3.5/5 ★ – Endless_backlog's review of Dying Light.

In the most simple terms Dying light can be described as parkour with zombies and although it is much more than this, the emphasis on free running to move around the map as quickly and efficiently as possible does makes it unique to other zombie shooters. Following the outbreak of a deadly virus in fictional Middle Eastern city Harran, special agent Kyle Crane is sent by the Global Relief Effort (GRE), into the city undercover with the objective of finding a political figure turned warlord, and gaining intel on a potential cure. Upon arrival, Crane is attacked by zombies and is bitten, but rescued by survivor Jade and brought to a sanctuary known as The Tower. In these early moments we are introduced to a few key characters all with interesting personalities. Jade, a no nonsense former kick-boxing world champion who is tough on the outside but compassionate at heart, particularly for her younger brother Rahim who is determined to prove himself as vital to the group. Heading operations is Brecken who first introduced the survivors to a parkour system designed to evade the huge abundance of zombies in the streets. There’s no vehicle missions and all of your travels across the fairly sized map will be on foot, in particular climbing up sides of buildings, leaping across rooftops, ziplining from towers and jumping from great heights onto piles of garbage bags. The lack of fast travel forces the player to engage with these mechanics and become familiar with their environment. Crane will develop and learn new moves by earning points and unlocking skill trees. “Agility” unlocks moves such dodging, sliding under gaps, vaulting enemies and drop kicking them on landing, all things designed to help you move around faster and reduce damage. “Power” unlocks additional health or combat moves such as head stomping downed enemies. “Survivor” expands your inventory such as how much you can carry and how efficient your crafting can be. Throughout the city you will find items in lockers, tool boxes and in car/van trunks. Some of these require lock picks to open, with varying difficulty. Blueprints can be found or earned through side missions which grant you the ability to craft certain items such as med kits from alcohol and gauze. There’s a variety of weapons but I primarily relied on melee items such as machetes, hammers and hatchets. These will break down as you use them and it is important to fix them using the items you have found before they break or they will become ineffective. They can also be upgraded with additional perks such as holding an electrical charge. The zombies come in various forms with the most generic infected swarming the streets fairly docile but charging you when near. This is where the parkour system shines and really aids your survivor chances as they are poor climbers. In contrast to this, recently infected known as Volatiles still hold a lot of their human characteristics and they will chase you endlessly being both fast and brutally violent. The game is played during both day and night and it is in these dark hours that all of the zombies become much more aggressive. Utilising safe zones you have liberated across the map and activating light traps to distract or disorientate zombies is your best chance at surviving a mission during the night. Dying light is a fast paced survival FPS which is fair in being labelled as horror with the anxiety that a chase from a group of volatiles will cause. The story is interesting and never feels like it is padded despite all of the quests Crane finds himself on to help the people of Harran. The combat is fun with the crafting element keeping you on your toes about the condition of your weapons and forcing you to scavenge along your journey. Overall, it stands out in the zombie genre and is much more tactical than the hack and slash that so many other games become guilty of.