Definitely Not DOA

One of the sleeper hits of 2015, Dying Light took everything that was good with Dead Island, tossed away the bad and created something special. I remember purchasing Dying Light and not really holding out too much hope for it, I had previously bought and played both Dead Islands and while entertaining in their own right - simply didn't grab me. I just thought the parkour in Dying Light looked cool, and anyone that knows me will understand I'm quite quick to buy a game on a sniff of a mechanic I like. Playing as Kyle Crane, you enter the world of Harran as an agent for some agency that resides somewhere in the world. Your mission, to find out information about a mysterious virus that is currently wreaking havoc on the city and its population. Upon entering this world you find out that the virus has decimated most of the population, turning them into mindless (apart from the hunger) zombies that just want to tear you apart, limb from limb. Luckily, apart from a couple of special types, these are the slow and lumbering zombies like 'The Walking Dead' series, rather than the fast and relentless zombies from '28 Days Later'. Still, in the early game, you are woefully underpowered and even these slow ones can kill you quickly if you get surrounded. The city is vast, with lots of areas to explore. A high-rise dominates the slum area of the map, with shacks and small shops making up the outlying area. A small coastline gives you the opportunity to do a bit of swimming and a motorway over a bridge can give you a sense of vertigo as you leap from the top of it. The addition of the 'Old Town' in the standard game and 'The Countryside' in the subsequent DLC means that the space to explore is vast and varied. I personally love Old Town for the aesthetics and feel, with far more verticality to explore. The gameplay is top-notch with the skill tree allowing you to level Kyle up to be both far more athletic and far more deadly. Personally I would level up anything that allowed me to carry more in my Backpack, or to extend the reach of the (oh so satisfying) zipline. Lots of the skills are centred around the crafting side of Dying Light, the ability to make and customise your weapons! Dying Light is one of the only games that I can think of where melee weapons are better than the guns. In fact, to clear some space in my backpack I'd often just clear out any weapons that fire bullets. Baseball bats, Sickles, Axes, Oars, Pipes and Bows are all fair game, and the ability to customise these with items such as circular saw blades, flamethrowers, electrical charges etc gives plenty of options to kill the Z's. Apart from some mild mouse lag, I thoroughly enjoyed this game from start to finish. Playing mostly in co-op with a friend (@Skillet), we found it a perfect for team play, we were each other's medics, guides, mules and traders. Swapping weapons when we found something better, ensuring both of us levelled equally. Night times were particularly fun, with the special infected coming out to play. The sense of dread and trepidation that occurred when you had a 'Volatile' on your heels as you desperately seek a safe room was incredible. Throughout the game, you find many different types of infected, Volatiles are potentially the most deadly - fast-moving, powerful and plentiful enough that it makes night time an exciting time to be alive. But then you have the powerful, and armour laden Demolishers who smashes you with one hell of a (Charger-esq) shoulder charge. Over the period of the game main missions, you slowly get more adept at dealing with these threats. By the end, you will not only be able to defeat things with relative ease but will be hunting them down much the same way they did to you earlier in the game. There aren't many games that can really stand the test of time, but I find myself drawn back to this game time and time again. It's a game I recommend to anyone that likes the open-world style gameplay combined with a great combat system and interesting story. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 9/10 • Sound Design: 9/10 • Gameplay: 8/10 • Longevity: 9/10 • Fun: 10/10