Going out at night in Dying Light seems like a bad idea. Everyone warns you against it, and as the sun begins to set, your fellow survivors radio in to let you know it’s time to come home. Nighttime is something you “get caught out” in, not something you actively seek out. For braver runners, however, the rewards far outweigh the risks; for one thing, exploring at night imparts a huge XP boost, giving you quicker access to skills that can make fighting and parkour much easier. For another, it radically changes Dying Light’s feel, adding a stealth element as you work to avoid the attentions of the agile Volatiles (or “nightmares,” as one survivor calls them) that roam the streets of Harran after sundown.
Now that I’m on my second day of playing Dying Light and have gotten far enough for the day/night cycle to become dynamic (instead of dictated by the story), testing the Volatiles is irresistible. For me, the core appeal of survival horror isn’t in jump scares, gore, or getting mauled by horrific creatures - it’s in the simple thrill of being chased by something hungry, dangerous, and tough (if not impossible) to kill. The Volatiles check all those boxes, and if you’re spotted by one, they’ll be at your heels in seconds, howling to attract more of their friends. The ensuing chases are fantastic, because trying to weave a high-speed path across Harran’s tall rooftops and dark alleys while your pursuers pant and scream behind you is a crazy, desperate rush that few games offer.
I have a couple of defenses against the Volatiles - a UV flashlight that can briefly stun them (especially useful when performing the somewhat difficult feat of looking over my shoulder while sprinting) and a selection of light traps that will slow them down if I can lure them in - but the most powerful tool at my disposal is the mini map, which shows their positions and cones of vision, and keeps me from blundering into them too easily. They also don’t seem to be able to see my flashlight, which is great, because otherwise I’d be stumbling around in the dark and running into the innumerable normal zombies that still clog the streets.
If I ever get bored of the Volatiles, I have the option to open my multiplayer games up to invasions by Night Hunters: other players inhabiting super-powerful zombies. I’ve given Dying Light’s Be the Zombie mode a try, and while I wasn’t able to actually invade any games (online matchmaking is still a little wonky, and kept dumping me out immediately after I joined games), I’m impressed by what the Night Hunter can do in the tutorial. Tougher and more agile than even the Volatiles, the Night Hunter has a cool grappling ability that lets it zipline to distant areas, Bionic Commando-style (just be sure to aim for a ledge, or you’ll awkwardly drop to the ground when you get there). It can also pounce on (and quickly kill) pesky human players as they try to destroy its nests. Its big weakness, however, is UV light; unlike the Volatiles, who just get stunned by the UV flashlight, Night Hunters are rendered almost powerless, reduced to scrambling away with their suddenly human-level jumping and climbing abilities.
I had less trouble finding human partners to pair up with. Dying Light supports co-op for up to four people, and having an extra pair of hands around to help bash through zombies definitely makes the fighting a little more fun, both in story missions and out in the world. Co-op is more than just a tacked-on feature here: my partner and I were frequently offered co-op and competitive challenges depending on our current situation, which let us compete to see who could kill the most zombies in a swarm, who could reach an air-dropped chest first, or who could climb more quickly to the top of a radio tower. Given how big the world is, and how quickly you can move, it’s easy to get separated; fortunately, if your partner’s waiting next to a mission marker, you have the option to quickly teleport to them if you’re too far away. Finally, everyone gets their own loot - including level-appropriate weapons visible only to individual players - so there’s no squabbling over resources.
Combining first-person, Mirror’s Edge-esque parkour with open-world, zombie-brawling RPG action (a la Dead Island), Dying Light’s monster-infested, ramshackle slum is filled with possibilities. As of this writing, however, I’ve only experienced a few of them, but the good news is that I have yet to run across anything particularly unbearable. Jumping with R1 (on PS4) has been tough to adjust to, and forgetting about that unconventional control setup still results in the occasional sharp drop off a ledge, but climbing and jumping across Harran’s rooftops feels fun and fluid when I know what I’m doing.
Fighting, meanwhile, is an awkward mess – but I get the sense that it’s supposed to be at this point. Wielding pipes, boards, and rebar, I flail awkwardly, even blindly, at zombies, hoping to connect with their heads or other vital spots. It’s rough, nasty, and brutal, as enemies - whether undead or alive - can soak up a lot of punishment before their rotten heads explode. And while I hammer on them, other zombies slowly close in on my blind spots, making it a very bad idea to pick a fight if I’m dealing with more than two or three walkers at a time. Fortunately, combat is usually optional, in that you can parkour your way around most of it unless a mission demands a throw-down.
Making things more difficult, Dying Light imposes some sharp limitations at first. My weaksauce improvised weapons break frequently, forcing me to switch in fresh ones, or hang back and repair the broken ones with spare parts. I don’t have much stamina, and I won’t until I level up some more, which in practical terms means that one kill is enough to leave me weak and winded for a few seconds. It’s frustrating, but the difficulty of each kill makes it a little more rewarding, and makes knowing how to escape – sometimes with climbing zombies in close pursuit – more important than knowing how to stand and fight.
Besides, I know for a fact the fighting gets better. I’ve played demos at E3 and PAX that unlocked higher-level abilities, all geared more toward carving a quick path through zombies than smashing them en masse. Soon, I’ll be able to instantly escape when zombies grab me, or send them tumbling off ledges with a flying dropkick. I can already leapfrog over them, which makes charging headlong into a horde a viable (and fun) escape tactic. And drawing zombies into the traps set up by other survivors – which include instant-kill spiked objects and electrified surfaces – can be a lot more satisfying than simply bashing their stupid faces in. Especially when I use firecrackers to lure hordes of them into harm’s way.
Like their grotesque inhabitants, the slums of Harran aren’t particularly pretty, or even that distinct – one corrugated-tin rooftop feels like any other, really. Even so, the place feels dynamic, if not exactly alive. Most buildings feature open interiors, letting you use them as temporarily defensible positions while ransacking them for useful items. Survivors occasionally need you to rescue them from zombie attacks, and Virals – more recently turned zombies who can run and climb and seem almost human – roam around kicking down doors and investigating loud noises. And that’s not even counting what happens at night; getting caught out after dark can dramatically shift the dynamic, turning it into a desperate chase with fast, tough zombies at your heels – or so the early demos lead me to believe.
At this point, I’ve only been out after dusk once, and I didn’t run into anything more threatening than your average daytime zombie – although for once, I think Dying Light might have been going easy on me. The day-night cycle appears to be tied to progress in story quests rather than timed (at least so far), which is a little disappointing, but it also seems to indicate that tougher challenges are just a night or two away. I’ll know for sure by tomorrow - and, more importantly, so will you.
No comments:
Post a Comment