Deadlight

Deadlight is set in 1986, a time when the absence of modern communication devices amplifies the sense of despair and isolation. Seattle area resident Randall Wayne is a mess. His wife and young daughter are missing, he’s having painful flashbacks to when he lost his family, and, oh yeah the city, country, and presumably world have been overrun by zombies. Deadlight is no Left 4 Dead-style action game. It’s true that you do sometimes wield an axe or a gun and must, on occasion, liberate an infected person’s head from their undead body, but Randall progresses by running, jumping, rolling, and generally trying to avoid the red-eyed menace that hungers for the flesh of you and your missing family. You feel anything but empowered as every man. It’s possible to mash the B button and shove off one zombie who gets a hold of you, but you can kiss your life goodbye if two or more get within grabbing distance. This ups the tension, often making you think quickly to figure out the ideal escape route from the area you’re in. Occasionally and thrillingly the noose that’s perpetually loose around your neck gets pulled a little tighter during the handful of straight-up run for your life scenes as Randall’s chased by an overwhelming undead horde or a machine gun firing helicopter. It’s the search for your wife and daughter that drives the surprisingly engaging narrative forward, and it takes you from the outskirts of the city, through an unexpected trip into the sewers, and into downtown to an alleged survivor safe haven. Naturally, things aren't what they seem, and the story’s numerous mini-twists, all told in graphic novel stills narrated by Randall paint a bleak picture about the state of humanity. The final, giant-sized plot twist was a shocker, and I appreciated the game all the more for successfully surprising me. In fact, it’s Deadlight’s presentation that surprised me most of all. Quite simply, its aesthetic is gorgeous, with a silhouetted Randall in a darkened foreground running for his life in front of a drab, muted, crumbling Seattle. Several of Deadlight’s set-pieces are so stunning that I had to actually stop to admire them before pressing onward. Randall’s gravely, determined yet pessimistic voice acting is also laudable, as is the somber soundtrack. Deadlight lacks neither style nor substance, and it lasts just about the perfect amount of time. The story is minimal but engaging, and the ending is unexpected in a good way. A couple of sections stumble a bit, but not enough to detract from what is an engaging, memorable experience.