Dying Light review

[Nineshadow]

I've just finished the game and I feel like posting a review for you guys.Here you go.

 

Dying Light is , mainly , a zombie game, right? At least that's what you expect it to be, especially since it resembles Dead Island a lot. And what are most zombie games about? Smacking the hell out of those damn undead , which is very damn fun and satisfying. That still happens here, but the game tries to take itself a lot more seriously. Here we go again...in 2013 games tried to get serious(a very good example for that is Papers Please), meanwhile in 2014 games tried to get anything but serious (lots of examples) . And right now, it seems we're back to being serious! However, the problem is that the game isn't as mature as it tries to be. However, the gameplay saves Dying Light from failing. 

 

STORY

 

What is Dying Light trying to tell through its story ? To sum it up, there's been a zombie outbreak in Harran, Turkey (an interesting enough place), and you are an GRE (Global R-something Effort) undercover agent by the name of Kyle Crane (who the hell came up with this guys' name, Crane ??  is it a reference to the amount of cranes there are in Harran?? is it symbolic, like in it can support a lot of weight and it can build things? idk ) to recover stolen almost-finished "vaccine" files. However, as the woman you report to says, the vaccine , in its current state, is deadly and would cause the death of many people. A powerful man by the name of Suleiman took those files and is using them as his "bargaining chip" with the GRE. However, this guy disappeared and it is your job to find him and recover the vaccine files. Obviously, he just took another name and made a gang to rule the city through chaos. In the city of Harran, there's two factions : one ruled by Brecken, and the other one ruled by "Rias" ( saw-it-coming-from-a-moon-away-spoiler : Rias is actually Suleiman). You parachute down into the city, only to come across a few of Rias' men. Being the stupid guy Crane is, he couldn't just kill them with a knife, a pipe or something, he had to shoot them! Ah, so great. Now there's a horde of zombies after him (noises attract fast-running zombies called virals, they're really fast ) . He was injured but , luckily , two people, a guy and a woman called Jade from the other faction(your allies), come after you and you get rescued. Too bad one of them had to die so you could get away(the guy obviously) .

 

You wake up a few days later , meet Brecken and can confirm he's not Suleiman, etc,etc. The story line goes on and it's filled with Crane(not you!) having to make a choice between keeping his original mission, or helping the people of Harran.

 

Is the story good? Meh...kind of,but also kind of not. You can see everything coming from miles away! Really, I'll even give you a few examples.

Later on in the game you discover that Rias has been monitoring all radio comms after you had installed some stuff into a radio tower for him. How wasn't that obvious??? It's supposed to be a little "plot-twist". HOW CAN YOU NOT NOTICE IT WHEN EVEN HE SAYS " A KING HAS TO WATCH OVER HIS PEOPLE" (aproximation) . What the hell man...Crane is really stupid, and he gets to show it quite a few times. How did he manage to be an undercover agent?

Of course the "vaccine" that the GRE was working on wasn't a vaccine...it was just a weaponized form of the virus.That's also supposed to be a plot-twist somehow. I mean...why would publishing an incomplete "vaccine" on the internet cause the death of thousands??You can say it's incomplete and deadly. But oh wait...it's not a vaccine. Right. Yet again, Crane proves how stupid he is.

There's so many examples...it's not even worth pointing them out.You'll see them for yourself if you'll buy this game.

 

Another thing in the story is that Crane seems to be an idiot sometimes. Really, he could have prevented so many things if he weren't an idiot. I guess the story is based on Crane being stupid...and the player having NO CHOICES AT ALL , so he can't prevent Crane from acting as an idiot. The player can't make any choices, even though the game is filled with Crane's battle between fulfilling his original mission, or saving the people in Harran. I think the player should have had a role in those moments,but hey, whatever. 

 

You don't get attached to the characters at all (at least that's what I failed to do). Even though Crane seems to get very attached to some of them (and then gets to kill them as they had turned into zombies,obviously) , the player doesn't really feel that way. You'd have to force yourself into having feelings for most of the people you are supposed to care about. That main character is Jade, whose obvious death ( don't tell me this is a spoiler...come on, you can see it coming from miles away, just as the rest of this game) is supposed to have a huge mental impact on Crane. Honestly, I felt sad for her, but not even close to how Crane was actually feeling and to how I should have been feeling . 

 

However, the bad guy, Rias, sure does his job damn well. He fulfills his role as the antagonist. Nothing more to be said here, he was good.

 

To sum it up, the story isn't that great. It's very predictable and almost all characters except the antagonist are as linear as hell. Yes, even the player-controlled character -Crane- is dull and boring. There are a few funny characters that bring some life back into the game, like a guy who's mentally ill and replaced his mother with sand bags and spends all his day with her, or a guy who belives the "reptilians" (aliens) have brought the disease through a meteorite,etc,etc.

 

Also, the ending isn't the best. You just end up killing the antagonist. Nothing happens with Harran, nothing happens with the cure. The end was fixed so it will allow a sequel and/or DLC-s.

 

The story isn't great.

