Last September I played two different levels and scenarios at PAX Prime of the highly anticipated Zombie survival game Dying Light. I was very impressed with what I saw and then heard in our subsequent interview so when it was announced that the game would not be released in 2014 I was disappointed as were many fans of cleaving the undead.
During our coverage of E3 2014, I was able to play a level of the game during our visit to the Warner Bros booth and I have to say the game is still looking and playing great.
For this mission, I was sent out to locate and clean a safe house and a new N.P.C. gave me the business about new people not lasting that long. Venturing out into the island, I again had to get used to the speed of the game as well as the ability to climb, slide, and move with speed and style which is common to the survival of the game.
While I was able to locate my destination easily on my map, I had forgotten just how plentiful the undead were so I needed to quickly dodge my way past them and I became very good at using the hillsides instead of the stairs to get to my objective.
Naturally combat is a part of the game and when I did use it, I had to get familiar with the arc of my melee weapon as seeing a crosshair on an enemy and letting fly was no guarantee of scoring a hit. The enemies were very resilient as taking them to the ground with repeated blows was not always a sure thing as more than once enemies I thought down for the count got up and resumed the fight. Thankfully the power swing and a few hacks while they were down did the trick and I was soon in the courtyard of the safe house dealing with a nasty brute. It took a few attacks on my part before it went down and I was able to secure the gate which allowed me to have a safe area in which to stage my final attack.
I made my way up to the house and cleaned out the occupants for a job well done albeit messy and awkward as I had to get used to the improved speed and combat mechanics of the game.
Although the demo was short, I really enjoyed my time with the game and I hope to see more of it at PAX Prime this year, for now, it remains a solid and fun work in progress which holds plenty of potential for its release.
