Are you afraid of the dark?

Slow zombie or runner? It is a question that has always divided the lovers of the living dead and to which Techland would ideally answer with an "all". In Dying Light not only do you find the slow and awkward bags of meat so dear to those who continue to look with the right affection and due reverence to George Romero and the ferocious assailants of The Return of the Living Dead, brought to the fore in more recent times by 28 Days Later and Dawn of The Dead, but also several other degenerations of the concept. This, however, is by no means new to the Polish developer, who had proposed a rather varied undead cast ever since he tried to grapple with the genre for the first time, with Dead Island. What is new is the answer that Techland would give to a second, hypothetical question: "what can I do in the event of a zombie apocalypse?", Which would be followed by "apart from driving, basically everything". And then another, no less important: "but is the dark really scary?" to which he would reply with a "it was already scary in Dead Island, but now it's really scary. Really". These are the concepts that allow the last born in the house of the studio based in Wroclaw to distance himself from his cousin, to whom he has been and still is superimposed, bringing out a personality that we had already found quite clearly in the preview phase. , and which, game over in hand, only confirms itself.



Ultimate judgment time for Dying Light, with our super in-depth review!

Human-scale apocalypse

The protagonist of the events narrated in the game is Kyle Crane, an American special agent parachuted to Harran, an imaginary city which, due to its climatic, ethnic and architectural characteristics, seems to be located in the Middle East. The maddening spread of an epidemic that has decimated the local population, transforming a large part of them into the living dead, has forced the state to erect enormous walls, to prevent the infection from spreading to the rest of the world. The goal of Crane's mission is to recover a file containing an incomplete cure for the disease, the publication of which would only cause further victims. Threatening to do so is Kadir Suleiman, a local politician who took advantage of the crisis to rise to power, who to protect his back and use it as a bargaining chip with which to leverage other governments has placed him in the best possible safe, or the heart of the quarantine area, in the hands of one of his faithful collaborators. Not even doing it on purpose, the latter managed to tame the chaos by setting up a ruthless paramilitary organization, which makes good and bad and bad weather, while the few other survivors fight hard to stay alive.



Are you afraid of the dark?

It is quite clear which of the two sides the protagonist will join. While he will be forced to learn from scratch to get by, he will still try to bring home (his superiors) the result. This is the beginning of a story that does not have many traits of originality, neither in the premises nor in the development, animated by supporting actors, villains, twists, "surreal" passages and dramas that anyone who has chewed a bit of genre cinema, or even just action movies, he could easily predict. The point is that, probably, originality wasn't even a quality Techland sought when he was thinking about what to tell. Despite having however enjoyed the story, despite a muted departure, a humoral attitude of Crane who in the closing bars has almost the unbearable and the obvious forcing with which one necessarily wants to ferry her towards a certain type of epilogue, to really get passionate, in Dying Light, it is a type of storytelling that places itself at the service of the gaming experience, the result of a really obvious effort. The important thing is the journey, not the destination, as we say in some cases, and it is a reflection that fits this perfectly. In fact, the game outlines a universe and situations in which you can believe (not credible, mind you, that if you are looking for verisimilitude or internal logical rigor you have the wrong object to turn your attention to), in which you feel involved and participate. The zombies apocalypse live in fact of two faces, the putrefied and distressing one of the cannibal dead and that of its impact on people, places, civil habits. Two faces portrayed in an extremely vivid and convincing way. Because you can also find the villain of the situation more or less charismatic, Rais, you can feel more or less complicity with the beautiful Jade, you can feel more or less affection for the young Rahim, but it is impossible not to be impressed, sooner or later , from the extreme care placed in the characterization of the army of characters and the large number of settings you can come across in the course of the adventure. It happens to meet anyone, venturing for Harran: from altruists who try to combine something constructive moved by unbridled altruism, reasoning or impulsiveness to every category of braggart and selfish, from people who have managed to put themselves in tune with the new reality, putting in foot trades, activities or other types of new interests to another that is still undergoing the full shock of the impact with it. A colorful humanity, outlined with a no less wide palette of tones and colors, which ranges from the now inevitable over-the-top guys, with their more or less eccentric and funny manias, to people who wear real sadness, such as those who they come to deny reality with more down-to-earth psychological manifestations, such as those of those who cannot mourn the loss of a loved one, pretending that it is still part of their life.



Are you afraid of the dark?

In between anything, including a swarm of quotes, teasing and easter eggs, concerning both cinema and genre literature (Zombieland and a certain "survival manual", to name a couple), as well as other video games, both of others (the Destiny's loot cavern, a sign that teases Left 4 Dead) and own (the action figure of Ray McHall from Call of Juarez). The appeal is not lacking even children, which Techland does not hesitate to bring in, even here with different nuances, who see them now defenseless victims, now creatures in need of the most precious thing that can be offered (that is a little of the our time and our attention) now another incarnation of the evil against which we must fight, now the object of the love of those who want to make them believe that the nightmare they are living is all a game, as the Benigni of La Vita is Nice. A discourse that is particularly successful when it is supported by mission design which, as we will see below also with regard to other aspects, turns out to be fitting. Often, accepting an assignment regarding one of these subjects means getting to know them more deeply, discovering tastes, ties, habits or secrets, in short, having the possibility of giving a direct look at his life. And the same goes for places. Harran recounts the zombie apocalypse very well by talking to us in a silent but not inexpressive way about the injuries and upheavals it caused through the disorder of cars in the streets, the fortification of a bar, the further state of decay of the slums, the conversion of a museum, the corpses piled on the landing of a popular barracks or the rushing abandonment of what must have been an ordinary day's breakfast, for an ordinary family, in an ordinary apartment.



Up to expectations

Techland had promised a survival open with a strong parkour component and an important day / night duality. After playing it far and wide, we can say that Dying Light keeps faith with them, almost always embodying them in the best way. First of all, the movement system: to have a better chance of survival amidst the dangers of the enemy numerical superiority or able to reach it quickly anywhere, Kyle can put his marked agility to the ground and travel the territory of Harran as he sees fit. Already in the preview phase we had remarked how the inspiration for Mirror's Edge was not only clear, but substantially had some calligraphic. In fact, the game starts from those very bases, adopting a control system and a set of movements that fully incorporate the DICE title (crouch jump and wall run apart, respectively absent and less "marked"): speeding up, climbing, vaulting, leaning against an obstacle to stay on course, sliding under a barrier or rolling to cushion a landing are things we have already done as Faith and here they become an ABC without which it won't last long.

Are you afraid of the dark?

To these must be added some additions, which further expand the alphabet of walking possibilities, making it even more versatile, complete and suitable for the specific context. The first is the toggle of the button to instantly turn from a tool to chain stunts to a resource thanks to which to rotate the head and keep an eye on pursuers able to keep up with us. Just like in Outlast, only with the insightful addition of a slow down, thanks to which to try to better decipher what is actually happening in a scenario of considerably higher complexity and possibly throw UV torch shots or throwing weapons at those who are breathless. on the neck. Things, then, at a certain point (coinciding with the achievement of Level 12 in the Survival Skills branch) receive a further surge, and in terms of speed of the crossings, and in terms of verticality of the passable spaces, and in fact strategies defensive, thanks to the introduction of a grapple through which to reach any architectural element within a radius of about forty meters in a matter of seconds. As already pointed out, everything works marvelously and above all it is a source of a level of gratification equal to one's desire to deepen a top-class system: despite the open nature, the generous dimensions and the organic and plausible conformation of the areas in which Harran is divided (Slums and Old Town, plus some "appurtenances"), also characterized by a certain continuity between exteriors and interiors, Techland has wisely prepared most of the elements of the scenario to "runner-friendly". Roofs, railings, balconies, vans, scaffolding, electrical cables, curtains, barricades, garbage bags and so on are carefully arranged inside a level design that has something amazing and allows you to improvise a number tending to an infinite number of trajectories of exploration and escape, whose limits are written in black and white by very evident architectural barriers, without invisible walls or other means. And the picture becomes even more amazing if you think that the vastness of the environments has not been taken as an excuse to avoid the implementation of a basic physics and a level of cleanliness and calibration of collisions with substantially every type of passable surface that ensures to all a strong underlying coherence.

Are you afraid of the dark?

To put it simply in the examples: depending on the momentum and the direction in which you approach it, a wall can be directly jumped, overcome by leaning on it with your hand, used as a basis for an "intermediate" high jump or crossed only following a climb over more or less fast. With practice it is therefore possible to instantly evaluate the next step, prepare any adjustments in approaching it or sifting through alternatives, in what is basically a game within the game in which the margins to refine and discover new little things are quite wide, and which therefore you do not tend to get bored too soon. The latest addition of some weight is the stamina of the protagonist. Unlike Faith, who can reach virtually infinite momentum in capable hands, Crane needs to breathe after a while. An important feature for a title that wants to give itself a survival imprint, placing the control of a vulnerable character. A limit that can only be exceeded upon reaching Agility Level 24, probably towards the end of the adventure, wherever you want due to the density of the dangers, either because Kyle has grown in other respects in the meantime, or because he has been working hard for hours back and forth, removing the handbrake feels like a welcome change of pace. And once again the mission design is liked, as Techland has designed several missions to exploit this humus, proposing passages in which it is necessary to quickly reach an area, escape from a collapsing building, hunt down a particularly fast creature or escape from a sudden assault with an MG, which cannot be answered in the least. An attitude that is also recognized in the face of the multitude of occasions in which real "environmental puzzles" are proposed, which tickle analysis and motor coordination to achieve a goal, usually located inside a building or area with limited access, or find the exit of a large room, in more linear situations proposed during an assignment or in connecting passages between areas.

Promoted in physics

The fact that Crane is particularly good at deflecting problems does not mean that he is totally incapable of dealing with them, quite the contrary. As in Dead Island, in the game you can wield a long list of tools and melee weapons: hammers, swords, daggers, batons, machetes, crowbars, wrenches and scythes are just some of the tools with which to pass the zombies. the desire to have a snack. And as in Dead Island each of them has a durability that makes them subject to wear and tear, until they become unusable, opening up to the need to repair them or to find something else. And always as in the cousin there is also a crafting system that allows you to reinforce a weapon and above all modify it, adding tasty more or less pronounced secondary effects based on fire, electricity, shock force, laceration and contamination. By getting into possession of the related Projects and the required ingredients, with exploration or trade, you can really indulge yourself by developing tools such as the Toxic Pen, a baton that poisons enemies, or the Constable, which makes it capable of electroshock multiple opponents at the same time, or the Mad Butcher, who transforms a small hammer into a terrifying fleshing machine. By developing the Survival and (partly) the Force branch, you can refine yourself in this craft of slaughter, being able to repair and design your trinkets more efficiently.

Are you afraid of the dark?

However broad and varied it may be, this is only one aspect of the matter. Dying Light adds a hand-to-hand combat dimension to the combat discourse that, in addition to Mirror's Edge, borrows something from the latest Far Cry to offer a versatile and rewarding repertoire. Crane can rush into enemies to shoulder his way through, smash them with a flying double kick with feet together or slide, to try and break their legs. You can carry out killing from above, straight on the victim's skull, even better after using it as a springboard. And then dodge, project the enemy in the desired direction, towards a wall, a trap or the void, and wriggle with more and more coolness and readiness in case a living dead manages to cling to him. Several of these moves, then, can be potential, adding a stun property, which opens the door to the possibility of practicing an instant kill. It is a system that on the whole works and responds well, both in terms of controls and enemy reactions, except for some collisions that are not exactly crystal clear or some cases of artificial intelligence blackouts. And despite the fact that in the long run it is possible to identify easily abusable techniques (lair for Tackle!), It does its duty also in terms of challenge, since in addition to certain stakes placed appropriately for balancing (such as the consumption of Stamina) and progression (the release of skills), during the adventure the cast of threats is adequately replenished. Zombies in fireproof suits, poison spiters, obese explosives, infants who with their screams attract reinforcements, thugs armed with devastating hammers and even more massive thugs go gradually to support the army of the undead starting, composed of walkers and runners . As the description suggests, these are by no means original solutions, resembling things already seen in the past, even in Techland titles, sometimes with characters bordering on plagiarism (the second type of thug charges at great speed and from a distance throws pieces of land and cars. Exactly, just like the Left 4 Dead Tank), but they do their job really well. Especially when they are used as puzzles, as in certain missions, in which it is necessary to think quickly about how to deal with, for example, three spitters tactically placed to disturb while you see it with two hammers or an explosive zombie comes out treacherously.

