Dying Light Preview - PAX Prime 2013

Hopefully Dying Light can keep creating moments like this, where players are forced to leave the safety of the air and go to where the danger is. I get back on the rooftops and find the third trap. I’m now settling into a rhythm that threatens to numb my reactions and make me easy prey. I come across a house where a man is hold up, screaming for help while zombies claw at his front door. I toss a firecracker into a nearby oil spill, lighting a fire which attracts the brain-dead monsters and this sees them wander into the flames and catch fire.

The survivor thanks me and gives me a gift. I also earn a little experience which can contribute to leveling up, something that was not shown in-depth in this demo. I find the fourth trap and activate it, the sun is still above the horizon. Maybe, I’ll make it home before dark after all. That is when I am informed via radio that the power is out and I am the one who has to turn it on.

Things get dicier now, I start to work my way through parking lots and warehouses, losing most of my prior height advantage. I still try to use walls, cars, anything I can find to keep myself on the high ground, but it’s not as easy as it was before. As I reach the power generator and flip the switch, I alert an entire horde to my presence. Time to start running.

It is a mad dash toward safety with an entire horde running behind me. In my peripheral vision I can see the slower, plodding zombies morph into faster and meaner ones. I don’t stop to investigate, I just keep pushing myself forward. The game is a maze of back alleys, dead ends, fences that slow you down, and alternate routes that make you take the long way to your objective. There’s no time to investigate options, no time to come up with a strategy, you can only put your head down and hustle. I take a wrong turn and try to scramble over the hood of an ambulance. I feel it should be an easy jump, but I’m not making it. The zombies are getting closer now, I move to the side of the vehicle and finally the jump mechanics kicks in as I pull myself to safety. It is a moment where the controls betray me, but only briefly.

I start my mad dash again, feeling the horde still on my tail. I turn around, which slows the game into bullet-time, and toss a flare to distract some of my pursuers. I dodge into an alley and set off an electrified trap to buy myself even more time. Finally I see another survivor, urging me into a concrete building, perfect for hiding out. I don’t ask questions, I follow. The door shuts behind him and the game goes dark. Demo over.

Dying Light feels like a rush. It plays off of the chase mechanic, like Mirror’s Edge meeting Dead Island. Techland has a strong grip on how taking away combat and adding traversal mechanics can make for a refreshing and tense zombie experience. It is not hard to imagine white-knuckled sequences in which players scramble over different terrain in creative settings. It is still early for Dying Light, so there are questions to be answer about the upgrade system, about the narrative, and the pacing. However, as someone who has felt recent zombie fatigue, Dying Light offers one hell of a ride that has made me interested in another go-round with the undead.