Daylight Reviews
Upon death, Sarah regains consciousness before the message "You can't remember, but this seems familiar" lines the foot of the screen. In note-driven Daylight, this is perhaps the most hauntingly accurate passage of the lot.
The least hand-crafted horror game ever, whose legion of design missteps and tepid scares make the worst of an already clichéd set-up.
A few jump scares left my heart racing, but the overall adventure isn't exciting
Daylight's horror atmosphere starts strong, but repetitive corridors and nonthreatening enemies squander it quickly.
Daylight is capable of doling out some shocks, but it's far too reliant on a single trick and the writing covers too much well-trodden ground for players to be truly unnerved.
Although notable as the first game to use Unreal Engine 4, the graphics are perfunctory and drab. If only more effort had gone into crafting an interesting environment rather than relying on the game to conjure its own random shocks.
So while I do appreciate Daylight as an effective scare generator, its shelf life feels much shorter than Zombie Studios intended it to be.
Daylight's inherent creepiness is undone by randomly generated elements that dispel the all-important illusion of survival horror.
All in all, Daylight was a bit of a disappointment. Let it be said that it's utterly terrifying and will likely scare even the hardiest of players, but ultimately the experience feels a little shallow. The overall game is let down by a lack of variation and a thin narrative, feeling like one missed opportunity after another. Daylight isn't the definitive horror experience we've been waiting for. It's more like a spooky campfire story: it'll make you jump on the first time, but it doesn't have much lasting appeal.
Daylight incompetently piles on the clichés and delivers an experience that is far more likely to induce boredom than anything resembling fear.
Daylight works great if you're just looking for a few cheap scares, but if you're itching for something more, you should look elsewhere.
Atmospheric but all too familiar in far too many places, Daylight is a middling time-killer with few frights.
Daylight is somewhat of a strange title. It has the makings of a great horror game with its art design and world, but the game play revolves around too many of the same mechanics while the procedurally generated levels offer up more missteps than different experiences. Don't get me wrong, it is a rather creepy game and it can still frighten even the boldest of players, but in the end, it is a single play through game that lasts four hours at the most.
There's simply nothing about Daylight that hasn't been done better elsewhere, leaving me with no choice but to recommend you avoid it at all costs.
Daylight tries hard to scare you with its soundscape and atmosphere, but unfortunately it treads an all too familiar haunting ground that leaves you sitting impassively in your seat rather than at the edge of it.
Horror games can be tricky to get right, but Daylight fails on virtually every front. It's a shame to see such a promising product slump so spectacularly, but despite being a rather short affair, this is still a pain to play through. As a result, there are far better experiences that deserve your attention ahead of this – especially with Outlast recently being offered for free on the PlayStation 4. Don't shine your torch in the direction of this one, as you'll only find bitter disappointment in its beam.
The promise of Daylight—never feeling safe because random scares defy predictability—ends up seeming like the main cause of its problems instead of a genre-changing bit of design.
Daylight does offer an experience and just about doesn't outstay its welcome, it offers a ton of atmosphere and a feeling of helplessness that other games in the genre have been unable to do. A far from essential purchase, but one that will keep you entertained for an evening alone.
If you scare easily, the low asking price may entice you into a purchase but, for everyone else, Daylight represents a dull and missed opportunity for effective horror.