Dying Light and why more and more games are lacking a specific look


(.FROST.) #1

Ever since I first saw some of the very, very early and obscure screenies of this upcoming zombie game, that may, or may not get finished, I was looking forward to its release like crazy, but then the news surrounding this game kinda died down, just like they arose out of nowhere before that. Then bam, suddenly things went really quick and ever more and more new screensots and dev vids dripped in, just like the game had never entirely vanished into thin air and off the radars of so many gamers that were looking forward to itlike myself. And finally the game was graced by my by far most favorite VG-trailer of all time, that even became one of my top 5 best zombie “movies” ever.

I’m ofc talking about the original Dead Island. That game had a very recognisable look to it, considering that the whole thing also took place in the “real” world, as opposed to games like say Rage, Brink and Wolfenstein. The game had a very specific lighting and everything looked a bit like it was made out of plastic. Even though I could’ve lived without the later one it was at least some sort of look, that seperated it quite clearly from any other game at that time. Though I didn’t actually played it, since it wasn’t what I’ve imagined it would be after I saw the very first WiP pics and this terrific trailer. Instead it was a loot and crafting RPG with no real drama to it; at least that’s what I got from watching around 10hrs of LP’s of it.

So now, after various Dead Island titles and a couple DLC, Techland is bringing us Dying Light at the end of the month. And my biggest gripes with it(and many other games at the moment) is, that it doesn’t look any different, than any other game out there. If you’d take a screenshot from anywhere in the game(without the zombies ofc), you wouldn’t know from which game those pics are. What I mean by that; the game looks great from a technical POV and the textures are pretty nice and sharp, but regardless of that the atmosphere, or rather the lack of it kinda bores me, so I’ve canceled my pre-order. I’ve watched all pre-release vids on theRadBrad’s channel, but the game just doesn’t grab me, even though I thought I’d effing love it. But nowadays every game goes so much for realism, that they all look more or less the same to me.

Ok, it’s difficult to make something look unique, when it’s so much rooted in reality and our period of time, but it’s possible. I mean you can’t go too wild on the environment and all the stuff in it, since it’s supposed to take place in the present(more, or less) but you could change the entire visual style; i.e. like Borderlands, Bioshock Infinite, Team Fortress, Loadout, Brink, Telltale’s TWD, you get the idea. But this realistic looking open world stuff just bores the crap out of me, that’s why I don’t feel in the slightest to play something like Far Cry. Actually, just from watching it on YT, Dying Light reminds me a lot of FC; like FC with zombies. Far Cry: Blood Dragon on the other hand is just awesome.

After all I came again to the conclusion, that my idea of the whole zombie genre may be a bit specific and with a strong emphasis on the drama. Zombie movies were never really about horror for me. A Nightmare on Elm Street, the Ring and several other ghost movies are what I’d call horror movies(Freddy is also some kind of ghost), but zombie flicks were always more about blood pumping hardcore thrill, deep, heart tearing drama, interesting make up effects and the return to the core values and pleasures of being alive; like a full stomach at the end of the day, a day without running for your life, you know, those little things; being close to your family and defending them with your life on a daily basis, etc.

But for some odd reasons zombie games are mostly about slaughtering zombies with a multitude of ridiculous makeshift weapons. And even though that’s fun and also a core part of the whole zombie lore, it shouldn’t be such a central element of those games. Telltale’s TWD is actually the only zombie game, that comes close to a 100% of what I’d think a zombie game should be like, but it’s quite short and also not really a game, but more of an interactive graphic novel. I would love the tone and story of TWD cobbled with a open/ongoing world scenario.

What I still like in Dying Light:

-the background music
-the mobility/movement
-the story to a certain extent, though it’s not as dramatic, as I would’ve wished
-day and night cycle
-how the zombies look, behave, even though some of them are way too agile for being dead people

Maybe I’ll finally give it a shot, once the first impression reviews start coming in on YT and when they convince me.

PS: The second best zombie game(that is actually not a zombie game), is ofc TLoU.

//youtu.be/RLHR5smxbsc


(.FROST.) #2

Terrible MP and still not nearly convinced from what I’ve seen from the SP. I HATE super-powered zombies, or zombies with super abilities. Even though I prefer agressive running zombies, like in Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, as opposed to Romero’s slow movers, I hate everything beyond that. But holy god, they really jumped the shark with this Spider-Man/Venom zombie thing. The MP will die faster then the daylight in this game.

