Dying Light Reviews
An Improvement on the Dead Island formula thanks to additions of parkour and organic moments, but won't reinvent the open world zombie genre.
If the best time you can have with Dying Light is through avoiding the main content, maybe that says a lot about how you shouldn't be structuring an open world game.
With Dying Light, Techland has most certainly improved on Dead Island's melee-focused, open-world formula, but it still hasn't perfected it. Improved enemies and better navigation mean that while the journey from A to B and back again is more exciting this time around, it's a trip you'll be making far too frequently.
Dying Light presents a dynamic and frustrating parallel; it's quick to dazzle its audience with heaping stacks of energetic (if not wholly borrowed) content, but equally capable of coming apart under the burgeoning stress of weaving it all together. A reticence to acknowledge its own pratfalls leaves the responsibility of proper assembly to the player. If you're up to that particular challenge, Dying Light's one of the more impressive games of the modern generation.
I could go on further about all the reasons why I love Dying Light, but I'll leave you on this note. I can say, without a doubt in my mind, Dying Light is one of the best zombie games ever made.
Dying Light is a solid game with a great foundation. The integration of parkour works well and I never really found myself complaining about running around the streets. The combat is hard, especially for beginners, but ultimately it's pretty satisfying getting a slow-motion kill by chopping a zombies head or limb off. There's definitely room for improvement but this is definitely a game that you should pick up if you've been thinking about it.
Dying Light is a very impressive game that's clearly had a lot of care and attention put into it.
Although the similarities are easy to see, Dying Light is set in a darker, grittier, and more realistic world than the bright and colorful island from Dead Island. Combat lacks limb interaction, but still allows you swipe legs with baseball bats or cave skulls in with heavy items. The game peaks when you are playing with a few friends, either completing missions, challenges or just roaming to uncover all the secrets of Harran. The mission structure leaves a lot to be desired, but throwing additional players into the mix keeps the game from feeling like a chore.
The core experience of Dying Light is a good time. For the most part, I enjoyed my time running from or dodging my way through the undead. But beneath the surface, the game drags itself down by futilely trying to fill a checklist of expectations.
A thrilling zombie adventure that makes me remember what I love about Dead Island and forget what I hated.
Gorging on detail, starved of originality
Dying Light is easy to write off as a Dead Island knockoff, but it is anything but. It has a completely different feel, with intense mobility and speed mixing with far more deadly enemies. It's also more tightly designed and more fun to play and is an overall improvement over Dead Island in almost every way. It still has its flaws, and it doesn't reinvent the genre, but it's just fun. The poor mission structure and occasionally bad zombie design can lead to frustration, but the satisfaction of dropping onto a zombie's head wrench-first makes it all worth the trouble.
As it stands Dying Light is perhaps the first game of the year, which is not a remake or a remaster, worth getting your hands on. Thanks to strong core mechanics in its combat and traversal it remains a joy to play even when the missions promise otherwise. The zombie apocalypse maybe a setting that's done to death but Techland proves there's still some life in the concept with Dying Light.
With a bit more narrative care, Dying Light could've been a classic of a zombie game. Instead, it's merely a few steps in the right direction.
Unfortunately, Techland is still unable to deliver a story worth telling. I didn't feel any emotional attachment to any of the characters, nor did I care if they ended up surviving or not. The addition of an overall weapon durability was also something I could have done without as I prefer to cut down my enemies without having to worry whether or not my weapons will disintegrate in my hands.
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.
A very buggy attempt at recreating Dead Island with a very overwrought approach in distancing itself from the obvious inspiration. Without a massive patch, Dying Light can't really explain why it should stand out from the crowd.
Dying Light is a fun, long-lasting zombie-parkour experience in the vein of Far Cry, Skyrim, and Mirror's Edge.
Although we have smashed sluggish zombies hundreds of times, this convention still has its loyal fans. Thanks to Techland's Dying Light, the list of titles with which they will spend at least a few dozen successful hours has just expanded by another position.
Review in Polish | Read full review