Horror games are having their renaissance without a doubt. I don’t talk about the recent Silent Hill and Resident Evil games though – these franchises decided to build themselves on jumpscares and a much more action-oriented gameplay style. But what about actual horror games? Outlast. Five Nights at Freddy’s. Dying Light…

Life after Dead Island…

The developers know the right direction. Despite their CVs not being full of horror games, Dead Island has shown that the Polish team can bring decent games to the table that is not a racing game. Why was Dead Island a great game back in 2011 Fall? Simple: take an open world, add a lot of zombies, and mix up the gameplay with role-play elements.

This actually applies to Dying Light too – the game will be released in the end of January 2015. Don’t forget that this project was originally meant to be a sequel to Dead Island; comparing the two will actually be a reasonable idea. Obviously, there will be changes as well! The environment will closely resemble the slums of South American countries – don’t expect huge castles, you will only find death and distress around you.

Techland will try to change the norm of several things. For example, if there’s going to be a task to find your friend in time before he/she dies, then don’t expect just one way to navigate between point A and point B. Will this be one of the elements that make the game outstanding? We don’t know it yet.

However, the gameplay will be definitely different; unlike in Dead Island, you will actually get the feeling that you must SURVIVE. You can’t just go all out on the hoards of zombies alone, because that’s going to be a costly mistake in this game: suddenly, more will pop up – and I don’t think you will be able to react to them. Simply put: we won’t be overpowered.

It might sound weird, but Dying Light will pay homage to parkour in a way. It’s true: you will jump from one roof to another – just like in Mirror’s Edge, but not in amounts like in EA’s game. If you have vertigo, prepare to face your fear, because you’ll need it.

Zombies will have brains behind their rotting skin and meat: this time around, brute force will simply not cut it. You have to defeat the AI with thinking instead of going flat out against them. An example: you’ll encounter some faster enemies. Let’s say that you end up defeating them.

Alright, what about the next stack of enemies that are approaching? You’ll be likely to have not enough ammunition and/or health to pull that off. How do you escape? It depends on you. Will it be a good idea to risk your life to save some of the other survivors? Will the reward be decent enough to consider taking that detour? We’ll have to see about that. Decisions, decisions, decisions – hopefully they will have a striking effect. I hope that this aspect of the game will not be neglected.

…while taking cues from Dead Island

Customizing weapons will still be a thing in Dead Island. Techland would make a big mistake not implementing this into their latest game. Melee will also make a welcome return as well, but don’t forget that ranged weapons can be used too. According to the devs’ promise, there will be 10 types of zombies, so it’s going to be interesting to see how they react to the weapons. Speaking of weapons, there’ll be over a hundred of them to use, so prepare for some experiments. Who knows, maybe one random combination is going to be victorious!

The game’s success is depending on the following factors:

– Will the developers be able to create something new after Dead Island?

– How will they create the open world; will its possibilities make it desirable to play?

– Although Chrome Engine 6 will be responsible for the audiovisuals, but what can we expect in terms of sounds?

– How much of a factor will the strategic aspect be in the gameplay?

These four questions will make or break Dying Light‘s success. Techland simply has to move on after Dead Island. Sure, it’s going to be different, but how much?

-V-