Dying Light
Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 4:12 pm
Picked this up on Steam for 50% off on its third anniversary. Note: I believe my copy had some DLC attached.
Short review: It's fucking awesome. Buy it.
Longer review:
You are a GRE undercover operative dropped into the city of Harran. The city has been overrun by zombies. You're tasked with finding a file and retrieving it. Your drop goes bad and immediately you get hooked up with some runners working out of a tower filled with survivors. You quickly learn that there's a guy named Rais who is fucking over all the survivors.
This game is awesome. Loads of fun, and I played the shit out of it the past two weeks or so. It's kind of like GTA without the cars, silliness, etc. I avoided it forever because they used "parkour" in the description and all I could think about was Mirror's Edge, which I didn't love. Don't let that word stop you as it just describes how you get around without fighting every step of the way. I promise it's really well done.
This is an FPS with a lot of melee fighting, which is really well done (with one exception-I had trouble meleeing the big fellas with the rebar/concrete clubs), but there are guns and a bow too. The melee weapons are pretty varied, although they're all melee, and very satisfying to use. You'll be frustrated when a zombie's body turns and shields it from a one hit blow, but feel great whenever one swing lops off a head. The weapons improve as you improve, but they're simpler to get through than Borderlands weapons. Once you know a how a baton swings versus a sickle versus a pickax, etc. then you'll know what you're getting.
Loads of crafting too. You can modify your weapons to make them hit harder, add effects, last longer, etc.
There's also trading. You'll find traders all over the maps and usually at your safe locations.
Zombies come in different flavors:
Normals - They shamble towards you and/or noise and can speed up slightly when lurching forward, but will slow down to a stop if they miss you.
"Parkour" zombies - Not what they're really called...I think. They are fast, always running, and can climb. They are easy to kill, but a pain in the ass in groups.
Spitters - Humanoid frogs is what they look like to me.
Boomers - Again, not what they're really called. They come at you then pause before exploding. The explosion attracts more zombies. A zombie game staple.
Big fellas - Massive Arnold type zombies that hold a two handed weapon. They like to stick these into small areas. Use your brains to fight them.
? - I won't name this zombie because it's a surprise in the story. Once you see it, you get more.
? - There's another that reminds me of the Witch from L4D, but without the attack... It's another fun surprise.
Those are "daytime zombies". Don't go out at night or you'll be dealing with two other types of zombies. They're motherfuckers. Additionally, all the day time zombies get boosted stats at night as well. Fun! Seriously, night SUCKS (but I mean that in a good way). Night isn't instant death, and you can actually exploit it for experience (night time experienced is doubled), but it's difficult for missions/errands/etc.
There are safe zones, two initially and the rest you unlock, all over where you can wait out the night.
Pro tip: Get to a place you need to be for a night time mission BEFORE night time. Often things get unlocked at sundown, and you can do them before the big bads show up. Also, try to get up high. Then do parkour bullshit all night. You'll gain tons of XP. Just be aware if you're seen, get ready to run for your life.
And you will run. Most areas can be cleaned out. Some will spawn endless zombies. Both areas can hurt or benefit you. There's a mission late in the game where you just want to run. Don't stop or you die. There are areas of the map where you can exploit the ever spawning zombies and get loads of items easily and in one case, hilariously.
There is a huge RPG element where you earn experience in one of four categories which unlocks new abilities. I have beaten the game completing everything except parkour challenges and I maxed out combat skills, survivor skills, had four levels to go with agility skills, and only got 4 levels into legendary skills.
Pro Tip: The air drops are your route to faster leveling for Survivor, and ultimately Legendary. Beat Rais' men to them and turn them in for XP to your Quartermasters. There's a point you'll hit in the story where they stop dropping, so you might want to level up like crazy on them first? Depends on your playstyle. I didn't realize how much XP I got from them (and random encounters) until it was almost too late.
There is a LOT to do in the game. I'm a completionist, and while I saw pretty much everything and went pretty much everywhere, I didn't do everything. There are flags, notes, zombie statues, and recordings to collect. I collected 100% of none of them. I didn't do most parkour challenges. I haven't played on any other difficulties, but I might do that next. I haven't tried the co-op... There are also random encounters all over.
Learn to do a drop kick. It's soooooooo much fun to launch zombies off roofs.
Decent story with one major loop hole (the antizen - trust me, you can't miss this loophole).
This game also has possibly the greatest easter egg in gaming history. When you complete the mission "Broadcast" don't go down the cable leading to the next objective. Go down the other one. Grab the cable just past where you land. Follow the rocks around without dropping. See that flower? Interact with it...
