Deadlight (PC) Review

If you've been even slightly informed about video games in the last few years, you'll know that there has been one theme that has been done to death and literally back again: Zombies. From Left 4 Dead to Plants vs Zombies, zombies have touched almost literally every single genre of gaming that has ever existed, the first-person shooter by far the worst offender. One genre that has seen a recent resurgence is 2D platformers and Tequila Works gives its take on the zombie craze with Deadlight.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the title of the game!

Deadlight is essentially a 2D platformer with some adventure and action aspects thrown in too. The side scrolling gameplay is refreshing take to zombie games of recent times that have focussed too much on the frenetic side of combat rather than survival and quick thinking which Deadlight has attempted to do.

The story is comprised of what is mostly a monologue from Randall White who assumes the role of brooding, socially awkward anti-hero. Cut-scenes are artistically conveyed through comicbook stills while dialogue is delivered, before switching to the actual gameplay. This can occasionally be quite impressive, seeing the story conveyed in vague, artistic cartoon before cutting to fully rendered environments that show the described surroundings in much more detail. However, other times this is extremely jarring to be brought in and out of these cutscenes when you were previously frantically escaping the grasp of zombies.

Randall's journey attempts to reunite Randall with his wife and daughter, and while his past is alluded to very little in the dialogue, his life before the zombies (or 'shadows' as they are referred to) is detailed in a diary which you can peruse at your own leisure. The diary is missing several pages which you can pick up over the course of the game which shed more light on the thoughts of the troubled Randall. All-in-all a cute effort at story-weaving, however by game's end (SPOILER!) had you collected all the book fragments, Randall would only seem even less of a hero than he seemed throughout the early game.

Randall describing how normal he was before everything got less normal

Stylistically, the 2D plarformer actually worked for this attempt of a zombie game. The foreground where the action all occurs is actually blacked out so Randall and the environment you interact with is in complete darkness. The environment behind this plane is visible and zombies are even able to saunter from the background into the foreground, adding another literally level of strategy to consider. This effect is actually very impressive, giving the environment more character and relevance than any other 2D platformer, though at first it can be jarring that you can only traverse in the foreground plane while everything else can do otherwise.

As mentioned earlier, Deadlight also possesses platforming aspects and for long stretches of the game you will be putting Randal through his platforming paces. The platforming feels like it should be a pseudo-2D version of Assassin's Creed and generally does quite a good job of the running, jumping and climbing mechanics. Compared to what I believe is the pinnacle of platforming, Super Meat Boy, though, Deadlight's controls feel clunky and unresponsive. Too often Randall would be stuck in the middle of an animation and wouldn't be able to complete a second jump, or missing a wall jump completely, falling to his death. This normally wouldn't be a big issue, however I feel that if a player believes he has done everything perfectly to avoid the obstacles before him, he shouldn't then be rewarded with repeating the task ten times just to pass that stage exactly as the developer envisaged. And please, please play Deadlight with a game controller; I think it would be far too frustrating without it.

For those wondering where the action comes in, Deadlight also has guns and melee weapons available. The gun mechanics are a very simple point-in-the-right-direction-and-shoot, and the scarcity of ammo in the game really makes it feel like you are scrounging to survive. Melee weapons however leave a lot to be desired; there is a stamina bar in this game, however it will run out in three to four swings. Whether this was intentional to suggest that running is the best defence against the zombies, but if this were the case they should have been removed completely. Deadlight does however promote one aspect of zombie games that has more recently become more prominent and I applaud this, and this is the concept of survival and constantly escaping by the skin of your teeth. The Walking Dead has done it and now Deadlight has and exploited this to create action, rather than throw waves at zombies at you and expect you decimate every last one. It creates a much more emotional, exhaustive experience which I feel generally makes a game seem far longer than it really was (in a good way); Deadlight will probably see you through in about 4 hours.

Probably not hazardous... right?

The world of Deadlight is very detailed and conveys the level of destruction and scarcity you'd expect from a world decimated by the undead. It is also a very pretty game; from the detailed background to the glowing eyes of the 'shadows', Deadlight is a beautifully presented game and you can see the extra effort gone to creating a believable environment for Randall to explore. The contrast between the dark of the foreground and the light in the background makes for a very different and unique take on the 2D platformer, one which I hope is explored more in other games in the future.

Deadlight is a very good game; a fresh take on zombie themed games, a emotional (if confusing and dark) story and interesting mix of genres means Deadlight will be one of my sentimental favourites for a long time. I hope Tequila Works explores this genre more in a similar style and gets rid of all the niggling issues that could have made Deadlight one of the memorable games for the wider games community.

Deadlight (PC) review - Scuba Score 8/10