[Adster94]

Format: Xbox One - Completion time: 30+ hours - Developer: Techland - Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Zombies, Zombies and more Zombies – that is what I like to hear! Recently I complete a zombie game – surprisingly – called Dying Light, on Xbox One. It was made and developed by the same company who created the Dead Island series. Whilst I have never really played the Dead Island series, I wouldn’t be able to compare the two, but this was a experience that I have never seen in a zombie game before.

Without giving too much away, the story is focused around an outbreak with the fictional middle-eastern city, Harran that has been quarantined from the outside world. A company known as the GRE – Global Relief Effort – has been airdropping supplies into the quarantine zone, to help any survivors within the city survive the outbreak, including the only known drug that can prevent any infected from turning – Antizin. This drug is effective, but requires regular injection to prevent those who have bitten from turning into zombies. The main character has been hired by the GRE to enter the zone, find a sensitive document relating to a “cure” to the virus, and report back to the GRE…from there on in you delve into a story, and large zombie killing RPG world.

The game is all about close quarters combat, with a wide variety of different weapons and upgrades that increase the stats of each weapon, and add additional effects – such as fire, electricity or cuts – all of which have their own effects to combat. However, there is another element that is key to the game, and that is the ability to escape. Escaping from zombies is the best way to survive, and continue to scavenge for another day. This is where zombies meet Assassins Creed.

Most of my time in the game was spent, either constantly running on the streets of Harran, or using my quickly learnt free-running skills to jump between roofs, and climb every building in Harran. Which is the part of this game I liked the most, as I have played a multitude of zombie games including DayZ, H1Z1 and Dead Rising, none of which had any climbing mechanic, this is why I ended up playing the entire game straight.

With the two main features covered, there is one which I haven’t covered which is the most scary of them all – night time. The game has a full day and night cycle, when during the day the zombies are mostly harmless, unless in large groups, but at night that all changes… After 9pm the real threat comes out, and they are known as Volatiles. Volatiles are evolved infected that, I presume, have been infected for a long time and have developed into running highly violent zombies that run faster than you, and are very sensitive to UV light.

These are terrifying to say the least, and when you are spotted by one you have to run for life, and try to lose them. You can fight off one, but the longer you are spotted the worse it all gets. There are four levels of detection, and the higher the level the more volatiles come after you, which means one of three things: either you become an expert runner, or you get to a safe zone before night, or even during, or die – the last one is less favourable.

Now that a couple of the mechanics have been covered, there is a character development mechanic, where the player can rank up three different power trees: survivor, agility, and power – each with their own different power-ups and bonuses, so the more you survive the more survivor points you get, etc. these three trees gain you access to all kinds of new ways to survive, such as unlock new and more traps, unlock shields and other cool add-ons to your survivor arsenal.

Whilst this game largely focuses on CQB, there is an element of long-range combat, which varies from throwing stars to assault rifles. But of course like any other zombie game, guns attract zombies so it’s best to stay clear of those. That being said, I always found it fun to clear large amounts of zombies in no time, whilst also giving me a bigger challenge.

Thankfully, like with most open world games, there are a lot of side quests and additional challenges you can do to take up as much time as you deem fit, giving you lots to do throughout the entire campaign. Oh yes, lets not forget that the more you do at the night, the more points you get, so that is always a good incentive to stay up!

Now down to the graphics, whilst I only played this game on the Xbox One, the graphics are beautiful and the game world is vibrant, with high rise towers, highways, slums and city landscapes, the game world is a wonderful place, whilst being equally horrific – due to the zombies, not the graphics. Running very smoothly, and pleasant to the eye, I can say that I had a very fun time playing this game, through and through, with 100% on the story, I am really hoping there will be a sequel, but then again it might be good as a one off.

My scores (out of 10) for Dying Light are broken down as follows:
- Aesthetics = 8 – a beautiful game, with a variety of different landscapes, it was always pleasant to play the game, even though it was filled with bloody zombies.
- Mechanics = 7 – easy to control and relatively simple to get used too, with the climbing mechanic easy and fluid.
- Community = 7 – whilst I barely played any multiplayer, the few players I did run some co-op with seemed friendly, and good to work with. There are additional challenges that also can be played online, including the Be the Zombie mode, which is very fun to say the least!
- Enjoyment = 9 – I found this game thoroughly enjoyable, from start to finish, I never wanted to play another game, I would award 10 but that would mean it’s flawless, but it does have its annoying parts – which game doesn’t?
- Length = 7 – with around 30 hours on the clock, the game was long enough to give me plenty to do, but also prevent me from getting bored.
- Overall = 8 – I loved this game, and whilst I am a very large fan of zombie games, being subjective it was a fun experience, with plenty to do, and even additional multiplayer aspects and DLC makes the experience lengthy and fun.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Dying Light is unlike any other zombie game I have ever played, with the inclusion of climbing and free running mechanics; the zombie experience has never been better. Set in the fictional middle-eastern city of Harran, an unknown virus has caused a zombie outbreak, which became so deadly that the entire city was quarantined.

The GRE – Global Relief Effort – is a international organisation that is focused on trying to find a cure, and help those in the quarantine zone, with regular air drops of supplies and Antizin – the only known stop-gap for the virus – they send you in to find a document that may cause the outbreak else where in the world, and so you are forced to survive in the hell hole known as Harran.

The graphics of the game allow full immersion, with it being a beautiful and varied experience; the mechanics are simple enough to pick up, with the free-running aspect fluid and accurate. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and I would recommend it to any zombie game fan. Overall score 8 / 10.

[Jake Tyler]

Excellent review Adster, agree with pretty much all youve said having played the game to death.

Agree with you about the night time, many a time im glad i wasnt hooked up to a heart monitor escaping the volatiles.

What did you think of the soundtrack? i was impressed by it, it was very "romero - esk" reminded me of the old "Day of the Dead" or, "Zombie Flesh Eater" era of the 70s, early 80s.

[Thalos]

Thanks for the review, I've been debating between that and State of Decay so this really helps with my decision.

[Adster94]

I thought the soundtrack was really good, I loved the fact that it helped in many ways get me more immersed with it, and whilst visuals are very important, it always need a good audio complement - Dying Light hit that right on the spot!

Oh well Thalos, I can give you help there too as I have State of Decay for Xbox One too, and I found Dying Light was a lot more gripping and an overall better zombie game. I will be doing a review of State of Decay too, but it is safe to say that Dying Light was significantly better, and plus I haven't played State for quite a while, yet I wanted to play Dying Light through and through from the get go.

I hope my opinion helps your decision. Thanks for the comments guys! I am hoping to write up a SoaSE review by the weekend, and try to release two a week so keep your eyes peeled!