//youtu.be/u2ai_WcnZ7Q


(.FROST.) #3

[QUOTE=.FROST.;520239]Mr. Spider-Zombie(be the zombie-mode) has kinda put the last nail in the DL-coffin for me. I was talking quite a bit about the look of many modern games atm and that they all kinda look the same, and DL is absolutely no exeption in this regard. Oddly enough though, compared to DL, I actually find the upcoming Dead Island 2 much more appealing, at least from its look, even though it’s still not what I’d wish from a zombie game.

What I genuinely hate in most zombie games:

Too many zombies to kill… Sounds odd, but I’m not a person that actually enjoys beating the holy crap out of semi-people, even if they are already dead. Imo the whole point and central idea of the zombie-genre is that those dead people were once living breathing people with dreams and fears and may have even been related to you in one way, or the other. But in most zombie games this whole drama aspect completely vanishes and your ingame character appears to enjoy nothing more than to dismember and mutilate the walking dead with a ridiculous arsenal of makeshift weapons and explosives.

When can we finally get a game where killing zombies is actually a thing and not just a joyfull side activity?

As I’ve already said; Telltale are kinda the only people that understand the genre, but their games aren’t a 100% games, even though I love to play them. They are more like a mix of interactive graphic novels and a traditional TV show.

What I want in a zombie game;

A 18-25hrs SP campaign(no tacked on MP), with a strong narrative, unique characters, interesting and satisfying gameplay mechanics and an atmosphere, dense like an effing concrete wall. Only realistic weapon-crafting, and running away, or outflanking the zombies should be your best option most of the time.

Why the hell is that so hard to do and what’s so entertaining in literally mowing down thousands of zombies in videogames like Dying Light, Dead Island, and Dead Rising, etc.?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=BioSnark;520241]eh, last of us was supposed to have an interesting narrative and characters with slower paced action.

dying light looks like a fun-with-friends shooting and looting experience like borderlands or dead island and that can’t really be serious.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=.FROST.;520246]Well, TLoU was the game that lead me to buy me my first console ever, need I say more? :wink: Elli was a great character(Joel paled a little bit in comparison to her) and Bill(the gay guy; sry if political incorrect) and many others where also really good and felt like real persons. It was a great game with a lot of grey instead of the good ol’ black&white in it. I think this game really came the closest to a, imo, perfect zombie/infected game(in the traditional sense, as opposed to TT’s interactive storytelling).

Including everything, from graphics, to gameplay, to characters and OST, etc, TLoU gets a 8 ~ 8.5 on my zombie/infected scale. Telltale’s TWD gets a 8.5 ~ 9, mostly for a couple key moments in the 2nd season and one particular ending in that season. No game has ever even remotely achieved to make me feel emotionally so touched like those few moments. Season one was already fantastic, but season two really built on that foundation in the best way possible; the characters were just great, all of them.[/QUOTE]

@Volcano

Well yeah, I understand the theoretical appeal of killing zombies, as you explain it. The thing is just, that that isn’t nearly sufficient enough to make me enjoy a game, or even remotely care for it. Aside from that, there are already a gajillion sandbox games out there, with quite robust built-in editors and modding tools where you can easilly create or implement downloaded scenarios, to kill myriades of zombies and any lifeform you wish to virtually eradicate.

Though for me that’s just hella boring. I mean there’s a huge difference between having to struggle through a very challenging zombie survival game, with only little ammo and being constantly threatened by the living-dead and the living alike, and then finally, at the end of the game, getting the chance to blow up an entire city of infected people, AND constantly driving through hordes of enemies and blowing them up with ridiculously overpowered weaponary. If that would be in just one game it would still be ok, but nowadays every effing zombie game goes down the mass slaughtering road. I don’t get how people are not getting totally freakin tired of this.

I’m really not the greatest philanthropist in the world, but still a romantic enough, that I don’t enjoy stomping on people, even if it’s a videogame and said people are already kinda dead. I mean I’m ok with it if it makes sense in the context and doesn’t happen on a ridiculously frequent basis, but just for itself? I never got that appeal and I’m quite glad that I never got into it. As I’ve said many times before; I love action, if it’s not too silly and I love occassional brutality(even if it’s a bit gory), if it makes sense and really fits into a certain context, but silly action and extremely frequent and gory brutality is something I hate, get bored of pretty quickly and don’t want to support in any shape, or form. That’s why I’m really having trouble with the upcoming MKX, which looks, sounds, and seems to play, absolutely(!!!) fantastic, but is so chock-full with way over the top gore, that I don’t know if I’ll buy it, even though fighting games have become my absolute favorite VG genre over the course of the last ~1 1/2 years. I hope there’s some way to reduce the gore, but I genuinely doubt that that will be possible.