Are you afraid of the dark?

Everything is corroborated by a system of animations and impacts which, although characterized by lightness and inconsistency, turns out to be visceral and intoxicating. In the preview phase we mistakenly thought that everything was mostly limited to bruises and bone-breaking impacts, but in the full game we have come into possession of tools through which to quarter, flesh out and mutilate arms, heads and legs at will, based, moreover, on high-quality dismemberment and bleeding algorithms. An even stronger source of fulfillment, however, is of a kind that tends to be less noticeable, but is felt more in terms of playability: the bodies of the zombies and the weapons wielded by some of them are entities that collide in physically-correct way with those of others, hindering them, unbalancing them and overwhelming them. It is a discourse that dates back to the mists of time of the application of Havok to 3D engines, and probably even earlier, but that Techland had not yet taken into consideration, finally deciding to introduce a series of cause-effect relationships that, in addition to giving life to particularly enjoyable curtains can only do well in a context where we often have to worry about crowd control, making it more interactive, dynamic and playable. An apparatus that allows you to mix a multitude of approaches, which are expanded considering accessory resources such as Molotov cocktails, various types of grenades, throwing knives and ballistic shields to which special properties can be added. Last on firearms, which from a certain point of the adventure can also be used with a certain frequency and whose recourse, in some cases, is just suggested, as when facing teams of marauders from artificial intelligence to the most discreet but from the excellent aim of which it is really difficult to get the better of us fighting. For what is our experience with the different types of pistols, assault rifles and the shotgun we have come back, however very well made and in terms of audiovisual feedback and operating mechanics (as long as you deactivate the aiming aid , like us) it is not about anything that upsets the balance of Dying Light. Simply, Dying Light in these situations shows another face, without ceasing to have a vis survival. Because if it is true that in many cases you can simplify your life, in many others it just complicates it, since the noise attracts monstrosities like bees on honey. But this, if desired, is an aspect that can also be used to one's advantage, as when it is convenient to set a mad beehive on a garrison of Rais's men ...

Predators and prey

Many of the considerations made so far change significantly once the sun sets. And all in the same direction: it's worse for the player. When darkness falls, Harran becomes a truly impenetrable darkness, while it is easy for several zombies to be seized by a raptus that transforms them into runners, the special ones further shore up the roads and, above all, the Nocturnes, devastating albino mutants, come out into the open. of a marked speed and a really good pathfinding, thanks to which they manage to keep up with Crane, a strength that allows them to quickly tear him to shreds and a constitution that makes them extremely mangy to break down.

Are you afraid of the dark?
Are you afraid of the dark?

Moving with the same ease that you have during the day is theoretically practicable, but often highly discouraged. To understand what you are facing, in the darkness, you need to turn on the flashlight, which together with the inevitably caused noise tends to attract unwelcome attention. Better then to proceed with caution, perhaps resorting to a vision similar to the Listening Mode of The Last of Us, with which to identify the surrounding Nocturnes. Whatever the scenario, the impact with the night of Dying Light is one of those things that are difficult to forget in a hurry, so much is the feeling of panic and helplessness during a chase or asphyxiating the anguish from which one feels. crushed, as you proceed with stealth patience. It is in this regard that a component emerges that adds a tactical and managerial aftertaste to Dying Light, already appreciable during the day but which at night becomes very precious. As he grows in the Survival branch, Crane learns to set up traps of various types, ranging from baits to systems to get rid of the dead, which can then be activated by pressing a button when you are in their vicinity, with extreme ease, even if you are in full swing. of a Rebound Kick. And then there are the shelters, another assists from Far Cry, outposts that once cleaned and reconnected to the electricity can serve as a base where to cram objects, rest to change the time of day and leave again in case of death. Refuges that also offer a free zone from any pursuers, frightened by the light. It seems clear, therefore, that a shrewd way of playing suggests dedicating some of the phases during the day to "get ready" to face the night. The latter, among other things, has the merit of demonstrating the shrewdness of certain design choices, such as the fact that Nocturnes and runners are sensitive to ultraviolet rays while the other zombies are not, throwing on the table a series of joints and shuffling. of cards to be constantly taken into consideration.

