Parkouring through the Apocalypse: The Underrated Brilliance of Dying Light

Zombie games are a dime a dozen as almost every year, we see a wave of them getting released to the public like there’s no tomorrow. They’re like the MCU movies of the gaming world. And it is because of this oversaturation that many entertaining gems fall short of getting the recognition they so richly deserve.

Today, we’ll look back at one of the more stellar years of gaming where many high-profile triple-A games were vying for supremacy and captivated us with enthralling graphics and gameplay. But among those bombastic entries, there was a game that didn’t quite hit the popularity bar like its major competitors until a lot later down the line. And that game was Dying Light.

A Fresh Start

Dying Light is the brainchild of Polish developers Techland who previously worked for publisher Deep Silver in creating the Dead Island series. As someone who was an avid fan of the first two games, no matter how underdeveloped they were, I was anxiously looking forward to the next Dead Island entry. However following creative differences, the company decided to split from Deep Silver and partnered up with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to bring their dream project to life that they had been working on since 2012.

The result subsequently led to one of the most entertaining games ever to hit the shelves. Dying Light was a much-needed ecstatic addition to the zombie genre which was slowly rotting away due to a lack of creativity and imagination. It reignited my love for zombie games with its innovative mechanics that allowed it to stand head and shoulder above the rest.

A Trip to Harran

You play as Kyle Crane, an undercover agent working for the Global Relief Effort (GRE) sent to recover a stolen and highly confidential file from Kadir Suleiman, now known as Rais, who has fortified himself in the zombie-infested hellscape city of Harran. At first glance, the story doesn’t have much to offer in terms of originality and innovation. The writing is considerably weak and sometimes it uses every possible cliché in the book. However, the real star of Dying Light is its exceptionally engrossing and exceedingly thrilling gameplay.

Turning those rotting, meaty sacks of flesh and putrid blood into Jackson Pollock paintings has never been so much fun. Amp it up with possibly the best first-person parkour system and you’ve got yourself a bonified home run. Although a little slow and steady at the start, the game quickly begins to pick up and encourages you to experiment with your newly found parkour skills as you begin to adapt to the terrain, explore the dying city of Harran, and unlock new perks that make you a formidable runner.

Pro-tip, obtain the dropkick perk as fast as you can. It allows you to launch enemies with a powerful and swift dropkick any time they cross your path. Seeing a manic-induced hobbling pile of dangling guts hurtling across the screen is never not funny.

Dying Light also has no shortage of side quests where, in my opinion, the writing of the game truly shines. I was more focused on completing side quests than I was on the primary campaign. Whether it was retrieving a bag of air at the bottom of a lake for a man in a gas mask referring to himself in the third person or working for two idiosyncratic twins that belittled Crane in the most hilarious ways possible, Dying Light offered an abundance of entertaining side quests that kept me coming back for multiple playthroughs. My absolute favorite was Chasing Past.

You encounter a man named Tariq in the care of a boy completely traumatized out of his wits after experiencing something horrific. However, the boy doesn’t say anything at all. The only thing he does mention is something about a person named Mike who is presumably his brother. Tariq gives you the location of the boy’s residence as you head out to investigate.

As soon as you enter the building to begin your investigation, the game takes an eerie shift with ominous music playing in the background as the screen transitions to a monochromatic black and white and switches your gameplay more towards partial detective work. I won’t elaborate any further and let you experience the story for yourself because once you do uncover the truth behind this mystery, you’ll soon realize that zombies aren’t the only monsters out there.

And that’s just one of the many enticing side quests dotted throughout Harran that made Dying Light such a gratifying experience that has so much to offer past the gruesome zombie destruction.

Let Loose Your Inner Zombie Slayer

Dying Light is also heavily melee based in terms of combat by limiting your usage of firearms and forcing you to get up and personal with these grotesque munchers. The game grants you access to an arsenal of melee weapons like machetes, baseball bats, hammers, axes, swords, etc. that you can further upgrade with a variety of blueprints scattered around the city to give you that extra kick. Each strike has tremendous weight behind each swing so it doesn’t feel like you’re hitting thin air. This makes it all the more satisfying when you pulverize, decapitate, or cut in half the next zombie you see.

