Jolly Cooperation: Dying Light (2)

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for another chapter of Jolly Cooperation. In this segment, I talk about my love for co-operative video games with a spotlight on the ones that I am playing at the moment. In this case, that would be Dying Light which I had already featured in a the first chapter of Jolly Cooperation as I broke down my initial impressions of the open world first person zombie adventure and tips on running it on an MX150-based system. 

Having played the game exclusively in co-op mode and clocking in 25 hours thus far, I must say that I have grown to become extremely fond of the game. Despite whatever it claims to be, Dying Light is essentially a giant fetch-quest game which sees you go from point A to B, with occasional detours in the middle, to either find an item or send one. On paper then, this already sounds extremely mundane and tedious. But that could not be further from the truth and here is why. 

For starters, Dying Light has an incredibly robust and satisfying first person combat system. Be it, melee or ranged, the developers have really put a great deal of thought and work into making the best possible system for their game. "Simple to learn yet, difficult to execute", that would be the best way for me to described the combat system in Dying Light. Simplicity means players do not have to spend a long time trying to figure out the fighting mechanics and that is extremely pertinent when it comes to suddenly having to face huge hordes of zombies. Yet, at the same time, the combat mechanics rewards well timed and precise strikes that allow for quick incapacitation of your undead foes. In short, Dying Light strikes a really healthy balance between fight and flight. 

Then, there is the satisfying nature of combat that Dying Light has so carefully curated. Each blow to the skull or precise arrow shot is met with a satisfying impact that is both heard and felt. This goes a long way in fueling the adrenaline of battle which can really ramp up, especially at night.

Finally, the combat system is bolstered with a robust crafting system that features all sorts of wacky and zany creations that demand your attention. They are never too difficult to construct and often offer a significant upgrade over your otherwise vanilla household appliances. 

As you progress through the game, you gradually become stronger and stronger. This allows you the opportunity to face stronger or larger number of foes and even venture out at night where things are significantly tougher not just due to the lack of illumination. And that is where the second part of Dying Light's strength truly comes into play, the atmosphere. Even with a co-op partner by my side, the tension in Dying Light's fictional city of Harran, never seems to diminish. Whether it is facing off a huge horde of zombies or trying to scrape by night challenges, Dying Light often keeps players on their toes with little time to take things easy outside of the designated safe zones.

Part of why I think Dying Light maintains this excellent atmosphere and immersion, is because of its well curated open world. Harran is a large open world map but, every part of it feels like it was designed with a purpose and thought in mind. Moreover the developers have also kept the size of the playable map fairly manageable. The end result are recurring locales which develop over time and, more importantly, become places that we remember. 

All of this is then tied together by the very competent art and graphics presentation. Even with a mixture of Low and Medium settings, Dying Light still looks like a very handsome game. And I have no doubt it would look even better with everything turned up to 11 on a high end system. But more than graphical fidelity is how everything in the world meshes together so well, with no object ever looking out of place. The final result is a very cohesive and believable presentation, something we see very often in Japanese games. But less so in Western titles. 

Of course, that is not to say that Dying Lying is perfect. For starters, the game still has its fair share of bugs and physics glitches. Initial load times do take some time even when loading of a solid state drive. Voice acting can be abysmal at points. And character models something look a little too shiny/glossy. But those are really minor niggles compared to the bigger picture and the sheer amount of fun Dying Light has to offer especially in co-operative mode. 

How much longer do I have left in Dying Light? According to the progress bar, I am only a third through. So, here is to another 50 hours of zombie slaughter! Will my love for Dying Light remain unwavering over the next dozens of hours? Only time will tell. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!