Those Who Don't Learn From History Are Doomed To Repeat It
Seems to me like someone at Techland has developed a zombie fetish, how else can you explain how every single non-viral zombie is walking around shirtless in just their bra? After releasing Dead Island back in 2011, they've focused on Dead Island: Riptide and then Dead Island 2 (until they shipped it off to focus on Dying Light). Why am I providing this brief history lesson? Well, what Techland began in the first two Dead Islands carries into Dying Light.
I'm falling through the Turkish sky, only to my dismay, to get my parachute caught and fall helplessly to the ground. Certainly not the best way to begin my super secret mission, but it could be worse, right? Shouldn't have said anything, because now I'm greeted by a few... threatening men. "Don't shoot... the noise attracts them!", I'm told as I attempt to defend myself with my sidearm. A few shots fired and I find out what that really means and we're all overtaken by the undead. It's certainly a more interesting opening than Dead Island's resort from hell, as you dash you way through the horde to reach the safety of the survivor's high rise headquarters.
One thing does strike me though, the game is pretty. I won't say it's the most beautiful current-gen game, but it doesn't look like a last-gen game that was "ported" over to next-gen, like I feared when I heard the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were canceled. Environments are wonderfully detailed; you're stranded in a deserted, run down, undead infested city and it looks like it. Curtains and flags are soiled and ripped, doors are barred, and buildings are crumbling. There's enough diversity in the design of the city to keep things feeling fresh, but not enough to avoid the feeling of deja vu as you traverse the rooftops and streets.
So the world around you looks good, but what about the people/non-people? The major players in the story look pretty good, however the non-essential members suffer from looking rather generic and forgettable. While the designs are good and the animation is good, the characters sometime suffer from a lack of facial express. Sure some of the basics are there (like pain and shock), but with the level of expression in the current generation of games, it rather stands out. The undead horde suffer from a similar fate. You have about eight different "classes" of infected, however each class has about one look they all share. The basic zombies have a bit more variety, but it's not much and you'll start seeing the same ones more frequently.
Getting around Harran and taking out the opposition starts off roughly, but smooths out as the game progresses. The much talked about parkour mechanics take a little bit to get used to, mostly due to the oddly mapped "R1" jump button. Be prepared for your fair share of botched jumps, but once you get the grasp of it, you truly can go anywhere and climb anything, which definitely helps in your travels and retreats. Combat suffers a similar problem in the beginning. If you've played any Dead Island, you'll immediately be familiar with how combat plays out. Even though combat is traditional, the issue is system mechanics. How often you can swing your weapon is dictated by your "combat stamina", which at the start of the game is very low. Taking on anymore than one or two brain eaters at a time is a chore in survivability. As you level over the course of the game, your stamina will increase making standing your ground as viable a strategy as fleeing.
Like many post-apocalyptic games, scavenging for supplies is vital to surviving to see the next sunrise. Throughout the city are chests, closets, baskets, and other hiding places for goodies. These can range from simple things like energy bars for a quick, small amount of healing, to bags of coffee to sell for cash to buy other materials, to pieces of metal that can be formed into weapons or used to repair damaged ones. As you progress through the campaign, you can find blueprints allowing you to craft stronger weapons, medkits, or supplies like lock picks. Some supplies are shared across multiple items. For example, alcohol is required to make health restoring medkits, but also flesh scorching molotov cocktails. How you choose to use the supplies will dictate some of your strategies for dealing with the trouble you'll find yourself in, especially with some of the more rare supplies (like the mentioned alcohol).
The main feature touted regarding the game was the "hunter by day, prey by night" tagline. Things definitely take a turn for the horrifying when night falls. While in the relative comfort of the sun, you can run freely across town, and hide on the nearest building or car roof as you survey your surroundings and figure out the best route through the zombie swarms. If you get caught in a corner, combat is a viable solution. However, when night falls, that train of thought will get you killed. Normal slow and dumb zombies can "transform" into the promised faster, agile and much more deadly Volatiles. Roofs are no longer a small safe haven, nor will running aimlessly around a few corners save you. These brutes are large, powerful, and relentless, which turns most encounters into a mad dash to a safe zone. This does present an opportunity for a more stealth based game style, as you can see the Volatiles on your mini map, and can sneak past them if need be. But if night is so deadly, why would you venture out, right? Well, you do have some incentive for night prowling, in that experience points are earned a much higher rate. Whether this perk is worth the fear induced stress is up to you (aside from any story line based missions that require you to explore after dusk).
It's often said that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and it's seeming like Techland is learning from it, instead of repeating it. If you asked someone completely unfamiliar with games to play Dead Island and Dying Light, it wouldn't be surprising if they thought they were part of the same series. Everything feels tighter in Dying Light than it did in Dead Island, while the parkour gives the game a flavor and feel all it's own. It's hard to suggest Dying Light if you didn't like Dead Island, since the influence is still very much there. But if you love zombies, challenging (for the most part) combat, and a large, beautiful open to explore, it's hard not to recommend Dying Light.