You can also utilize other methods of dispatching them like distracting a nearby horde with your firecrackers and then lighting up a barbecue by throwing a Molotov cocktail. You can also lure them to a pool of water hooked up to an electrical pole. Once set in place, just pull the lever down and watch them break dance for your sadistic entertainment.

You can also use in-game traps to help clear a pathway if you get stuck in a tight spot. The grappling hook is my favorite piece of equipment that you can unlock once you’ve reached survivor level 12 and it makes the gameplay ten times more fun. By utilizing the grappling hook, you essentially become Spider-Man as you latch onto the next building or wall you see and pull yourself out of potential harm or being overrun.

Dying Light also has plenty of hostile human NPCs for you to tango with as well (in the form of Rais’s thugs or bandits in particular) and for the most part, they’re pretty tough to take down as Techland instilled them with pretty solid AI that often goes unnoticed. They have amazing reaction time to your offensive attacks and prove to be resilient opponents if you take them lightly. I was extremely astonished during one of my encounters when one of Rais’s henchmen surrendered without a fight after pointing a firearm at him. Such details are very rare these days in most open-world games

The game also encourages survival a lot more than swinging your weapon around like a crazed maniac. In some situations, you have no choice but to hightail it lest you want to become the infected’s next meal plan. This allows for more freedom of gameplay as you plan your next move. But sometimes running away is the better option, making the experience more fun and immersive.

Terrors of the Night

Much like other zombie games, Dying Light has a variety of infected that will constantly keep your fingers engaged. You have your standard brutes, runners, chargers, acid-spitters, and exploders. But the fun doesn’t end there. Techland incorporated a near-perfect day/night cycle where by nightfall, the infected become a lot more feral and dangerous. The atmosphere completely changes as the focus primarily shifts to pure survival where stealth becomes vital rather than going full Rambo. And this is where Dying Light starts running on all cylinders.

When the sun sets, a new kind of horror emerges on the streets and rooftops of Harran. One of pure malic and hatred that lurks in the darkness waiting for something to unleash its wrath upon. The Volatiles are frighteningly fearsome rotting death machines with a penchant for hating your very existence. These spawns of Satan are able to withstand a ridiculous amount of punishment, relentless in pursuit, and can substantially drain your health in just a few hits.

The first chase scene of the game is one engraved in my memory. I was helpless and completely at the mercy of these nocturnal demons. I had to hide in a house and crouch inside a kitchen as a dozen of these monsters surrounded the area. The brilliant and near-petrifying experience immersed me to the point where I temporarily switched places with Crane and had to hold my breath for dear life. It was horrifying and engaging and I loved every minute of it.

One sight of this unholy beast and you better kiss your life subscription goodbye. The heart-pounding chase sequences, set against the sinister and grim ambiance of the city, instill a level of dread and fear that peaks your adrenaline as you vault rooftop after rooftop desperately trying to find a safe house to take shelter in. Their terrifyingly menacing designs are enough to make you keep your lights on before going to bed.

By day, you’ll feel like a merciless predator slaughtering your way to level after level. By night, you become the prey cautiously moving through the dark of the night as you hear the bone-chilling howls of the Volatiles in the distance. The Volatiles leave a terrifying lasting impression as they take their rightful place in the pantheon of fictional monsters.

Happy Slaying

Once you’re strapped in, Dying Light takes you on a neverending thrill ride through the sprawling city of Harran, a once-bustling metropolis now a haven for flesh-eating monsters and your new jungle gym to play in. Despite a lackluster story, Dying Light more than makes up for it with its immersive and atmospheric-level design that constantly keeps you looking back over your shoulder, engaging combat with satisfying bloody results, memorable side quests that fill the void left behind by the game’s main narrative, and the sheer fun of discovering the unknown as you venture deep into the belly of the beast.

It is an absolutely amazing game that should’ve gotten a lot more attention at the time of its release. But I’m happy to know that it’s finally seeing the limelight after all these years. Happy slaying runners.