Great game and I look forward to the sequel.
Short review: It's fucking awesome. Buy it.
Longer review:
You are a GRE undercover operative dropped into the city of Harran. The city has been overrun by zombies. You're tasked with finding a file and retrieving it. Your drop goes bad and immediately you get hooked up with some runners working out of a tower filled with survivors. You quickly learn that there's a guy named Rais who is fucking over all the survivors.
This game is awesome. Loads of fun, and I played the shit out of it the past two weeks or so. It's kind of like GTA without the cars, silliness, etc. I avoided it forever because they used "parkour" in the description and all I could think about was Mirror's Edge, which I didn't love. Don't let that word stop you as it just describes how you get around without fighting every step of the way. I promise it's really well done.
This is an FPS with a lot of melee fighting, which is really well done (with one exception-I had trouble meleeing the big fellas with the rebar/concrete clubs), but there are guns and a bow too. The melee weapons are pretty varied, although they're all melee, and very satisfying to use. You'll be frustrated when a zombie's body turns and shields it from a one hit blow, but feel great whenever one swing lops off a head. The weapons improve as you improve, but they're simpler to get through than Borderlands weapons. Once you know a how a baton swings versus a sickle versus a pickax, etc. then you'll know what you're getting.
Loads of crafting too. You can modify your weapons to make them hit harder, add effects, last longer, etc.
There's also trading. You'll find traders all over the maps and usually at your safe locations.
Zombies come in different flavors:
Normals - They shamble towards you and/or noise and can speed up slightly when lurching forward, but will slow down to a stop if they miss you.
"Parkour" zombies - Not what they're really called...I think. They are fast, always running, and can climb. They are easy to kill, but a pain in the ass in groups.
Spitters - Humanoid frogs is what they look like to me.
Boomers - Again, not what they're really called. They come at you then pause before exploding. The explosion attracts more zombies. A zombie game staple.
Big fellas - Massive Arnold type zombies that hold a two handed weapon. They like to stick these into small areas. Use your brains to fight them.
? - I won't name this zombie because it's a surprise in the story. Once you see it, you get more.
? - There's another that reminds me of the Witch from L4D, but without the attack... It's another fun surprise.
Those are "daytime zombies". Don't go out at night or you'll be dealing with two other types of zombies. They're motherfuckers. Additionally, all the day time zombies get boosted stats at night as well. Fun! Seriously, night SUCKS (but I mean that in a good way). Night isn't instant death, and you can actually exploit it for experience (night time experienced is doubled), but it's difficult for missions/errands/etc.
There are safe zones, two initially and the rest you unlock, all over where you can wait out the night.
Pro tip: Get to a place you need to be for a night time mission BEFORE night time. Often things get unlocked at sundown, and you can do them before the big bads show up. Also, try to get up high. Then do parkour bullshit all night. You'll gain tons of XP. Just be aware if you're seen, get ready to run for your life.
And you will run. Most areas can be cleaned out. Some will spawn endless zombies. Both areas can hurt or benefit you. There's a mission late in the game where you just want to run. Don't stop or you die. There are areas of the map where you can exploit the ever spawning zombies and get loads of items easily and in one case, hilariously.
There is a huge RPG element where you earn experience in one of four categories which unlocks new abilities. I have beaten the game completing everything except parkour challenges and I maxed out combat skills, survivor skills, had four levels to go with agility skills, and only got 4 levels into legendary skills.
Pro Tip: The air drops are your route to faster leveling for Survivor, and ultimately Legendary. Beat Rais' men to them and turn them in for XP to your Quartermasters. There's a point you'll hit in the story where they stop dropping, so you might want to level up like crazy on them first? Depends on your playstyle. I didn't realize how much XP I got from them (and random encounters) until it was almost too late.
There is a LOT to do in the game. I'm a completionist, and while I saw pretty much everything and went pretty much everywhere, I didn't do everything. There are flags, notes, zombie statues, and recordings to collect. I collected 100% of none of them. I didn't do most parkour challenges. I haven't played on any other difficulties, but I might do that next. I haven't tried the co-op... There are also random encounters all over.
Learn to do a drop kick. It's soooooooo much fun to launch zombies off roofs.
Decent story with one major loop hole (the antizen - trust me, you can't miss this loophole).
This game also has possibly the greatest easter egg in gaming history. When you complete the mission "Broadcast" don't go down the cable leading to the next objective. Go down the other one. Grab the cable just past where you land. Follow the rocks around without dropping. See that flower? Interact with it...
Great game and I look forward to the sequel.