Preface: I am absolutely puck-bored out of my skull of zombie games, and have been for a looooong ass time since before Dying Light came out.

But this game is different.

Being a sandbox-lite it is already halfway appealing to the explorer in me from the outset. However, having played Dead Island (for 5 minutes before uninstalling) it was with trepidation that I plunged money down on this game pretty much at launch. I could not get the bad taste out of my mouth after Dead Island for a few days on account of feeling like I was skating, no - floating, on ice and other engine-related allergies. But knowing that this game's main selling point was the parkour elements, I put these worries aside as it would be impossible to achieve that without fixing my previous woes.

Sure, the game does pander to the casual here and there. It does make me cringe somewhat that you're always being bombarded with overpowered weapons and rarely in the game feel like surviving is taking its toll at all. However, the game is so fun on account of the flow of moving from place to place that it becomes an objective unto itself to make perfect assaults and getaways rather than getting into sticky situations where outnumbered.

Also, difficulty increasing mods were some of the first to come out, and remain the most essential mods one can have today.

My biggest complaint about this game however is how early you master the movement. In Mirror's Edge, I found myself replaying the game because I wasn't satisfied with my mastery of the parkour when I completed the game. Not so for this game. In this game, it'll take less than 10 hours to reach perfection of your skills to move perfectly from place to place, and thus it becomes a bit repetitive near the end. It is simply too forgiving to be replayable.

But even my biggest complaint is minor, given that "AAA" these days have become synonymous with trash, and Dying Light came around and changed that for me. Or at least showed me a rare glimmer of hope.

The optimization problems at launch however do not paint these developers in a positive light, so while I can recommend this game now, I wouldn't recommend picking up anything fresh from this developer in the future until at least a couple of patches in.

Preface: I am absolutely puck-bored out of my skull of zombie games, and have been for a looooong ass time since before Dying Light came out. But this game is different. Being a sandbox-lite it is already halfway appealing to the explorer in me from the outset. However, having played Dead Island (for 5 minutes before uninstalling) it was with trepidation that I plunged money down on this game pretty much at launch. I could not get the bad taste out of my mouth after Dead Island for a few days on account of feeling like I was skating, no - floating, on ice and other engine-related allergies. But knowing that this game's main selling point was the parkour elements, I put these worries aside as it would be impossible to achieve that without fixing my previous woes. Sure, the game does pander to the casual here and there. It does make me cringe somewhat that you're always being bombarded with overpowered weapons and rarely in the game feel like surviving is taking its toll at all. However, the game is so fun on account of the flow of moving from place to place that it becomes an objective unto itself to make perfect assaults and getaways rather than getting into sticky situations where outnumbered. Also, difficulty increasing mods were some of the first to come out, and remain the most essential mods one can have today. My biggest complaint about this game however is how early you master the movement. In Mirror's Edge, I found myself replaying the game because I wasn't satisfied with my mastery of the parkour when I completed the game. Not so for this game. In this game, it'll take less than 10 hours to reach perfection of your skills to move perfectly from place to place, and thus it becomes a bit repetitive near the end. It is simply too forgiving to be replayable. But even my biggest complaint is minor, given that "AAA" these days have become synonymous with trash, and Dying Light came around and changed that for me. Or at least showed me a rare glimmer of hope. The optimization problems at launch however do not paint these developers in a positive light, so while I can recommend this game now, I wouldn't recommend picking up anything fresh from this developer in the future until at least a couple of patches in.