PS: Even from a purely aesthetical POV I find “dry” brutality much more intense and strong, than gory, “wet” brutality. You know? Like two concrete blocks going up against each other and beating the crap out of each other, instead of two gut filled flabby sacks punching it out. Even though that’s a bit Mortal Kombat specific, that point of view also applies to other gaming and movie genres as well, at least imo. Like i.e. Michael Mann(Heat, Miami Vice) brutality vs Quentin Tarantino(Kill Bill, Django Unchained) brutality. I think Tarantino’s stories(definitely not all of them) are superior to most of Mann’s scripts, but Mann’s visual style and aesthetic for action scenes and shoot outs is superior to Tarantinos almost comically bloody and gory and overly choreographed, pseudo John Woo approach. I know this is a little bit a case of comparing apples with pears, but I hope you guys get my point.

sparse, dry and dramatically well timed violence and brutality > frequent, senseless, wet, flabby gut-sack brutality

Killer Instinct > Mortal Kombat (alone in terms of how each game handles the visualization of hit impacts; sparks and stuff vs blood and gore)


(rookie1) #4

I watched Bomba with Steam Brodcast playing this game and loved the movement Pakour Style of it .
Always wanted DB with that kind of movement BUT as Bomba made me realise that for that type of game it was nice movement but Wont be good in DB .
I agreed with Bomba’s wisdom :wink: he is the only one that made be realised that fact and why .
+1 Bomba


(.FROST.) #5

The best thing I’ve heard from Dying Light so far. The OST is really on point; if you don’t look at the game you can really imagine the great, super dark and unforgiving horror, with no room for a happy end; then you look at the game and it’s like; well, yeah, another zombie, yaaawn -hits his head in with a wrench and parcours away-. Really guys, the soundtrack and the game don’t fit together; the OST deserves a real zombie-game.

//youtu.be/9iDYnAireiw


(sunshinefats) #6

I’m kind of in the other camp of players, where I quite enjoy earning my way to walking over every zombie that dares cross my path. (I’m currently pleasantly strolling down the streets of harran at night [in dying light] just murdering anything that dares cross my path). Yes, it’s senseless violence for the sake of senseless violence, I agree, but it amuses me, which is what I look for in a game. After all, I earned that privilege through a lot of hard work leveling up, etc. I think what you’re getting at are games more like Saints Row franchise where it’s just ridiculous from the start how overpowered you can become very quickly, and then there’s no challenge to beating the game, and it’s hard to become invested in the characters’ challenges and strife because you know you have that rocket launcher with infinite ammo in your backpack.

The thing with the true survival horror genre in general is…well, let me give you an example…I forget which game it was now, because I quit playing immediately after this happened…I was going through how I was “supposed” to with limited supplies, etc. when I come upon a group of guys with guns. I think to myself, “self, those guys there have guns AND ammo and I could really use that. Given that this is the apocalypse and all, and it’s already been established that those guys are terrible people, I could do the world [and myself] a big service if I murdered them and took their supplies.” So I set upon that task. Somehow, despite the odds, I managed to beat them all to death with a lead pipe before they could kill me. Victory, right? Wrong. There’s a bunch of guns now sitting there that I can’t take, and I loot, get ready, 1 bullet off of all the bodies. Utter ****e.
And that is the essence of what I find wrong with the survival horror genre and games in general these days. The failure to let you play your own way on your own terms. And I think games like Saints Row, etc. are at least trying, to some degree, to give you that option(as to whether they succeed or fail in that regard is, of course, open to debate).

Anyways, back to the subject of Dying Light, I think it kind of makes sense that the longer your character stays in such an environment, the less afraid of zombies he becomes and the more proficient he becomes at killing them. Look at the progression of the characters on The Walking Dead and you see a similar thing happening. And given that Crane is a highly trained operative to begin with, it kind of makes sense.
Mind you, the story itself isn’t very strong and most of the relationships, I admit, are purely functional for the sake of progressing you along the preset path, which I admit makes it difficult to care if the ppl around you live or die. I’d have really liked to have seen the kind of story and plots in games you reference with the current gameplay and I think it would have been a much more successful game overall.

Anyway, I think I’m just rambling now lol…