Deadlight’s story revolves around Randall Wayne, a broken man whose life is in tatters after his family has gone missing and so very nearly has his mind, we join Randall as he travels through a zombie filled apocalyptic world to try and rectify it all. Yes fellow gamers, it is another zombie game, but one with a difference style this time..
Set in the last few years if the Cold War, Randall finds himself being forced to flee his native Canadian home after “shadows” (zombies) appeared and started to overrun his quiet hometown of Hope, and starts out on the road to Seattle and onto a “Safe Zone” where he teams up with some fellow survivors for a short while until they are later separated. Randall’s main goal doesn’t change though as he is desperate to find his wife and daughter who set out ahead of him.
The story may seem familiar to that of Alan Wake, with its monologue, collectables in the form of journal pages and the quest to find family members, that’s where the similarity ceases though, as Randall is a more rugged kind of guy, a go getter not problem solver, who will not rest until his family and friends are safe.
Deadlight’s graphic style is different and displays every character in silhouette as Tequila Works opted for a side scrolling graphical novel approach with still framed cut scenes that make for a unique visual experience.
Billing itself as a puzzle platformer that gamers will not have many problems with, ok, some of the puzzles can be a bit tricky at first but players will soon adapt and overcome. The platforming mechanics are very simple and fans will have no trouble learning the controls which consist mainly of A for jumping and B for melee, along with RightStick for aiming and RT for firing weapons. Melee combat well controlled and pressing B while near a Shadow will see you dispatch them with your axe, be warned though that Randall is no track and field athlete and his stamina will drain quickly when swinging the axa, running, hanging from ledges or overhead cables, so combat is best avoided if at all possible.
The puzzles are puzzles in name only with the toughest ones requiring a couple of attempts, but fear not as Deadlight has frequent checkpoints and loading times are quite short.
Achievement hunters will delight as Deadlight is very kind in this dep’t being one of the new 400 GS titles, that also has no online achievements, well, with the exception of maybe for checking the leaderboards. also to note is that the achievements are all well-known song titles from the 70-90′s
Deadlight is very smooth game to play, and apart from the odd error message that pops up saying that my 3/4 empty 320gb HDD is full i didn’t notice any glitches at all and with no super difficult end of level boss’s to defeat Deadlight is an alround pleasure to play.
Summary
Deadlight’s story and gameplay are superb, and for their debut game Tequila Works has developed a side scrolling masterpiece that tells the familiar story of loss and heartache that’s sure to keep players engaged through the three sections. Don’t the unusual & artsy graphics put you off as Deadlight is simply stunning.
Worthy of note is that Deadlight is a huge game to download at 1.98GB. so make sure you have plenty of free space..
8.5 / 10
