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Dying Light brings parkour to land of zombies

Zombies are still in vogue, but it's surprising to see Dead Island developer Techland move onto an entirely different first-person zombie game. While Dead Island could be described as an undead take on The Elder Scrolls, their new game, Dying Light, could be quickly summed as Mirror's Edge with walkers.
Andrew Yoon
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Zombies are still in vogue, but it's surprising to see Dead Island developer Techland move onto an entirely different first-person zombie game. While Dead Island could be described as an undead take on The Elder Scrolls, their new game, Dying Light, could be quickly summed as Mirror's Edge with walkers. Like in DICE's first-person running game, you'll very quickly run through the environment, leaping and vaulting over obstacles, and jumping onto poles, quite easily. However, you'll have a greater repertoire of moves than Faith ever did. While we didn't see any gunplay, we did see quite an impressive array of martial arts moves, with your character able to kick, jump kick, dodge to the side, and even perform a sweeping circular kick--all while remaining in first-person. Dying Light may be far more acrobatic than Deep Silver's game, but it's clear that some Dead Island DNA remains in Techland's latest zombie adventure. You'll be able to collect thousands of weapon parts to craft new tools in your fight against the undead horde. In the hands-off demo that we saw, a blueprint for an electric machete proved to be quite effective, the weapon stunning any zombies bludgeoned by it. Zombie games tend to be gross in nature, but Dying Light seems especially gruesome thanks to its "barely zombie" enemies. Some zombies are more than human than others based on when they turned, and bashing them with a stick until their skulls crack open is not a particularly comforting sight. There are also other survivors to deal with. Typically armed and also scavenging for supplies, they add another wrinkle to the gameplay. In the demo we saw, the player avoided confrontation by raising his hands and running away. Dying Light is aiming for a 2014 release on current and next-gen consoles and PC, and the demo we saw looked quite sharp. The open world looks quite nice--even if the semi-tropical look is reminiscent of something ripped out of Far Cry. It certainly looks far more polished than Dead Island ever did. The parkour and melee gameplay is enough to make Dying Light stand out in a genre that's quickly becoming stale. But, apparently running and kicking aren't the only things you can do in the game. At night, the gameplay shifts to more stealth, with zombies becoming significantly stronger in the moonlight. In addition, something else comes out to hunt the zombies--and you, of course. The demo that we saw was so highly scripted that it's hard to know exactly how much of Techland's vision will translate into real gameplay. Still, we've been dying for another Mirror's Edge game, and with or without zombies, this might be the closest thing we'll get.

Dying Light has you running and leaping a lot across rooftops

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • Shacknews legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
    reply
    May 23, 2013 6:00 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Dying Light brings parkour to land of zombies.

    Zombies are still in vogue, but it's surprising to see Dead Island developer Techland move onto an entirely different first-person zombie game. While Dead Island could be described as an undead take on The Elder Scrolls, their new game, Dying Light, could be quickly summed as Mirror's Edge with walkers.

    • [deleted] 1856106348 legacy 10 years
      reply
      May 23, 2013 6:03 AM

      [deleted]

    • [deleted] 1439419585 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      May 23, 2013 6:27 AM

      [deleted]

    • [deleted] 512828367 legacy 10 years
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      May 23, 2013 6:43 AM

      [deleted]

    • CrustaR legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      May 23, 2013 6:46 AM

      Sounds awesome.

      • valcan_s legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
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        May 23, 2013 7:58 AM

        ^^^ agree am looking forward to it.

        • CrustaR legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          May 23, 2013 9:03 AM

          valcan_s, what's with all the hate people are giving it? :[

          • valcan_s legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
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            May 23, 2013 9:19 AM

            I have no freaking clue? Some may hate on it simply because it is Techland they have a impression their games suck and have bugs. I feel the total opposite I love their games and I am a fan of their Chrome engine.

            Could be the Zombie issue too, since now a days if any game has zombies in it people just cringe, eh I don't know.

            There loss our gain, be awesome if it turns out to be really fresh and then everyone is like "this game is so awesome!" and we go "I told you so".

            We shall see, I am sure it will be good, Techland is talented and their is no doubt about that.

            • one random winner legacy 10 years
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              May 23, 2013 10:11 AM

              I'm thinking it's mostly the zombie issue but I really like this take on it and am willing to give it a go.

            • pandastrong legacy 10 years
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              May 23, 2013 10:23 AM

              You can't really pull out the told you so card when you think every game released looks awesome :)

            • SlingBlaze legacy 10 years
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              May 23, 2013 1:35 PM

              Can I join the "this sounds great" crew

            • Zatric legacy 10 years
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              May 23, 2013 1:50 PM

              So how close to release is this? I imagine it will be before that more medieval looking game techland is working on right?

      • prime8 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        May 23, 2013 10:24 AM

        Yes. I love the zombie stuff even though everyone else is burned out on it.

      • [deleted] 315901395 legacy 10 years
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        May 23, 2013 3:50 PM

        [deleted]

    • enyakk legacy 10 years
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      May 23, 2013 6:46 AM

      At this point they should just re-release Thief and market it as a Zombie stealth game.

    • pierog legacy 10 years
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      May 23, 2013 6:58 AM

      Someone at Techland is into Game Dev Story.

      Platform: PlayBox game #3
      Genre: Action
      Type: Zombie
      Direction: Budget -

    • rtricoche legacy 10 years
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      May 23, 2013 7:49 AM

      This article made me laugh, HARD
      These guys are a joke.

    • shirif legacy 10 years
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      May 23, 2013 9:02 AM

      Sounds awesome

    • Zatric legacy 10 years
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      May 23, 2013 10:00 AM

      Any word on co-op? I love dead island co-op.

      • cptstern legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        May 23, 2013 10:20 AM

        would be so much better if it were couch co-op

    • wrecker77 legacy 10 years
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      May 23, 2013 1:26 PM

      /dies

    • ornee legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      May 29, 2013 9:40 PM

      Sounds like a certain dev has a lot of assets it wants to recycle.

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