In terms of storytelling then, Dying Light is a failure. Once you’re out in the world as Crane though, those stakes evaporate, the narrative more of an intrusion than a guiding structure. There are voiceovers that lay on the exposition thick, with Crane telling us that he’s conflicted about his role as a go-between for the GRE, Brecken and Rais, and he’s always mentioning how driven he is to find the missing file, because he’s infected, too. Crane is presented as a man in emotional turmoil, and yet there’s a mundanity to the missions that he undertakes, from collecting money on behalf of Rais, a stereotypical, maniacal crime boss, to setting up power grids. Kyle Crane is a man divided, one who feels loyalty to the GRE and yet can’t help but wonder if he needs to help the people on the ground, the survivors in Harran that have been rounded up by a man named Harris Brecken. There’s an uneasy tension between this world and the story of what you’re doing within it. The city does seem alive, though-or at least crawling back to some semblance of life. The city isn’t exactly operational as Kyle Crane, an undercover operative sent into Harran to retrieve a file (which potentially contains the building blocks of a cure) for the GRE (Global Relief Effort), you spend most of the game climbing up towers in order to turn the city’s power back on and collecting supplies to bring back to the safe zones set up across the city. Dying Light offers up a different experience, one where the city of Harran, post-disease and presently filled with the hungry undead, feels lived-in. No amount of side missions or unexplored nooks can disguise the fact that much of what you’re actually doing is repetitive you realize that the world you inhabit is big but unchanging, filled with meaningless moments. So many open-world games have an expanse of territory to explore, and yet much of the game feels the same. There’s a wonderful shift in feel and atmosphere in Dying Light. In terms of storytelling then, Dying Light is a failure.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |