Dying Light: The Following Enhanced Ed.
Do not go gentle into that good night…
$59.99 Developer Techland, techland.pl Requirements OS X 10.12.1, Intel Core i5 3.2GHz, 4GB RAM, 2GB VRAM
“Open-world zombie game with crafting and parkour” doesn’t gin up much excitement in 2017, but don’t overlook Techland’s Dying Light. Far from capitalizing on industry zeitgeist, free-running is the foundation upon which the fictional, Turkey-ish city of Harran is built. It’s relatively easy to simply scarper up the side of a building or to bound across the rooftops of Harran’s labyrinthine slums, so skirting the zombie throng is often more effective than hacking through it.
The setting sun marks a dramatic shift in tone and priorities: during the day, protagonist Kyle Crane is free to scavenge scrap parts, craft increasingly exotic weapons, and chase down the intermittent supply drops filtering in from the outside (and un-zombified) world. At night, Dying Light mutates into a mix of desperate stealth and panicked chase scenes as Crane tries to escape the feral, snarling Volatiles long enough to find a safehouse.
Dying Light’s parkour and real-time day-night cycle combine to prop up even
the most menial tasks: fetching a fellow survivor’s reading glasses or delivering a batch of tainted drugs to a rival faction. When chance, quest design, or Harran’s dizzying geography force a more direct confrontation, Dying Light focuses on close-quarters melee combat. One of Crane’s three skill trees is full of elaborate take-downs and grapples, but the appeal of any zombie game is the indulgent thrill of squishing undead skulls
like so many overripe casabas. In combat, too, Dying Light’s parkour provides interesting twists: hop up to high ground to hurl Molotov cocktails, or herd a flock of undead toward enemy thugs and let them sort each other out. Adapt and survive.
Dying Light is a free-flowing romp, complete with seamless drop-in, drop-out cooperative play and a bevy of multiplayer options. Some of its finer details are less accomplished, though: weapon degradation (and subsequent crafting) is never as fun in practice as in theory. The immediacy of melee combat and the tension of nighttime sorties are what make Dying Light scary.
the bottom line. Techland improves on its previous series while carving out its place in two crowded genres. Dying Light isn’t bold or striking, but smart design that encourages player freedom wins the day – and night.