4/5 ★ – TheNameBrand's review of Dying Light.

This is the best evolution of a zombie game you could ever play. Tight combat, crazy weapons, incredible parkour system, and a great level up system, all will keep you very entertained. NameBrand. What can I say about Dying Light except for... wow? I looked at it, and bought it on a whim over the Holidays, didn't think I would get much into it. It kinda looks generic, and I think the zombie genre should have died years and years ago. But wow. It hooked me, and I've been very much enjoying what it has to offer. The parkour, and the combat are the biggest and best things about this game. From the slow-mo stuns and kills, to speeding across rooftops, the gameplay loop is extremely satisfying and I found that when it started to get a little stale, I could just do a different set of missions, craft some monstrosity of a weapon, or vary my play style slightly, and it would be peak levels of entertaining again. The sandbox that they present to you is just extremely well done and it was surprising how it continues to offer a great experience. I didn't really *like* the characters, but I enjoyed the stories that they were presented in, and the scenarios that a zombie infested quarantine zone would bring. I liked experiencing the story of factions fighting for resources, loved ones sacrificing themselves for their families or their communities, people being jerks and grifting other survivors, people rising into leadership just because they were at the right place & time, etc. I think they did a good job realizing a lot of the human stories that would come out of a situation like this. And the breadth of content is HUGE. Main story completion took me about 30 hours, and that's with completing all the side missions too (all in vanilla). The DLC I'm just starting to crack into and WOW! There's a lot there as well. The platinum edition is definitely the way to go, because the value of the DLC (that actually expands the game in what you can do) is crazy. In the very least you HAVE to get "The Following" which is almost like a sequal with how much new content is in it. Crazy. All in all, I think it's a great game that can be recommended to most people who enjoy First Person Shooters, Open World Sandboxes, Light Crafting Mechanics, and a hint of Nazi Zombies. Or something along those lines lol. Shockingly good and surprisingly deep.