 

GAMEPLAY

 

Ah, the gameplay! Thanks God . If it weren't for the gameplay this game would have sucked. This game is about free running. There's a huge emphasis on that. It's the new mechanic that sets it away from other zombie games. So how does it feel like? Great. Running , jumping , climbing buildings, it's all fluid and good. 

 

Then there's the oh-so-damn-good smash zombies part of the game. It's great. You can "feel" the combat, the strength with which you hit the zombies, and oh God, what's more rewarding than this :

<- Drop kicks are so damn good.

 

 

The gameplay is amazing and very fun. Now let's talk about gameplay mechanics, because there's a few of them here.

 

You can only attack as long as you have STAMINA . Also , your stamina bar gets low pretty quickly.

 

Your weapons get damaged, meaning after some hits (around 20 with a pipe for example), it won't be as effective. Obviously , you have the option to repair the weapon, but that costs you items like nails, etc.

 

You can upgrade your weapons with mods. You can add elemental dmg (fire, electricity, poison, etc). It's pretty cool.

 

An important gameplay mechanic is the day-night cycle. During the day, there's normal slow zombies called BITERS (God isn't slaying them so fun) , and VIRALS. Virals are attracted by any noise (explosion, gunshot) and are VERY FAST. You can still kill them just as easily though. There's also "Gastanks" . They are pretty much zombies in hazmats suits. Before they got turned into zombies, they were working in the crew trying to contain the outbreak in Harran. Anyway, they're so stupid they can't take their helmets off so they can bite people. Hitting their tank will cause them to explode though There are also a few "uncommon" zombie types.

 

Demolishers are huuuuge zombies that charge towards the player and can break through walls. They do tons of dmg, have lots of health, but they're predictable. Want a strategy for dealing with them? Hit them in the head with your weapon of choice so his helmet drops. Then, make him run into a wall . After that , go for his head.

 

Goons are big zombies, pretty slow, and they usually carry a big sledge hammer. They do quite some dmg.

 

Volatiles...oh God. These guys can only be found in the night (lucky us) . You can't really fight them 1 on 1 , not really unless you have an UV flashlight. UV light burns their skin.That's also a good way to run away from them.They have vision cones on the minimap so you can hide from them. Using "Survivor's Sense" (Q) outlines them, even if they're behind walls. They are super fast and if you get spotted, oh son, you better start running. They work in packs, if one spots you, so will the others. 

 

Toads are,simply put, ranged zombies. They spit green acid at you.

 

Bolters...ah, these guys need a spoiler alert.They're mutated zombies, they have green blisters, only appear at night in certain areas outlined on the minimap, and they run away from you. Their loot is valuable though.

Bolters are actually the result of a doctor trying to mutate zombies. This represents a huge breakthrough in realizing the cure.

 

Bombers are...well...bombers. If they get near you or if you hit them from afar they explode. They can 1 shot kill you if you're near them when they explode.

 

Screamers are zombie children. They scream like hell when they see you, disorient and make you unable to fight for a short while, and attract all nearby zombies. They're only found inside houses though.

 

Dying Light has a few RPG mechanics. It has 3 skill trees : Survivor, Agility, and Power. What each one does is pretty obvious. 

 

The gameplay is very fun.

 

THE OPEN WORLD AND SIDEQUESTS

 

The open world has 2 areas : the Slums (where you will spent the first half of your game), and Area 0 (where you will spend the second half of the game). Another good thing to note is that Area 0 is actually the old part of the town.

 

Overall, the world is detailed and looks very good. 

 

There's also quite a few things to do in this world. There's quite a few sidequests that don't affect the main storyline by any means, and there's a few challenges ( free running and smashing zombies challenges of course ) .  A lot of the sidequests are pretty interesting, but some of them are also really dull. However , the main quest line implies a very alert setting. [spoiler ALERT, kind of] You're being told that in around 2-3 days the whole city is going to be bombed and you're spending time on sidequests? Finding some glasses for some dude? Really? The thing is...time isn't actually limited. I spent around 5 days (in-game) doing sidequests and not following the main quest line after that bombing announce and nothing happened...

 

I found the same issue with the sidequests like in Skyrim : the main quest line makes you think that time is of the essence and as such, you feel restricted into completing the story itself and not exploring the wonderful world surrounding you or helping people around through sidequests.

 

GRAPHICS 

They are quite damn good. It's pretty impressive. There is some noise though, I start seeing this with more and more games. There are some pretty nice graphical effects like when there's water in your eyes.

 

AUDIO AND VOICE ACTING 

 

The game surely has a pretty good soundtrack. It definitely gives you some chills. Voice acting is OK. Nothing impressive, nothing too bad.

 

TECHNICAL ISSUES :

 

Dying Light, just as most games released nowadays, came out "hot" , not having been polished. And that is felt from time to time. First of all, at the time of writing this review, SLI wasn't working. There are a few bugs in-game that can give you unlimited money, but for me, the biggest problem I've had was with audio.

 

Hear yourselves (skip to 5:30) :

That sure as hell is annoying. Especially during cutscenes, audio slows down, stutters, makes robotic noises.

