Dead Light Review

Cover art

     Hello everyone and happy Wednesday, hope your all doing well.   Today I'm hoping into a fun little sidescrolling zombie action game called Dead Light. Developed by Tequila Works and published by Microsoft Studios, Dead Light is a 2012 survival horror for Xbox 360 Arcade and Windows.  Made with the idea to mimic 1980's sidescrolling games that were widely popular for the time period.  Dead Light takes place in 1986 Seattle, the story drops you into the shoes of Randell Wayne, a former park ranger who is intent on finding his family in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. With fairly decent graphics and a fun style of gameplay, Dead Light produces a fun experience that moves away from the traditional zombie game and moves towards a more free-running aspect through the simple layout of the game.  Starting out you will have nothing but your hands and your quick wits.  In certain abandoned building you will happen upon a fire axe the ideal melee weapon for killing zombies, right?  Wrong.  You are cursed with a low amount of stamina which you will want to use to jump and run.  This is not a shoot 'em up unlimited ammo zombie game, this is about survival.  While running, you can sometimes throw down bookcases to block the infected path, creating a moment of safety for the player to stop. At your top

Wayne fending off zombies on top of a truck

notch performance you can probably take on three zombies.  After chopping up zombies for awhile you will find a revolver, which kill zombies with a quick shot to the head, allowing you to take on eighteen zombies with full ammo.  Its very useful against large amounts of zombies, you only have so many shots and ammo is scarce. Manual reload is required, so when being rushed by the hordes who where attracted by the noise and your stuck reloading, think about the things you will do better with your next life.  Half way through you acquire the slingshot, which fires a little lead ball that can be used to create distractions or break windows so a building becomes accessible. A gun you acquire near the end of the game is a survivor's essential firearm: the 12 gauge shotgun.

A unique form of cutscenes is used to run over major plot points

 This reliable weapon holds five rounds plus ten more, able to blow multiple undead's heads off, this weapon packs a punch.  While Wayne may be armed, the main idea of this game is to remove the zombie in front of you and keep on running.  The story is told through the occasional cinematic cutscene created in a comic like format, also the main source of information is the dairy that Wayne carries that tell his story from the beginning of the epidemic to the present.  He also voices his thought as you play as him, the dialogue is pretty laughable with him saying the same thing over and over again with minor tweaks.  Wayne can also find collectibles to make up a smaller book of mementos consisting of peoples IDs and newspaper articles that allow the player to become more immersed in the story.  I think Dead Light is a truly unique game for a zombie game with a high level of creativity and originality.  Though it may be short, I beat it in about four hours, it was worth it.  Try it today, you might like it.  Thank you for reading and I will be back in two weeks.  Until then, have fun.  This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.

Full screen HD recommended