If there’s one game I would dare to say I’m able to play forever, it’s going to be Dying Light. What is Dying Light? Oh, just the best zombie game out there. The end.
Alright, I’ll elaborate. Dying Light is a Polish game made by the Polish studio Techland. I think they are from Krakow. And I was there recently (not my first trip to Krakow, actually, been there at least 5 or 6 times). So no wonder I’m actually in love with this game. Yes, I said it. I’m in love with this game. This is my favorite game there is. Strange right?
I would say yes, it is. It is strange since I’m a huge sucker for cyberpunk universe (not Cyberpunk 2077, even though if you read my novels, it may seem that I’m a big-big-big sucker for Cyberpunk 2077 when in fact, I didn’t even play it past prologue; I’m more of William Gibson fanboy). And yet here I am. Confessing my unapologetic love for a zombie game.
So, Dying Light! Let’s go!
Dying Light is a zombie game. And it is good. Why? Because Dying Light, unlike 99% of zombie games, doesn’t try to copy Resident Evil or Dead Rising and approaches the concept differently. How? Well, first thing first – you’re playing as a motherfucking secret agent sent by a shady corporation to retrieve data from the rogue operative. Alright, it sounds like Resident Evil, but bear with me a little longer.
You’re playing as Kyle Crain, a tough as nails, wise-cracking operative of the shady corporation called GRE. Your goal is to retrieve stolen data from the operative gone rogue, and to do so, you’re doing the most secret agent thing possible – you infiltrate the zone via parachute drop from the plane.
On the landing, you’re greeted by the local chaws and get introduced to the local way of dealing with problems – a baseball bat to the face. And while you’re using the 2nd amendment to deal with said chaws, you attract zombies. And you get bitten by a zombie. And now you’re infected. And all that happened in the same cutscene before the game even starts. And now the game.
Well, the game introduces Mirror’s Edge-like parkour to the zombie game. Yes, in the world of a zombie apocalypse, people finally understood that running, climbing, and staying above the streets is good. And basically, running, jumping, and climbing are the main mechanics that change the perception of the threat. And also the main selling point of the game, because it’s really unlike anything else you’ve played. Running away is always a good option. Safest, too.
The game is also an RPG, where you upgrade your skills in the similar way you did it in Morrowind. The more you fight – the better you get at it (you open the skill tree). The more you run, jump, climb – the better you get at it (you open the skill tree). Besides that, you receive survival levels which are received for completing quests. Simple, yet effective.
Now, the main difference is the change in the day and night cycle. And here it makes sense because during the day – you’re the king. Zombies are slow, dumb, and besides fast zombies that appear whenever you make some loud noise (use a gun like an idiot, for example) and some pretty rare special zombies (your typical zoo here, no surprises in this department – big zombie, spitting zombie, exploding zombie) no real danger whatsoever. I mean, you can die, but if you do, it’s on you.
But should you forget to sleep on time, and be the witness to the dusk, how everything changes. Besides the fact that you receive doubled skill points for doing everything you do during the day but at night, here you meet the main danger. The night zombies. Or perhaps how they were called in the game, the nightmares (or night hunters). Those motherfuckers are terrifying muscular monstrosities with missing lower jaws like this dude from Blade 2 (an awesome movie, by the way) and nasty, violent temper. When it’s dark, they are out, and they own the place. And if you happen to trigger them, you will have to run for your life really fast. Otherwise, there’s a very high probability that you’re already dead. At least on the lower levels.
Plot-wise, no surprise. The plot is as generic and predictable as possible. There are no unexpected or deep characters, and I know that game gets bashed for it a lot. But let’s be honest – this is a zombie game. With parkour. The fuck do you need? Some sort of Ulysses type of multilevel complex plot with subtle hints and signs? Nah, the plot here is simple. You’re a good guy working for the bad guys. You sent to fix the mess the bad guys did. You’re so good that you’re dumb as fuck, and only when the risk of carpet bombing appears you realize you’re working for the bad guys. Also, you have to fight the main bad guy and his thugs, who are evil because they are evil. Everything goes somewhat bad. People you should care for but really don’t – die. Hero gets angry. Kills the bad guy in an epic QTE on the rooftop, and the vaccine is almost there (it’s not, we have a DLC and a full-blown second part of the game). The end.
Yes, the characters are boring – the main hero is a typical not very bright, strong, and has no problems with killing everyone on sight, but a good guy, nevertheless; he has the girl he likes (I actually doubt it… there are certain signs), who’s kicking ass and doesn’t trust him until she does, and she has a reckless younger brother who’s a dumb idiot who’ll most likely die sooner than later. And the main villain is your typical bad guy without redeeming qualities who somehow built an empire of like-minded outlaw-fucktards, organized an HQ, sophisticated operation, and even came up with colors, style, and logo in just a few days or weeks. No surprises. But they serve their purpose. They give you something to do in this world. Make you move forward. That’s what is important.
And let’s be honest here (I know I’m using this expression really-really often), but we play and replay Dying Light numerous times, definitely not because it has a complex plot and numerous endings. No, we’re playing it because it has kick-ass gameplay. And I’m not kidding. The freedom of movement, the ever-changing environment, the day, the night, the visuals, the design of enemies – everything makes you enjoy the world you’re in.
