Wall of impressions (from Xbox One version) as many folks would like to see what this game is about since reviews are lacking. (current time playing about 3 hours deep. 2 hours co-op. 1 hour single player) Also for those looking into the co-op 4 player madness, you need to get past the first 30 minute intro before it unlocks.
First thing first. Dying Light is by and large a Dead Island game and works off the cotails of what they already established. Wether this is good or bad, will be largely up to the individual player and their preference. So what does this mean.
Story in Dying Light is provided via cutscenes and showcases that the area the main character you play as is dealing with zombies in an open fashion. The outbreak has already occured for a unknown ammount of time and now you have two different factions fighting for power in the contained area. There is rumor of a cure or half cure that could cause issues and your sent into the containment zone. Unfortunatly things go bad from the start and you find yourself working with the locals to infiltrate their system for your gain.
Dying Light is a first person zombie, open world, melee based, game with some minor shooting gameplay. The huge boost in gameplay to this one is the verticality and parkour. Now you can run, jump, slide, climb, and work your way through the zombie hordes. Moves you can unlock that allow much more fluidity in combat from drop kicks, to jumping over zombies.The level up system seems robust with three skills trees. Your exp is ganied depending on what your doing. Fighting, looking for supplies or climbing around. So if you disliked the lack of mobility in Dead Island, which was server lacking imo, Dying Light is a playground in this sorts.
Fighting is melee based mostly but we know that there is gun. I've not been able to tackle the guns as I'm still too early to comment on that. There is a stamina bar down at the bottom of the screen that is similar to the one in Dead Island and each swing takes away from it. Not letting it recover will lead to the character running short of breath. As you fight, weapons do indeed take damage but now you can at least repair them on the fly, by simple holding a button, granted as long as you have the materials to repair them. I do believe some weapons eventually break all together and then can only be discarded or dismatled for parts. Weapons can also get modifications on them like electricity, etc. Combat feels fun, fast, and curb stomping viceral at times. You can knock a zombie down and literally go ape shit on them once on the ground. That being said zombies take a lot more hits and if you have a huge group of them, especiall the fast moving ones. Your in for some hurt.
The parkour elements start of a bit rough simple because your not used to the sort of verticality in first person that this game offers. After a short while with it though, you will find yourself jumping from ledge to car to buildings and you almost get in a zen like flow. The scariest thing being high up is running from a mob of zombies and not knownig what is at the bottom after you've run out of room to run. Luckily there are dumpsters and trash piles in a lot of places that allow you to jump from great distances and survive. There can be quite the feeling of anxiety being high up that I don't get from most games personally. I dig it though and it adds to the already anxious feeling.
Now the missions so far seem to be very typical of this games nature. Go hear, turn this on, collect this, do my bidding, etc. It actually makes sense from the story perspective as your earning your way in the camp, so I'm hoping this changes a bit as you prove your worth more but I doubt it.
Day and Night. During the day there can be a lot of zombie on your ass, but they move slow, are easy to get by, and can be dangerous in numbers. I've seen at least 20+ zombies on the screen at once if not more. At night, the more wild and crazy zombies appear and they can haul ass after you. There is nothing like hitting the button to look back and see a group of zombies chasing after you in slow motion as game then resumes normal play. I'd say the mechanics of the night and day system work well and it can be really scary at night if hordes of enemies relentlessly chasing you make you nervous. It also appears you can outrun or evade and loose some of these types but I'd need to play more to confirm. Luckily if you can make it to a save house, you can sleep to get back to daylight, but guess what... if you play during nighttime you get more exp gaining boost. So it's that reward/risk feeling.
The only negatives at the moment I forsee are the following:
You seem like an erand boy at the start and the missions haven't been anything super interesting yet. Very typical. I don't mind but for those seeking more, I can't tell you if it offers that yet. Time will tell.
The melee weapons breaking seems to be hit or miss with fans of Dead Island and I see the same reaction to Dying Light. I think this is offset though by the fact you don't have to go to a work bench and can be done right on the spot.
The voice acting is hit and miss. Some sound really good, some accents sound really bad. Otherwise it's fine.
That's about it so far for me otherwise I'm enjoying the more serious story. The setting is dark and drab. Def enjoy the day and night system and it rains and storms also. The parkour is great and once you get the feel for it, adds a ton to the gameplay and funfactor. Also I LOVE the music. Very 80's synth style. Reminds me of John Carpenter which I'm a huge fan of his movies and soundtracks. I'm sure there are some things I missed talking about in this wall-o-text but questions can be answered if folks have them. The framerate on xbox one seems decent, I've seen some dips here and there, or at least it felt like it. Also there is screen tearing for sure but it's not constant. Thanks for reading everyone.
