Dying Light (2015)

Digital Scapes Studios, Techland, WB Games

Main
18
hours
Main + Extra
36
hours
Platinum
63
hours

Dying Light is a first-person, action survival horror game set in a vast and dangerous open world. During the day, players traverse an expansive urban environment overrun by a vicious outbreak, scavenging the world for supplies and crafting weapons to defend against the growing infected population. At night, the hunter becomes the hunted, as the infected become aggressive and more dangerous. Most frightening are the predators which only appear after sundown. Players must use everything in their power to survive until the morning’s first light.

About the story

In the city of Harran, a mysterious viral outbreak has turned most of the population into hyper-aggressive zombie-like creatures, forcing Harran's Defense Ministry to quarantine the entire city. The Global Relief Effort (GRE) assists survivors still trapped in the city by regularly airdropping supplies. The GRE hires Kyle Crane to infiltrate Harran in order to retrieve a sensitive file stolen from them by Kadir Suleiman, which he is using as leverage to blackmail them, with the threat of publicizing it if anything were to happen to him. Crane is airdropped into Harran, where he is ambushed by a gang of hostile bandits. As the infected attack, Crane is bitten and infected, but rescued by Jade Aldemir and Amir Ghoreyshi. Amir sacrifices himself to buy Jade and Crane time, and Jade takes him to a survivor sanctuary called the Tower. Crane wakes up and is introduced to Rahim Aldemir, Jade's brother. Rahim then teaches Crane parkour and sends him to Spike, who gives him his first task as a resident of the tower. Crane learns that the Tower, which seeks to help other survivors, is being harassed by a gang of bandits led by a warlord named Rais who steals and hoards the supplies from the GRE airdrops, including Antizin; a vaccine that suppresses symptoms of infection and keeps bitten people from turning into the infected. After Harris Brecken, leader of the tower is nearly killed by a rival runner in a mission to retrieve an Antizin drop, need for the drug becomes immense. Crane volunteers and manages to reach an airdrop containing Antizin, but despite the dire need of the vaccine by the survivors, Crane is instructed by the GRE to destroy the airdrop, instructing him to reach out to Rais in order to buy the vaccine in order to confirm his identity. Crane reluctantly complies and informs the Tower that the supplies have been looted. Upset, Brecken tasks Crane with the job of making a deal with Rais. Upon meeting Rais, Crane is able to confirm that he is indeed Suleiman. He carries out a series of unethical tasks for Rais under the assumption that he will be rewarded with two crates of Antizin. Crane is unable to locate the file, and is later betrayed by Rais, who only gives him five vials of Antizin. He later breaks off business with the GRE when they halt the supply drops and refuse to help the Tower. The situation in the tower worsens, and a whole floor is sealed off when an outbreak occurs. While doing an errand, Rahim tells Crane that he and Omar were planning to bomb an infected nest. Crane is opposed to this plan. After an argument over the radio, he gives chase to a fleeing Rahim. Upon catching up to him, he finds that Omar is dead, while Rahim has been wounded. He then executes Rahim's plans, resulting in the killing of the infected in the compound. When he gets back to Rahim he discovers that he was actually bitten and had turned while Crane was gone, forcing Crane to respectfully snap Rahim's neck when he attacks him. When Crane returns to the tower to inform Brecken of the news, Jade overhears them, and visibly upset, takes off. Meanwhile, a scientist at the Tower named Dr. Imran Zere, who was attempting to develop a cure for the virus, is kidnapped by Rais, prompting Crane to attempt a rescue mission. Crane is also captured by Rais, who reveals that the file he stole contains proof that the GRE intends to weaponize the virus rather than develop a cure and releases the file to the public. Crane manages to escape before being executed, resulting in Rais losing one of his hands during the process. Dr. Zere is killed in the rescue attempt, but manages to tell Crane that he had entrusted his research to Jade, who is tasked with delivering it to another scientist named Dr. Allen Camden. As Crane goes to look for Jade, he finds out that the Defense Ministry is planning to bomb Harran in an effort to completely eradicate the outbreak, claiming that there are no survivors left in the city. He manages to reactivate a radio tower and broadcasts a message to the outside world, thwarting the Ministry's plan. Jade was captured by Rais, who also steals Dr. Zere's research. Crane manages to rescue Jade and recover a part of Dr. Zere's research, but Jade admits that she has been bitten, and pleads with Crane to stop Rais. Jade then succumbs to the wound, forcing Crane to kill her. After killing Rais' assistant, Tair with his own machete, Crane delivers the tissue samples to Dr. Camden, who believes that he is very close to the cure, but needs the rest of Dr. Zere's data. Crane then finds out that Rais has cut a deal with the GRE, in which he will hand over Dr. Zere's research data to them in return for extraction from Harran. Crane then assaults Rais' headquarters (filled with infected) and battles him atop a skyscraper, eventually stabbing Rais in the neck and throwing him off the building. He recovers the research data and decides to turn it over to Dr. Camden instead of the GRE, intending to stay in Harran to help the survivors.

Platforms

Linux Mac PC PS3 PS4 X360 XONE

Genres

Adventure Role-playing (RPG) Shooter

Themes

Action Horror Open world Stealth Survival

Languages: English and 16 more

Interface Audio Subtitles
English
French
Italian
German
Spanish (Spain)
Dutch
Polish
Portuguese (Brazil)
Russian
Korean
Chinese (Simplified)
Japanese
Thai
Chinese (Traditional)
Turkish
Czech
Spanish (Mexico)

Critic Reviews

GideonsGaming

By Joseph Pugh

78

The free-running is fantastic, the combat feels excellent, and the crafting and skill system are well designed. Dying Light Plays well, and the story is entertaining, even if it is fairly basic. The gunplay definitely sours the experience when it comes up, and the lack of any real consequence for failure tarnishes every mechanic of the game. If that doesn't turn you off then there is a lot to love about this zombie romp

17 Oct, 2018
Amber Plays Games

By Amber Hodson

80

If you've been craving for some slaying action since the days of Dead Island I've got some good news - Dying Light might just be for you! Packed full of great content, Dying Light is almost perfect in its execution. Almost.

29 Mar, 2018
Elite Gamer

By Daire Hardesty

88

Dying Light really stands on its own as a game, and where it fell down with the storyline it made up with the rest of its features.

20 Mar, 2016
KnowTechie

By Josh Knowles

86

To sum it up, the "Enhanced Edition" content lets you add some filters, improves some animations and makes the zombies more dangerous. This is all before adding in some devastating new weaponry.

10 Mar, 2016
SomHráč.sk

By Róbert Bartovič

80

Dying Light is a massive upgrade from Dead Island. Don't miss this if zombie games are close to your heart.

29 Aug, 2015

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