It reminded me a little of 'The Walking Dead' TV Show, which is a very good thing.
From the initial ink-blot developer screens at start-up, to the main menu screen – with its dark and desolate scene of an abandoned highway - the art direction was promising. It reminded me a little of 'The Walking Dead' TV Show, which is a very good thing. This style follows on into the game as you're controlling your character via a side-on 2D platform view, but most of the time the foreground is drenched in darkness, allowing you to only see your character as a silhouette. The backgrounds are generally well lit and the level of detail within them brings depth into the world, making this a little more than just your average 2D side-scroller.
Set in the summer of 1986 Seattle, the game begins with a graphic novel style cut scene depicting the main character, Randall Wayne (Randy) - a Park Ranger - shooting a woman who is lead face-down and covered in blood and wounds. The scene sets the simple story line up – zombies have emerged, Randy is separated from his wife and kid, the woman Randy shot was bitten, you and your group all try to flee a hoard of zombies (known as 'Shadows'), but you (Randy), are left behind and so must make your way alone, to the 'Safe Zone' your friends are heading to. With such a stand-out era as the 80s, there is little reference to this period, other than a cassette tape style loading animation and the achievements being classic 80s song names. I'm not asking for time-travelling Deloreans or that Randy be traversing the scenes sporting double-denim and a blonde heavy metal mullet, but I think more could have been done to make you feel that 'this is the 80s'.
Levels are referred to as "Scenes" and the first of which sees you slowly learning the ropes; jumping, climbing, moving objects etc, whilst avoiding Shadows, as you are yet to wield a weapon to combat them. Although there are few controls to master, they can feel clumsy at times, and later scenes require rather precise timing – so the odd expletive should be expected when you miss a button press at a ledge and Randy performs a freestyle bass-jump to certain doom. There are flawed game-mechanics here and there and some of the movements that Randy can and cannot do are a little unbelievable for a park ranger – such as traversing tall buildings like a ninja and being unable to swim in water above his waist.
If you're looking at Deadlight and expecting a fast-paced-zombie-shoot-em-up-ho-down (I have the rights to this genre, so don't be stealing my idea), then you're looking in the wrong direction. Deadlight's combat is not the main focus – the combat seems to be there in order to get you out of a bind. You'll find that running away is generally the best course of action, as the combat is unforgiving and frustrating if you find yourself up against even just a handful of the undead. A single hit from an enemy will deplete one full bar from your 3 bars of health, so if you can avoid combat, do! Shadows are easy to take down when alone, but once 2 or three are clumped together it is easy to suffer a hit from one even though you're swinging your axe as frantically as possible. In later sections, one simple mistake or miss-swing of your axe can cost you your life. There are guns in Deadlight, but ammo isn't aplenty so you will be relying on your axe more often than not if you find yourself cornered. Swinging your axe will knock enemies back a little, but to send them to an eternal slumber you must behead them. The easiest way is to swing at them until they're knocked down, then hold the attack button which prompts Randy to raise the axe up high and bring it down on your horizontal foe. Don't be fooled, this method is quite difficult, not to mention frustrating, when encountering multiple Shadows.
Throughout the game you will be able to loot corpses of unlucky individuals caught in the fray – some may hold ammo, whilst others could have hidden secrets which can also be found in not-so-secret, secret areas. The hidden secrets can be objects which relate to the main story of the game but others feel contrived – such as I.D.s of random strangers or newspaper cuttings which offer nothing to the overall feel of the game. The developers were obviously trying to bring more depth, possibly attempting to make you feel something, but looking back over the secrets I found via the menu, they just felt tacked-on.
You meet a few different characters throughout Deadlight, with below average voice acting, and forgettable personas – apart from one, The Rat. The Rat is particularly annoying – forcing you in to a sewer section of the game which feels completely unnecessary and pulls you away from the main focus for no other reason than 'just because'. He also refers to Randy as "Mr. Wayne" an innumerable amount of times, which only led me to wander off in my mind and think about Batman – which I guess is no bad thing but when you're trying to be pulled in by what you're playing, it doesn't help for overall immersion.
Whilst the story is simple, sections such as the sewers with our friend The Rat do little to invest you in it. Some parts contradict others and the ending still puzzles and frustrates me today. Amongst the hidden items, there are diary pages strewn throughout the scenes. These pages are from Randy's diary – which you can access at any time. The diary does add more substance to Randy and his story, so the developers got that right – if only the rest of the collectibles could have done the same.
The music is subtle but sets the tone – with the odd haunting note here and there to add tension and suspense in those moments where you're required to be quick and precise with your movements, whilst a rabble of Shadows attempts to chase you. Perhaps throwing in the odd 80s classic would have helped, but I guess it's down to preference to whether you enjoy fighting the undead whilst listening to "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley – I know Left 4 Dead is brought to a whole new level of fun when using this method.
I am giving Deadlight 5 out of 10 - I love the look and graphical style, and the 2D side-scrolling works brilliantly in concept, but the actual gameplay, sometimes unforgiving platforming, story, and characters were a let-down for me. Deadlight felt like a chore to play, and when the final credits rolled at the end, I was relieved. If another studio can take the concept, refine it and do something that's a little more enjoyable then we could see a great game.
Check out this review and more over on my blog: http://gamespank.blogspot.com