Dying Light Reviews
Dying Light too often loses track of what it's best at
Fans of zombie survival, open worlds, and first-person shooters will find things to enjoy in Dying Light, but it's a rough ride. The contextual movement and realistic time progression suggest that Techland wants to immerse you in Harran's apocalyptic plight, but the game's realism takes a hit at almost every turn whether it's the graphics, the enemy AI, or the mannequin-like demeanor of the souls you'll attempt to save. Jumping around and smacking zombies is fun, but we're hoping whatever comes next focuses more on realistic living people than realistic dead ones.
Overall Dying Light is a solid game. It's got some satisfying as hell combat and running around the city never gets old, but it's unfortunately saddled with a forgettable story and uninteresting side-quests.
Dying Light shares much with Dead Island, some would probably say a little too much, but it cuts away a lot of the septic flesh and binds the wounds with some new (if not entirely fresh) ideas.
Dying Light is a game best experienced on your own terms and at your own pace. It eschews the excesses of its sibling franchise, Dead Island, but is no worse for it and if you can get past the clunky storytelling and the repetitive missions, you might a diamond in the rough that really empowers you to revel in the design aspects of its zombie-infested sandbox.
The pacing jumps up 10 notches and things become interesting due to the powerful super zombies and the urgency to not stay in a single place kicks in. It breaks up the monotony and it is these moments of originality that make Dying Light stand out from other games of this ilk, and is why it comes thoroughly recommended.
Dying Light overall is a solid zombie action game that boasts one of the finest mixes of melee combat and parkour action in its genre. It's central weakness is that it purposely interferes with many elements that could have been truly phenomenal. It has a day and night time mechanic, but sabotages this somewhat by severely truncating the night time. It has a vibrant open world with plenty of places to explore, but holds your hand a little too much and gives you little reason to wander off on your own. Basically, Dying Light holds itself back too much. It has the capacity to be a title with a rare combination of triple A production and hardcore survival gameplay, but doesn't think that it's players deserve the latter. I hope that Techland wise up and update the game to at the very least lengthen the night, but even if they don't, Dying Light is still very much worth playing if you're comfortable with a more action oriented experience.
Techland's latest title is by no means perfect, nor is it one of the best zombie games, but it's solid enough to warrant a playthrough. Even though its story will leave most players unsatisfied and its open-world design is questionable at best, its phenomenal side stories and often entertaining gameplay will prevent distaste.
Dying Light is a decent run through your modern day zombie apocalypse but its visual wizardry and affable movement system can't mask some AI snafus, lame characterization and disappointing approach to horror.
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.
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.
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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.
Dying Light had the potential to be great, but it just wasn't in the cards this time around. What we've received here is certainly solid, but is marred by frustrating traversal issues and a lack of creativity in other areas.
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.
Excitement was high for Techland's full Dead Island team to put a new game, and for good reason. They are clearly a group of very talented individuals that know how to create some enjoyable gameplay mechanics. In Dying Light's situation, their great mechanic, the free running movement, can be overshadowed at times by climbing frustrations. It feels as if they need to take the ideas from Dead Island and Dying Light and mesh them together into a wonderful product. Dying Light features some truly serene moments as you glide from building to building, but once that serenity halts, so does the player's enjoyment.
'Dying Light' hides all of its best gameplay behind a frustratingly steep learning curve and boring fetch quests, but shows potential once players dig a little deeper.
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.
Although a sound game, Dying Light just falls short of greatness. Compared to its predecessors it looks stunning and has picked up a raft of new and interesting ideas. Several hours in, however, and a familiar sense of fatigue will inevitably set in. Unless roaming Harran with friends in tow, Dying Light isn't one of those games you can comfortably sit and play for hours on end. Zombie enthusiasts are still in for a treat though, as well as anyone looking for an unconventional first person action game.