Techland debuted a new trailer for their upcoming zombie game, Dying Light, at Gamescom, and I could not be more excited! I am absolutely obsessed with all things zombie-related, so this game is right up my alley. However, the gaming market is definitely not hurting for zombie games, with games like Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil, The Last of Us, Dead Island, and The Walking Dead doing a great job at representing zombies in the gaming world. While you can usually bet I’ll eat up a new zombie game, regardless of how crowded the market is, I actually think Dying Light has some cool, new stuff to offer:
1. Survivor By Day, Prey By Night
Basically, this is a gory Minecraft (okay, not really, but that would be hilarious). By day, you are a survivor, collecting supplies and crafting weapons, but at night you have to fight off the hordes of zombies that are growing in strength as well as some creepy nocturnal creatures. I mean, just look at this guy. Super creepy:
2. Parkour!
Unlike a lot of open-world games where you are limited to walking and running, you can move about the map with some serious hardcore parkour skills, jumping and climbing to launch aerial attacks unlike anything you’ve seen in games of this nature. One of my biggest frustrations in first person open-world games is how limited you are while travelling on foot. Nothing sends me into a spiral of hate-rage more quickly than trying to get across the map with any amount of speed, and my character is unable to run for more than a few seconds. I mean, sure, I can’t run for that long IRL either, but still…
3. RPG and Choose Your Play Elements
Unlike other FPS zombie games like Left 4 Dead, you get to develop your character as you play. As it says on the game’s website, “it’s a long and difficult journey from rookie to badass.” So it sounds like your character will develop and grow in skill over time, rather than have a good vs. evil-type development like you’d see in Fable. Another exciting aspect is that you can play in such a way to utilize weapons and traps set by other survivors, you can provoke other survivors to attack one another, and you have objectives you can complete in the day and in the night. I love it when FPS games take RPG elements (Destiny is a great example of this). It gives the game a bit more meat than a typical point-and-shoot game.
4. Weapons Crafting and a “Be the Zombie” Option
Much like Dead Rising, this game gives you the option to craft weapons to fight off the hordes of flesh-eating zombies. The developers mention in several places in the trailer and the game’s website how intensely graphic and gory Dying Light will be, so I’m hoping the weapons crafting will be as brutal and horrifyingly ingenuous as the Dead Rising crafting.
(source: www.zombiesandtoys.com)
Dying Light also has a “be the zombie” option like the Left 4 Dead games. It’s unclear how this will actually play out in the game, but I’m a huge fan of Versus on L4D2, so I’m hopeful Dying Light‘s zombie play option will be just as cool.
5. I can play it on my Xbox 360 (and you can play it on your PS3)
Y’all, Xbox Ones and PS4s are expensive. I want to get an Xbox One (especially after playing the Destiny beta), and I really want to get a PS4 after hearing about the cool PS4-exclusive games being released in the coming months. However, I’m still waiting to upgrade my console because, first of all, money, but I know I can’t swing both consoles so I have to pick one that I love more (and the one that my gaming buddies also chose to upgrade to, so we can keep playing together). I’m terribly indecisive, so this has been a slow-moving process. HOWEVER, those of us still using a 360 and a PS3 can still enjoy this game, and I think that’s awesome. After all, I still love my 360, and I’m glad some game developers still do, too.
Dying Light is going to be release in February of 2015. So sadly, this isn’t one that Santa can leave under your Christmas tree, however you can go to the game site to pre-order it now, and get access to some exclusive DLC. And be sure to check out the game’s fantastic trailer:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbeftjTF9UA]
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