A blog about adventure*
*Well, a blog about an adventure game.
I just finished playing Tequila Works' Deadlight after a couple days and I felt like writing about it.
so here we are:
In short, this game is a pleasant blend of Limbo, sometimes Abe's Odyssey, and The Walking Dead.
If you like all those things, then you should play it.
At first glance the game appears to be just another zombie horror with the word 'dead' in the title. Well it is that, but it's a little more too. I recently finished playing Dead Space 2 and I've since been growing increasingly bored of Dead Island. So I've been looking for something original in a genre that's been overrun by a hoard of re-animated tropes and cliches. Which is why Deadlight shone like a little indy beacon of hope when I spotted it in the Steam store.*
The game plays more like a 2D platformer than your average survival-horror. Our hero Randall Wayne is on a mission to re-unite with his family at the rumored 'safe point' near an all-but-ruined Seattle in 1986. Randall's determination is as unwavering as the two-dimensional path he follows across the foreground of the screen, opting to climb over cars and buildings, or leap across chasms, than to simply walk around them. Unfortunately for Randall, the 'shadows' - Deadlight avoids the Z word - aren't so restricted, the luxury of a third dimension in which to trudge means they have no trouble surrounding him. They can be tough to put down too, so often it's more advisable to sprint past the horde than try to fight them. This still looks impressive though, the majority of running and jumping, shooting and hacking that goes on is silhouetted against a vast range of stunning backdrops: from a burning cityscape, to sub-urban vistas and industrial wastelands. All of which flow seamlessly in and out of indoor environments, and all created with great attention to detail. The level design is wonderful.
The game has an undertone of nostalgia too. This is partly due to it's alternate-historical 1980's setting, but also to deliberate choices in both visual and gameplay styles which nod to the cinema and arcade classics from that time.
The main plot developments are shown through short comic-style vignettes at the start of each level, however the real depth of the story is found in game-play. As Randall collects whatever cuttings, photographs and personal item's he finds, and keeps them in his diary along with his own thoughts and memoirs, a rich and engaging world is uncovered.
Unfortunately there are a couple technical issues: The PC version has been ported over from the X-Box Live Arcade version of the game. So there are still a few lingering bugs. seems a lot of people including myself are having issues with audio playback during the cutscenes. I ran the game on my nearly-full, all-purpose notebook PC, so the framerate wasn't the best, and would lag quite a lot. causing 300 style slow-mo. I couldn't find any way to adjust the graphics settings either, so make sure your machine's up to the task. Also keyboard controls can be fiddly at times, but not enough to be a real frustration. I could even play pretty well using the trackpad instead of a mouse.
Other than that though, nice little game. worth your $12 or so for a couple days play
*puns not only intended, but worked hard on.
*Well, a blog about an adventure game.
I just finished playing Tequila Works' Deadlight after a couple days and I felt like writing about it.
so here we are:
In short, this game is a pleasant blend of Limbo, sometimes Abe's Odyssey, and The Walking Dead.
If you like all those things, then you should play it.
At first glance the game appears to be just another zombie horror with the word 'dead' in the title. Well it is that, but it's a little more too. I recently finished playing Dead Space 2 and I've since been growing increasingly bored of Dead Island. So I've been looking for something original in a genre that's been overrun by a hoard of re-animated tropes and cliches. Which is why Deadlight shone like a little indy beacon of hope when I spotted it in the Steam store.*
The game plays more like a 2D platformer than your average survival-horror. Our hero Randall Wayne is on a mission to re-unite with his family at the rumored 'safe point' near an all-but-ruined Seattle in 1986. Randall's determination is as unwavering as the two-dimensional path he follows across the foreground of the screen, opting to climb over cars and buildings, or leap across chasms, than to simply walk around them. Unfortunately for Randall, the 'shadows' - Deadlight avoids the Z word - aren't so restricted, the luxury of a third dimension in which to trudge means they have no trouble surrounding him. They can be tough to put down too, so often it's more advisable to sprint past the horde than try to fight them. This still looks impressive though, the majority of running and jumping, shooting and hacking that goes on is silhouetted against a vast range of stunning backdrops: from a burning cityscape, to sub-urban vistas and industrial wastelands. All of which flow seamlessly in and out of indoor environments, and all created with great attention to detail. The level design is wonderful.
The game has an undertone of nostalgia too. This is partly due to it's alternate-historical 1980's setting, but also to deliberate choices in both visual and gameplay styles which nod to the cinema and arcade classics from that time.
The main plot developments are shown through short comic-style vignettes at the start of each level, however the real depth of the story is found in game-play. As Randall collects whatever cuttings, photographs and personal item's he finds, and keeps them in his diary along with his own thoughts and memoirs, a rich and engaging world is uncovered.
Unfortunately there are a couple technical issues: The PC version has been ported over from the X-Box Live Arcade version of the game. So there are still a few lingering bugs. seems a lot of people including myself are having issues with audio playback during the cutscenes. I ran the game on my nearly-full, all-purpose notebook PC, so the framerate wasn't the best, and would lag quite a lot. causing 300 style slow-mo. I couldn't find any way to adjust the graphics settings either, so make sure your machine's up to the task. Also keyboard controls can be fiddly at times, but not enough to be a real frustration. I could even play pretty well using the trackpad instead of a mouse.
Other than that though, nice little game. worth your $12 or so for a couple days play
*puns not only intended, but worked hard on.
AWESOME