.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dying Light is all we were promised: an innovative zombie game, which manages to stand out despite the physiological limits of the free-roaming genre and a certain saturation of the market.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Dying Light is the impressive realization of an idea that with Dead Island had remained barely under the radar.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It's Dead Island meets The Last of Us meets Far Cry 3 meets Assassin's Creed, but while Dying Light doesn't score highly for originality, it does for parkour thrills and zombie-slaying antics. The pace lags occasionally from time to time, but this is a slicker, most refined game than you might ever have expected from the brains behind Dead Island, and one that deserves to be a hit.
All the energy that should've gone into giving players a good reason to want to survive in Harran went toward an uninvolving multiplayer.
Unlike Techland's previous titles, Dying Light is an easier game to recommend. Fantastic movement mechanics complement the brutal combat beautifully, and the game on a mechanical level is incredibly engrossing and fun to play. Sadly, there's little else above that to sell. The story and all the characters involved do little to hold your attention, and the mission design does little to surprise.
On the surface Dying Light may be nothing more than your average run-of-the-mill zombie game complete with predictable story and tons of flesh eating monstrosities. But, beneath the very pretty surface lies a game with some excellent ideas that, when combined with some tried and true mechanics, create one of the best zombie games in recent years
Anyone who is able to look past the game's faults however will find it a rewardable zombie adventure that isn't perfect, but has plenty to do.
Dying Light's core gameplay is solid and offers a uniquely thrilling sort of fun, but for every moment you spend having a good time, you'll spend just as many frustrated by its shortcomings.
Despite taking cues from other open world games, ones nobody could ever accuse of being fresh, Techland has molded these borrowed parts into something that is occasionally formidable. Dying Light never quite shakes off the spectre of these other games, but it doesn't play it as safe, presenting a world that is infinitely more deadly and fraught with tension. It is at its best, though, when the game doesn't get in the way of itself; when there are no calls on the radio or breaks in combat for a rest and a cup of tea.
As a piece of zombie fiction, Dying Light isn't the most original tale. As a way to experience the undead apocalypse first-hand? It's hard to beat.
The parkour and risk/reward of the day/night cycle are nice features, but they aren't enough to overcome the abysmal writing or the boring, repetitive fetch quests that unnecessarily bloat this game.
Dying Light builds on the ground work of games like Dead Island and Mirror's Edge and excels in so many ways. The combat and crafting system is solid, and mixing in parkour as the main style of movement makes this game stand out against an onslaught of zombie-themed games. The atmosphere cultivated by the direness of the survivor's plight and the ever-looming threat of nightfall is wonderfully executed and a solid experience for players.
It's tough to get excited by video game zombies these days, but by blending a detailed open world, cool parkour moves and a satisfyingly deep system for character and weapon customization, Dying Light has clawed out a novel space in this crowded genre. Long live the undead.