 

My 560 can push the game on medium settings (it doesn't have low settings???) at native res. (1680x1050) without ambient occlusion nor AA.

 

CONCLUSION : 7/10

 

 It would have been 7.5/10 if it weren't for the technical issues.

 

This game's story is a bit odd and it tries to present itself seriously when , actually , the fun gameplay is what makes Dying Light what it really is : a very fun , great zombie game with free running and some interesting game mechanics. However, as in the trend of the recent games, the game didn't come out as polished as it should have been.

 

Should you play it? Definitely. I haven't had this much fun in a while. Smashing zombies in the head with a flame-throwing baseball has never felt better before. Is it worth your $60? Hmm...I'd say not. Wait till the game goes on sale and until the technical issues get patched.

 

 

Glad to have written this. Hope you'll find it useful.

[ShadowCaptain]

SNIP

 

Completed it already? was it short? what was your completion time

 

Even like 15 hour games take me like weeks to complete haha

[Nineshadow]

Completed it already? was it short? what was your completion time

 

Even like 15 hour games take me like weeks to complete haha

It wasn't too long. I just found a bug that got me full xp and lots of gold and hey...I had infinite stamina and pretty much any weapon I wanted. The game wasn't that hard anymore. I finished it in 12 hours but I really speed-ran through it. It has enough gameplay time, and I haven't done quite a few side missions.

[zappian]

The game is fun but i cant play it until they fix the technical issues.

[ShadowCaptain]

It wasn't too long. I just found a bug that got me full xp and lots of gold and hey...I had infinite stamina and pretty much any weapon I wanted. The game wasn't that hard anymore. I finished it in 12 hours but I really speed-ran through it. It has enough gameplay time, and I haven't done quite a few side missions.

 

Ah okay, ah that bug sucks >< i am waiting a while until I pick it up so that it can be fixed fully, if it doenst get fixed then I will wait for it to drop in price

But I think it looks fun enough to splash some cash on

[Nineshadow]

Ah okay, ah that bug sucks >< i am waiting a while until I pick it up so that it can be fixed fully, if it doenst get fixed then I will wait for it to drop in price

But I think it looks fun enough to splash some cash on

Nothing feels more rewarding that landing a critical hit on a zombie's head and smash the hell out of it.

<3

 

It's fun.

[ShadowCaptain]

Nothing feels more rewarding that landing a critical hit on a zombie's head and smash the hell out of it.

<3

 

It's fun.

 

If only you could drag them by the hair to the curb and stomp them

[Nineshadow]

@ShadowCaptain

 

Finished writing the review.

Damn that took way longer than expected.

 

Also, @FloRolf , here's my recommandation  (well, not really since I recommend you wait till it goes a little on sale,but it's pretty close to one)

[FloRolf]

@ShadowCaptain

 

Finished writing the review.

Damn that took way longer than expected.

 

Also, @FloRolf , here's my recommandation  (well, not really since I recommend you wait till it goes a little on sale,but it's pretty close to one)

 

tl;dr

 

 

 

/jk

Thanks dude

Sounds like i might play it. But only when it's fixed and on steam sale. Doesnt really sound like it's work 60€ ^^

[Trik'Stari]

I paid full price for it.

 

Do not regret it at all. I do wish it was a bit more polished. Everything looks a little grainy. And some stutter was becoming an issue at where I am in the game so I had to turn my draw distance down. No biggie though, still really fun mechanics.

The sound track occasionally reminds me of State of Decay (which was good, would have been better had it been first person) which is really good and really fits in when night is coming and you're getting that "oh fuck-NOOOOOO" sensation because you're far away from a safe house.

 

I'd like to see a sequel to this that implements the base building and longer term-ness of state of decay. Would be super awesome.

 

Just discovered: Dying Light Mods on Nexus Mods already. WOO HOO PC MASTER RACE! http://www.nexusmods.com/games/mods/searchresults/?

[Nineshadow]

Just discovered: Dying Light Mods on Nexus Mods already. WOO HOO PC MASTER RACE! http://www.nexusmods.com/games/mods/searchresults/?

WHAT?

 

WOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Trik'Stari]

WHAT?

 

WOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IKR, 2 days after release, and graphics mods are out.

 

Nothing NMM compatible yet, but imagine what will come.

 

Inb4 naked zombie chicks?

[ComradeHX]

Inb4 naked zombie chicks?

With proper textures and less ugly faces, maybe.

[Trik'Stari]

With proper textures and less ugly faces, maybe.

Lol.

 

I'd like to see a state of decay style mod with bases that you can build up and what not. Probably unrealistic, but it would be cool.

[Accursed Entity]

Just discovered: Dying Light Mods on Nexus Mods already. WOO HOO PC MASTER RACE! http://www.nexusmods.com/games/mods/searchresults/?

 

You have got to be kidding... PC gaming is awesome, I hope the devs release the patch soon and we'll have a perfect game. I'm in love with it, 16.7 hours in and 13% of competition.