Dying Light Sneak Preview (PAX)
The Dorkadia crew got an exclusive hands-on preview of Dying Light at PAX, and I can say for certain: this is going to be a kick ass game. Dying Light is brought to you by Techland, the same people who created Dead Island. The beta version we played started in a fenced-in yard surrounded by allies (who I unsuccessfully tried to whack with a stick). This gave us a chance to check out the mechanics of the game, which in this case as running on a PC (configured to next-gen console specs) with an Xbox one controller.
The controls were pretty intuitive, with some tricks thrown in. For example, running directly toward an enemy and jumping allows you to jump on their shoulders and leapfrog over them (sweet!). There is also a running kick which I couldn’t quite master, as well as special moves for bladed weapons, one of which is a roundhouse-style move that has fatal consequences for those nearby.
The graphics on the game are BEAUTIFUL. The city is gorgeously rendered, and the lighting is amazing, in that you could see rays of sunlight cascading off the side of buildings. The characters are detailed and truly frightening (to the dismay of our managing editor) ***Editors note – No really – the graphics are crazy. I shrieked like a little girl while their PR person took video of my reactions. Stupid zombie games. :-\. The levels are large and sprawling, with an amazing amount of detail. Part of our play-through today included setting various traps around the city for zombies (or, in multiplayer, your enemies). Traps included electrified fences, car bombs, etc. and were very effective. You can also set off traps set off others as you run through the world. These traps come in handy when you are surrounded by a zombie hoard.
The music and sound effects were great, very convincing and made you feel like part of the game. The brief dialogue I head consisted of good voice acting, and the characters we encountered seem genuine. As far as overall gameplay/originality, Dying Light takes the zombie genre and improves on it. As one of my colleagues commented, this game succeeds in making you feel that there are actual stakes at play, and you have a personal, vested interest in protecting them. I can tell you than while running balls-out through a night-time scene, I felt my heart pumping and zombies right on my heels but I didn’t dare turn around. The game is that good.
Techland recently announced an interesting pre-order bonus, the ability to be a super-zombie and play as the bad guy. This is exciting, and I can’t wait to try it out. They didn’t confirm nvidia 3d vision support (we got a “maybe”) but they did mention they are experimenting with the Oculus Rift, which would make for a terrifyingly awesome experience. Multi-player (4 player co-op and adversary modes) will be supported, and the game is being developed on 5 platforms at once: pc, xbox 360, xbox one, PS3, and PS4.
The team at techland is doing an awesome job on this game, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the final version! You can see 12 minutes of game play here, and also check out more screen shots on the official website (including trailers and walk-throughs) at http://dyinglightgame.com/