Long

The night, among other things, is one of the first banks in which the flexibility of the game formula, able to pass through all its dimensions (wide-ranging exploration, tightrope walking, combat, stealth and tactical exploitation of variables on the field) in a natural way, without "breaking". Of course, there are blind spots, uncertainties, aspects that can be exploited with a bit of cunning, but it is a different matter, which does not concern design choices, which tend to preserve a malleability that is very much appreciated in missions. Forget the sad examples of free roaming sandboxes, even quite celebrated ones, in which level designers, mission designers and game designers do not seem to have spoken to each other or they all seem to share the same ignorance towards the fundamentals of genres that they appropriate the label: here there are no missions that invite you to return to the predetermined area if you allow yourself to believe in all the freedom screamed by the environment around you or others that handcuff you to a certain action profile, even if up to two seconds before you they sang the praises of emerging playability.

Are you afraid of the dark?

Techland is a healthy bearer of the aforementioned values ​​and does not place any interpretative stakes that are not justified by the playable facts, apart from a couple of exceptions, where access to certain resources is inhibited for reasons imposed mostly by the plot. Missions that, even if sometimes justified by not exactly irresistible assumptions, especially during the opening bars, generally explore all the characteristics of the gameplay, and also of the territory in a rather pertinent way, inviting you to push yourself from the vertigo of the communication antennas to the depths of the Emerald Lake, from the claustrophobic squalor of popular high-rises to the bright and immaculate rooms of the city museum. These are flanked by a bevy of side quests, often with multiple objectives and development "in the making" that reserve many surprises. And then tasks proposed on the fly, while you are out and about, where you also happen to come across requests for help from other survivors or to be tempted by government air supplies, which can land in inaccessible places and must be recovered urgently, under penalty of having them taken away from others in need. The picture is completed by challenges and mini-games of a purely arcade nature, complete with online rankings, focused on parkour, the fight, the use of secondary weapons, but above all the Quarantine Zones, particularly difficult areas in which to test oneself strenuously, and the collection of collectibles of various kinds (files, statuettes, flags). The save on which we finished the Campaign, with an overall completion rate of 56%, an Agility raised to Level 24, a Strength to 17 and a Survival to 14, speaks of 31 hours, 12 minutes and 22 seconds flat spent in Harran, teasing here and there, with curiosity, and then tend to go straight. Getting to enjoy everything, for those moved by a particular appetite could even take double the time. A mountain of contents that can be shared from the beginning to just before the end in a Cooperative mode designed particularly well on a structural level. First of all, when you reach a friend, the game takes care to indicate among any multiple saves which is the ideal to create a game as less unbalanced as possible.

Are you afraid of the dark?

Secondly, a number of conditions have been implemented to make sure you don't "burn" the Campaign once you return to single. To spice things up, Cooperative Races have also been introduced, which are randomly generated, offering short but intense pills of competitiveness. All very nice on paper, a little less in practice, where we often encountered lag, disconnections and excessive overloads on the CPU work, well beyond the limits of those that a host usually has to put in the budget. Problems that are even more afflicted, unfortunately, the mode Like a Zombie, which in itself appears as a successful cross between the Souls and Evolve. If you wish, you can leave your game open to the invasion of another player who in the role of a monster will instantly fall the night (although lightened by the load of threats that characterize it) or start looking for games to invade. in turn. The creature's purpose is to defend a series of nests from attacks by humans, who can band together to destroy them, "round after round". As far as we have tried, it is a really nice addition that works well both in revisiting the controls and the interface dedicated to the monster, as well as in the definition of its characteristics, which make it as agile and powerful as it is characterized by weak points that do not they seem to leave clear glimpses of imbalances. To make the matter even more interesting and potentially long-lived, there is a dedicated development tree, through which it can make its own evolutionary path.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

  • Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K@4.4 GHz
  • Scheda video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 OC
  • Memoria: 8 GB DDR3 1600MHz
  • Operating system: Windows 7 64 bit

Minimum requirements

  • Processor: Intel i5-2500 / AMD FX-8320
  • Scheda Video: GTX 560/Radeon HD 6870
  • Memory: 4 GB
  • Disk space: 40 GB
  • Operating system: Windows Vista 7/8 64 bit

