Rating: 7/10
Overview:
In this first person parkour survival game you are dropped into the infected area of Harran with the mission of finding top secret government files and the man who is into control of them, but after being bitten and taken back one of the last surviving settlements in Harran your goals start to change.
My Views
Zombie games are my jam, survival games are also my jam, first person parkour games are not. The game is punishingly hard at the beginning and ramps up very quickly in difficulty from there. You need to get good at the games movement systems or you are going to die quickly and often. With that being said however the game still has something here worth looking at.
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The Parkour
Right this is my main issue with the game and its what brought the game down to a 7/10 for me because apart from this I really enjoy this game, but it can make the game so frustrating as I will explain through-out my review.
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If you have played Mirrors edge or Dead Island then you have a good idea of how the game handles at you actually might have a better time with the game than me. the first person camera is quite stable (during the parkour) which I appreciate but the actual climbing mechanics can be really hard, because if you are running and decide to jump across a gap then you need to make sure you are still holding the jump button otherwise your character will not grab the ledge. Another thing you will need to make sure you are doing is looking towards what you want to grab otherwise you won't grab the ledge instead you will just fall to the floor or be jumping up and down like a board MMORPG player.
Now I get why they did this as it adds an element of realism to the game, you know you can't just jump blindly you have to be deliberate with your moves and keep your wits about you, otherwise you will fall to your death like you would doing parkour in real life. As a premise I like this idea it dose make the game harder but when you mange to get where you want to without making a mistake it feels great, I'm just terrible at it and unfortunately it's such a large part of the game that it eventually impacted my enjoyment of the rest of the game, especially when you add zombies into the mix.
The Zombies
There are many different types of Zombies in the games from standard shamblers to spitters, bullet sponges, berserkers etc... like most zombie games do these days but what really matters in dying light is the day and night cycle. This cycle determines the zombies behaviour.
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When you start the game you are a total noob, your stamina is absolutely laughable, you will not take down zombies easy, you will run out of stamina really fast and your attacks will slow down, plus you will miss most of your attacks due to the first person perspective and the more realistic hit boxes of the zombies makes each swing very unforgiving in the early game. My advise is to try and aim for the body or the legs and knock them down then smack there heads while they are not moving. If like me however you struggle to even land a blow and keep finding yourself drain of stamina you can kick the zombies which dose very minimum damage but it will keep them back from you, or you can kick zombies into spike traps which will kill them instantly.
In the day we have all the enemy types but most are slow and lazy, think George A. Romero's zombies or the walking dead's, with only a few here and there that will sprint towards you but at night however its a whole different ball game. I'm not sure if the different types of zombies appear at night because they all sprint at you and its scary as all hell. There's no time to think there's no time to retaliate o attacks all you can do is run, run for your life.
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Think of the night time zombies as 28 days later sprinters, they come at you and this is where the parkour breaks down for me, because at night in a blind panic you will not be able to grab any ledge and it will make it very difficult to get away which once again adds to the realism, but it also makes the game poop your pants scary. What you need to do is either sleep through the nights or if you have to go out, stick to the roofs and stay as quiet as possible, keep slow and calm, luckily although the zombies maybe drawn to sound they don't seem to take any notice of light so you can at least keep your torch on. Once you are seen though just scream, hide behind your pillows and call your mom because it's gonna be bad time city for you.
The Survival
The survival in Dying light is not a survival game like other survival games where you have to find food and water to stay hydrated and full but you will be finding resources for your new family at the settlement, medical supplies and most importantly weapons. Each weapon can break so will have to manage their conditions and make sure you have a surplus of spare weaponry, put on top of this that each weapon has a limited amount of repairs then you could be in real trouble quickly. these aspects make the game feel relentless and like you are constantly on the edge of dying like the early stages of other survival games, such as 7 days to die or the long dark, making you as a player feeling constantly engaged and drained at the same time.
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There is also a crating system used to make medicine, traps and most importantly improved weaponry, that have increased damage and durability helping you through your adventure, think of the weapon crafting like dead risings system but with less ridiculous outcomes, where by you take two weapons or crafting materials you have on you and combine them to make a new better weapon. It is important to note however that in order to make these you must first find the blueprints hidden throughout the world.
The Other Parts
When you first load up the game you will notice that there is no easy mode, this should be an indicator to how difficult the game can be, and it really shows in the story. Once you get control of your character you will be sent on a short parkour training mission and then your off in the big open world, you will first be asked to complete some simple tasks around the outskirts of the settlement but within the first hour and a half the game will have you stuck outside at night and trust me you feel massively unprepared for the experience, you are told you are to far away from home base and you must go and clear a safe zone to spend the night. After this the game hits the ground running and never lets up.
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The story is not really worth giving its own section as it is not the most interesting part of the game. I mean its serviceable enough and drive the player moving around the map but I think the game would have been better if you where a survivor of the outbreak and you just had to last until rescue came, by any means necessary. you could still have a lot of the same quests, with you trying to help other survivors and the game would be just as effective.
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My last thoughts
The game is hard, and the parkour is a big part of why that is but I can't help but feel that all of the decisions are deliberate rather than a product of poor game design which means that I can't really hate on it to much. However with that being said the parkour did affect my enjoyment of the game so I do have to personally mark it down in my own score, but if you enjoy things like Mirrors Edge then you may have a better time with the game than I did.
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I did enjoy it though.
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Until next time...
Toby