Run, Randall? Run! (Deadlight)

After watching 2012 in Gaming on YouTube I’ve wanted to try Deadlight. I usually don’t buy games just like that. I’m first reading some reviews online, then trying to see gameplay on YouTube and if price is right (I’ve never paid “normal” price for the game in my life) I can bought it. This time it was love at the first sight. I’ve just checked the score on GryOnline (Polish games site) and as it was just 5,99€ on Steam, I’ve bought it immediately. Later it was half of it, so damn you Steam, but anyway it was worth the price.

Do you remember Flashback the great platformer from the 90’s? Well, Deadlight is not as good, but is similar in concept. You don’t have so much thinking here and you can’t move around the world freely, but it’s more or less similar experience. Sure, in Flashback you had to use your brain pretty often and it was really hard at times. In Deadlight it’s more about manual skills, however sometimes you need to think a little how to proceed. Anyway the game has a great atmosphere. You really feel that you’re alone in this post-apocalyptic world where everything and everybody wants to kill you. Controls are fine what is hard to find recently when game is both on PC and consoles. Gameplay is hard at times, but not much frustrating. I’m not stubborn gamer, so if something is too hard for me I usually stop playing. But I’ve managed to finish this one and got angry maybe two times.

Story is quite alright. But nothing special. We start with Randall Wayne killing one of his friends who got infected by shadows (zombies). Then he splits with his group and is trying to find his family. There is couple of cut scenes which are made of static pictures with some occasional animations. There is a little glitch about cut scenes. For majority of the game they have no sound, luckily you have subtitles. As I’ve read on Steam, it’s common issue and so far nobody was able to solve it. It was not very annoying to me, but it’s definitely a minus. Anyway story is building up pretty good, you don’t receive too much BS as with other games with zombies and can really get into it. The ending is fine, but they could think of something more original. Generally it’s a little rip off from Walking Dead.

Visual effects are great, but it’s platformer not 3D game, so don’t expect much. It’s great idea that background lives its own life. So you have your hero who is in shadow and then there is gorgeous background where if you have time you can see fantastic stuff. I’ve often stopped, if I could, and just watched what is happening in the back. In the second half of the game you don’t have time for it though as you need to run pretty fast, sometimes too fast in my opinion. There are also some stupid, illogical things, like when you stand before two soldiers who are pointing their guns at you. They’re shouting at you, but are waiting calmly till you aim your gun on their heads and shot them. Well, nothing is perfect. Game is pretty short. I’ve completed it in four hours, but most of guys from the Internet managed to do it in three. But it was great time and I don’t regret buying it. I was such amazed by this game that I’ve bought Mark of the Ninja just after finishing it. It’s also good, but Deadlight was better. 8/10.

Maybe somebody, someday, would create a game which would be as good as Flashback. I hope.