Review: Dying Light

Recently, one of the most anticipated games of 2015 was released by Techland. We’re talking about Dying Light, which is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Moreover, Dying Light is considered by many gamers to be the first major release of the year, and indeed, the title promises innovative gameplay as well as a highly anticipated day-night cycle. Check out my complete review below!

When you first start Dying Light, the player takes control of Kyle Crane. He is a special agent with the GRE, an organization responsible for taking care of survivors in a quarantine zone. Many of the survivors at the Tower, one of the main locations, are not known by their real names.

The game is set in Harran, a city in Turkey known for being the only location in the world affected by a mysterious virus. The objective of our intrepid protagonist is very simple: to locate and retrieve a confidential document that ended up falling into the wrong hands in Harran. If the information is leaked, a full-blown catastrophe could ensue.

As time passes, Kyle Crane must fulfill certain favors to get closer to Suleiman, the despot who theoretically holds the document. On the other hand, during the first scene featuring the infiltrating agent, he ends up being hit by one of the undead.

Just like the other survivors in Harran who became infected, Kyle urgently needs the Antizina vaccine, which is capable of effectively inhibiting the spread of the virus’s effects. We can conclude that several primary and secondary objectives revolve around the relentless search for this valuable cure.

As a consequence, the game offers various activities. However, these tasks are quite repetitive—they mostly involve going from point X to point Y in order to fetch or deliver an objective to another character, which in turn helps define a specific scene in a complex manner.

Moreover, the “hero” must also contend with local groups whose members are, in many cases, more dangerous and agile than any of the undead. Don’t expect that in the first few minutes of gameplay you’ll be able to freely explore the city of Harran. The beginning of this post-apocalyptic journey is rather subdued and unremarkable at first.

Within the first few minutes, the player will encounter an excellent system of crafting complex items inherited from Dead Island. The key novelty here is, without a doubt, the parkour. From a first-person immersive perspective, Crane is capable of reaching any vertical platform, regardless of its height.

The last time parkour was featured in a first-person game was in the old Mirror’s Edge, released in 2008. Just like in real life, mastering the art of movement is challenging in Dying Light.

However, during the first hours of gameplay it will be very common—and quite frequent—to fall or fail to execute a specific movement correctly. This is because the character hasn’t yet unlocked new abilities, and the player is still getting familiar with the mechanics needed to direct the “hero” to the desired location.

Furthermore, after many hours spent in the campaign mode, Crane will be able to use his hook to move faster. In fact, this accessory is not new—it was also featured with great success in series like Far Cry 4 and Just Cause 2. In Dying Light, this same feature works very well in tandem with parkour, ensuring smoother gameplay.

Combat must be carefully managed by the player, as excessive movement can alert nearby enemies. Thus, it’s not effective to go around recklessly battering every zombie with a crowbar, for example. Such actions consume energy, leaving you exposed and unable to dodge or counterattack.

The variety of weapons is considerably vast, as are the insane combinations. The more you dedicate yourself to exploration, the greater your chances of expanding your arsenal with electric knives and, correspondingly, rare swords.

Don’t be surprised by the diversity of items and accessories scattered throughout Harran. One of the most positive points is the array of combinations that Crane can perform. Meticulously checking various environments is almost an obligation for anyone who intends to spend significant time amidst the infected population.

The map of Harran isn’t enormous, but it is very detailed, filled with numerous buildings and objects. One of the coolest aspects of Dying Light is the ability to enter any residence, in true RPG style.

The upgrade system deserves much praise; as you unlock new abilities, the game’s dynamics change completely, giving you an even greater sense of freedom in the city of Harran. In total, there are three skill trees: Survival, Strength, and Agility.

What’s interesting is that the strength meter increases gradually during battles against the zombies. Uncommon executions, like shooting a zombie into a deadly trap, grant an even higher number of points.

In terms of agility, to unlock parkour moves you must master precise jumps and perform perfect sequences of maneuvers. Finally, the survival meter increases as you complete missions.

At certain moments during the gameplay, the character becomes disproportionately advanced in agility, as we are constantly on the run from the undead. Consequently, we had to eliminate some zombies to unlock several new combat abilities, ensuring a balance between both specializations.

While during the day the zombies are more docile and appear in considerably smaller groups, the nighttime brings forth a variety of aberrations, including the terrifying creature known as Volátil.

Moreover, at night the number of infected increases significantly, as does the level of difficulty. For this reason, experience points are awarded—and even doubled—to encourage you to survive this nightmarish period.

However, the player can seek out safe areas to sleep, which also accelerates the day-night cycle. As soon as the clock strikes exactly nine o’clock, survival becomes your main concern.

Thus, during nighttime, the game becomes a kind of “board,” meaning that your modest flashlight won’t be sufficient to handle the overwhelming number of bloodthirsty aberrations.

In visual terms, Dying Light surprises with its visual quality and the abundance of details that complete the city of Harran. Each region of the Turkish city has its own unique identity, a feature few games can offer.

You can visit various destroyed bridges, slums, villages, tunnels, and complex industrial areas. In fact, the diversity is one of the most interesting aspects of Dying Light, along with the impressive lighting effects that bring even more life to the vast open world of Harran.

Due to these high-quality graphics and meticulous details, Techland abandoned the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions to fully dedicate itself to the “next-gen” project—and undoubtedly, that goal has been achieved.

Technically, the PlayStation 4 version runs at 1080p at 30 fps, while the Xbox One runs at 900p and 30 fps. As usual, on PC gamers can enjoy the best possible quality, provided they have the necessary hardware.

On the audio side, the atmosphere is heightened by various sounds, including groans and crackling, especially during the night. Overall, the soundtrack features well-composed tracks led by intense and dense synthesizer melodies that perfectly match the game’s mood.

In multiplayer mode, a “Be the Zombie” mode was added at the last minute—announced as a DLC. This mode allows you to take on the role of a super-powerful zombie, capable of moving swiftly through the environments with parkour-like agility. Although it’s a major novelty, the gameplay becomes repetitive after several consecutive matches.

Now, in cooperative mode, the game offers another immersive experience by allowing up to three players in the module. You can complete the campaign alongside friends as well as finish all the side activities. Throughout the playthrough, the game even encourages some interesting competitive challenges, such as who can “destroy” the highest number of zombies in the shortest time.

Even with all these new features, there was a lack of originality in how other players were incorporated into a friends’ match. After all, all friends in the co-op match use the same character—meaning that what appears on everyone else’s screen are identical Cranes.

During our approximately 32-hour play session, we encountered a relatively strange and frustrating bug where our character spawned in a safe area with the door completely locked from the outside. After 10 minutes, we restarted the game and the problem was resolved.

And what do you think of Dying Light?