Recommended Requirements

  • Processore: Intel Core i7-4670K/AMD FX-8350
  • Video Card: GTX 780 / Radeon 290
  • Memory: 8 GB
  • Disk space: 40 GB
  • Sistema operativo: Windows 7/8 64 bit

Beautiful to die for, ugly to tame

Were it not for a prominent polygon load, some great touches like very neat sub-surface scattering (albeit far from the heights of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Ryse: Son of Rome) and the use of halo, lens flare and others image alteration algorithms back in fashion not too long ago, Chrome Engine 6 could be mistaken for a great PC engine from the 2007/2009 period. Much of the appeal of Dying Light is in fact based on bands of volumetric light shot at a thousand, sometimes with perspective problems, on the agitation of a foliage that actually does even less than what one should expect in the post-Crysis and an unfolding of particles and elements of "soft" physics with little or no dynamics.

Are you afraid of the dark?

This does not prevent the game from boasting a great overall impact and from being appreciated often and willingly even in the details. The merit is clearly attributable to the infinity of man hours that Techland must often have in making the game, taking care of it really a lot. To please, in particular, are certain views, which regardless of the bare and raw technical values ​​and in spite of a photograph certainly not first-hand really hit the mark. And then, without a doubt, the character models, solid, rich and often well animated, with a dutiful mention for the faces, which are particularly credible and expressive, even if there is probably no motion capture at the bottom of them. I cry, also thanks to the fact that beyond the main characters we have opted for a vast collection of any faces instead of trying to give us a drink in a universe populated only by actors and showgirls. And an attention to detail is also very pleasing which, net of a very understandable recycling of assets that you happen to come across here and there, considering the size of the game areas can be defined as manic. The list of beautiful things is completed by a musical sector with style to sell, which while not disdaining orchestral, ethnic and rock pieces, mostly prefers to refer to an electronic tradition of the 70s and 80s very close to the soundtracks of George Romero's films. and John Carpenter. Positive notes also for the dubbing in Spanish, of an excellent level, except for some cases of poor correspondence between character and voice actor and the inevitable recycling of voices.

Are you afraid of the dark?

But then the well-known painters also arrive. Compared to what was tried in the preview, some very welcome options have been introduced, such as the one to adjust the Field of View and the one to set the Distance of the View. Among the graphic settings, an unspecified item for Anti-Aliasing has finally been included, which judging by the low price in performance and the equally poor ability to heal the ladders is in all likelihood a solution in post-processing, and those Nvidia have been made explicit, with the usual but always appreciated HBAO + and a Depth of Field which, in addition to not seeming anything special, significantly cripples performance. Performance that, all things being equal, as we feared have not changed one iota. By giving up the Nvidia DoF and playing at 1080p on our test setup during the early stages we got around 100 frames per second on average indoors and around 60 on an indicative average outdoors, with drops to 40 frames per second. In the occurrence of more crowded situations (such as the overpass where you have to look for Fallon's camera is terrible) we began to witness nailing towards 30 frames, with very bad stuttering phenomena. A condition that has become much more frequent in the Old Town, also reducing field of view and draw distance, coming to concretely invalidate the playability in more than one occasion. Signals of a code that loads the CPU in an unbalanced manner, generating annoying bottlenecks, as also corroborated by the first tests that appeared on the Net, and about which we can only hope for some remedy.

Comment

Tested version PC Windows Resources4Gaming.com

8.6

Readers (181)

8.7

Your vote

Dying Light obviously borrows both from Mirror's Edge and Far Cry, but it also takes a lot of Techland. A Techland that seems to have reached full maturity, packaging the zombie experience much more refined and better focused among the now several born so far. Fun to play, beautiful to look at, terrifying at night and at times also very engaging to live, the latest born in the Wroclaw area is one of the best things that flank the words "survival" and "horror" that can be found currently in circulation. . Too bad for some collateral problems that at times make its use really thorny and problematic.

PRO

  • Successful light / dark dualism
  • Parkour e level design al top
  • Elastic, visceral and rewarding combat
  • A mountain of things to do, alone, in co-op and in versus
AGAINST
  • Disconnections, lag and malfunctions, especially in competitive
  • Optimization problems
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