The city of Haran was built in such a way that you want to believe in it – typical urban fairytale-went-bad kind of city. You run around claustrophobic slums and have no other choice but to spend the majority of your time navigating the narrow streets and small crude huts. Later move around rich districts where buildings are higher and bigger, and now you spend much more time on rooftops than on the streets. And when you open the grappling hook, oh boy, that’s where the real fun starts because now you can not just climb like a damn Spider-Man, you can also fly using the grappling hook like a freaking spider-web. This is huge.
In general, despite the grim situation, the game felt fairly lighthearted. As if it was intended to be taken lightly. There’s a lot of humor and bright colors. The main hero is a certified badass who keeps spitting one-liners and snarky comments even when everything goes beyond bad. Yes, at times, the plot and characters try to make you feel sad, but after the sad scene, you’re once again running around like a psycho, drop-kicking zombies and looting anything that isn’t bolted. It’s really hard to stay a downer when the world is your playground.
But what makes this game unique, at least in my eyes, it’s the ongoing support of the developer (not in 2024, since they finished this chapter of their lives and moved on to Dying Light 2, which is a bit different story). Those guys really went for this game. Numerous skins, additional weapons, even a rather impressive DLC that features a completely new map, new weapons, new story, introduces a vehicle and puts a dot in the story of the main hero (not going to spoil it, but apparently there was no BOOM). The guys from Techland also ran all sorts of special events with prizes and unique modifiers. Like, for example, there was one where your fists were hitting like 18-wheelers with no brakes. That’s where the real fun began, since now you were a freaking lethal danger to everyone within punching proximity. Be it Raise’s thugs or night hunters – your fists did the god’s work and sent them all to the stratosphere in one or two hits indiscriminately. Nights turned out to be fun as hell during this mode.
To make it even more interesting. Developers thought of replay value and added not just New Game+ but also Legend Levels. Legend Levels are the post-end-game progression. After you reach the maximum in your combat and running skills, get the maximum survivor level, you get access to the special levels that are received for anything you do. Gaining those levels, you receive the possibility of increasing your various stats and fine-tune your character. Basically, with Legend Levels, you get an opportunity to create a death-incarnate without any special modes from developers. Did you want to turn Kyle into Mike Tyson and punch-out night hunters on the spot? No big deal, just level up, and you can do it. And, to make it even more interesting, the harder difficulty you play, the easier you can gain those levels. The only drawback is that if you die, you’re going to lose all your progress between the levels. Something for something, right?
I came up with a scheme for how to farm those levels. Yes, I know there are cheats, but I’m too damn honest for that. Besides, I don’t want my PC to mine some shady crypto. So, in the game, you have an opportunity to collect relief packages. In the first half of the game, they are air-dropped by the plane, and in the second just scattered around. The most preferable way, of course, is the second part since you can know the placement of the packages and just collect them every time you start the game (if they didn’t fix it). So, you collect them on the easiest difficulty (I think devs added assisted where you’re basically a demigod), but before returning them, you switch the difficulty to the highest and receive the number of points as if you collected them, risking your life and progress. Easy.
Now a few criticisms. Just a little. My main criticism (and it’s not much of a criticism, but rather just pulling the leg) is the factions. Basically, there are two groups in this game – the good guys and the bad guys.
The good guys are freedom-loving, reckless psycho-freaks with love for parkour. Their leader is a tough, honest, and brave dude ready to give his life for the cause (yet somehow lucking out not to do so every time the situation requires it). The leader is surrounded by like-minded people – all good to the bone, ready to help, and even though sometimes harsh, behind the mean facade are sweet-sweet guys.
The bad guys are sadistic psychos without even a spark of good. Their leader is the main psycho who kills even his own people to hold them in line, tortures and does all other atrocities because he’s bad. He is surrounded by like-minded people – bad-bad-bad people. And bad guys are winning before the main hero appears because they are bad and use such tactics as robbing the weak and hoarding all the shit to sell to the weak at higher prices. In the apocalyptic scenario.
Now, my only question: how the fuck they manage to do it that fast? I think there was a few weeks after the outbreak, and they already managed to separate themselves perfectly, created uniforms, insignias. They even created some kind of trade relations and racket. And somehow, bad guys got access to the weapons to start a little war, but still preferred to run about with machetes.
Now, it’s strange, but considering how many people there are left, the amount of military-grade weaponry and ammo, and other shit, I think they could take on the zombies no big deal. I mean, they know their weaknesses – UV light. So what makes it hard for them just to clear out the city and be free in a week or two? I mean, the main hero single-handedly kills thousands of zombies. Only one guy. Now if everyone stood together, zombies wouldn’t be a problem at all. But instead, they prefer cosplaying Mad Max in the zombie apocalypse. Smart move.
Okay, I’m just fucking around. I know this is the game, and the guys needed something. They had an awesome drop-kick simulator (I didn’t mention it even once, but basically, this game is one giant drop-kick parkour simulator, where your main weapon is drop-kicking any threat on sight) and needed the plot to justify it. And I think they did it just right. Now I know the game got received somewhat harshly among the game reviewers, but since when do game reviewers know their shit?
And I think I didn’t mention co-op and invasions, but since I don’t have friends and I hate playing with strangers online, I know nothing about it. Oh, well.