14 DAY TRIAL // Dying Light might be described as a Dead Island with added parkour and an urban setting and it will be interesting to see whether the development team at Techland can introduce enough innovation to convince those who love undead bashing to take a chance on the title.
The E3 2014 demo for the title starts off in rather subdued fashion, aiming to familiarize the player with the way the freerunning aspect of the title works, with the left bumper on the controller used to push the character through the world, allowing him to climb walls, vault over obstacles, jump from roof to roof.
The world of Dying Light is overrun with undead and initially the gamer is underpowered, which means that it's wise to avoid larger groups, who tend to stay in the street, by using the buildings to move around the world.
After reaching an area dominated by heavily armed enemies, the developers show how different night looks in the game, with more powerful undead roaming the world, able to sprint after the player and climb around themselves.
This means that no location is safe and the player needs to push down on both controller sticks in order to activate a special sense that can locate the enemies and can be used to then plot a safe course.
The game is tense and engaging, although the parkour movement might require some time to get accustomed to.
The undead enemies are powerful and can overcome the player in groups during the day, especially when there's no space to retreat to.
The E3 2014 demo for Dying Light also includes a small section taken from the late game, set in a new area called Old Town.
The player character is much better developed and has access to a variety of weapons and abilities, including an electrified crafted axe that can split undead with ease.
With faster movement and more strength to fight, the game becomes less about avoidance and more about direct confrontation, although the zombies continue to pose a threat, and it's nice to pick a wide open spot and then battle the undead using solid weapons and good planning.
Techland is also adding a grappling hook to the gamer's arsenal in order to make it easier for him to get out of trouble and reach locations that would otherwise be hard to explore.
Dying Light is supposed to be launched at some point in February 2015 on the PC, the PlayStation 4 from Sony, the Xbox One from Microsoft and current-gen consoles.