This game sucks. For your information, that is not an emotionally-driven judgement. I have taken a few positive aspects into consideration, but boy, this game really sucks. Disguised as a zombie apocalypse title, Deadlight is more like a frustrating puzzle game with pointless puzzles and ridiculous plots. There are some good things that I enjoyed, such as the beautiful graphic, and... well, that's just about it.
Deadlight is a side-scroller platformer. Nothing much can be said about the mechanics, basically just like other side-scrollers, you move from left to right. You can sprint and jump over fences and climb walls but watch your stamina. You can attack zombies with melee weapons or firearms. Yes, side-scrollers' simple mechanics isn't a bad thing. For Deadlight, this isn't the main problem. It was something else and it made me stopped playing Deadlight for 9 months. I wrote 90% of this ramblings almost a year ago. Last night I tried again, thinking that it won't be so bad, that I might take back my words, but even now I don't feel like changing a thing.
Usually, when I'm in the mood to get back to games that I stopped playing halfway, I'd start all over from the beginning. But not with Deadlight, I just can't bear reliving its frustrating "puzzles" all over again. There has never been any game in the past that makes me hate it so much the way Deadlight does. The thing is this: Deadlight is not entirely bad, except for the platformer, control, dialogue, plot, and - okay, maybe it's really bad. Damn, I'm trying to be very forgiving here but even that doesn't seem to work in making me feel better about this game!
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| This is going to be a great game, I thought. |
Look, I'm trying not to sound like a jerk here. I'm usually very forgiving. Deadlight looked quite promising at first. In fact I really liked it initially. The panorama of the first act of the game was nice. The pacing was good. The intro cutscene is okay, depending on your taste. But it's the first act of the game that really won me over with its bleak and gloomy but hauntingly beautiful outdoor scenery. The game takes place in a zombie-apocalyptic Seattle and so it has to look good and feel good. The first act is fast-paced and the puzzles feel smart.
But then I got to the second act, and it went downhill from then on. This is when the pace begins to slow down to a crawl. Just when you think this would mean that you have the opportunity to relax and enjoy the panaroma, you're presented with boring, dark underground scenery. "That's okay," you might say, "then I'll get through the underground levels as quickly as possible and back to the sunlight and the beautiful scenery outside."
Wrong.
You will now have to suffer through the frustrating underground puzzles designed by this guy named Rat. You see, the puzzles aren't hard to figure out. You don't have to cram your brain to figure out how they work. But they're sometimes so ridiculously dumb and technically hard to get through, which is OK if the game's movement mechanic is fluid, but surprise, the movement mechanic sucks.
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| Tries to sound wise and vague and ends up sounding like a fool. I will trade this moron for a real rat. |
The thing is: the puzzles end up being fucking ridiculous to the point you'll stop playing and exit the entire game because you're either frustrated of dying repeatedly or you think there might be bugs making the solution impossible or both. As for me, I got so frustrated to the point I began to complain, "How is it possible that this Rat dude invent stuff like this and survive, and most importantly, what's the purpose of inventing traps underground while all the zombies are up there?"
You will begin to deeply question the puzzles, and it's easier to blame the game for its flaws and forget about the good things you experienced earlier. This, I admit, is not good. I tried to be as forgiving as possible and just battled through the not only dull but also ridiculously stupid levels but I just can't help but become frustrated after a few hours.
Like I said, this is when you start to question the mechanics of the game, and then as you become more and more frustrated, you will begin to question the story, plots and other things that are not related at all to the gameplay. In fact I made an entirely separate review just to complain about its ridiculous and nonsensical plots. Most games, such as Limbo, require about 50% wits, 30% skills, 15% timing and 5% luck. However, Deadlight roughly requires 40- 50% luck. Luck! You actually have to jump pixel-accurately and you need lots of luck to nail that!
Like I said, this is when you start to question the mechanics of the game, and then as you become more and more frustrated, you will begin to question the story, plots and other things that are not related at all to the gameplay. In fact I made an entirely separate review just to complain about its ridiculous and nonsensical plots. Most games, such as Limbo, require about 50% wits, 30% skills, 15% timing and 5% luck. However, Deadlight roughly requires 40- 50% luck. Luck! You actually have to jump pixel-accurately and you need lots of luck to nail that!
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| Like father like son, yeah it won't be difficult. Don't blame me if I bring you a huge pile of shit because you surely look like one. |
The puzzles made by this Rat fellow are not hard, but they are hard to pass. Yes, they're easy and simple, but they aren't clearly coordinated. I'm sorry to pass but it seems like this Rat dude represents the developers. Not only he stinks, his name stinks and his home stinks, but you're gonna face lots of trial and error down there. Suddenly, you're no longer playing a fun zombie apocalypse puzzle you thought you just did. Now it has mutated into a frustrating and unpolished platformer taking place in bland, smelly and tight sewers.
But, perhaps Tequila made it that way because they don't want to waste "good" platformer ideas? OK then, if so, I get it. So, why not develop an entirely new game, instead of turning Deadlight from a zombie apocalypse game into this quick-time pixel-accurate die-a-lot game it has become? Nonetheless, I did complete the game because I personally don't like leaving things unfinished. But I am never going for a second playthrough. Trust me, if you can't stand even the slightest frustration and haven't play Deadlight yet, don't even think about doing so. Even the most patient players would suffer. I don't like rating games, but I'm going to rate this one anyway.
2 out of 10. There you go, Tequila.
Here's the verdict. I really have to pour everything out right now.
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+ Great start
+ Gorgeous backdrops...
- ...which you won't have much time to appreciate
- Pointless plots even a retard would find stupid
- Inconsistent pace
- Simple and un-creative yet hard-to-pass puzzles
- Plain weird and meaningless "deep" dialogues
Conclusion: Hate to say this, but it sucks
This game would have been better if:
-The second and third acts (which are 2 out of the total 3 acts) were omitted.
-The game puzzles were thoroughly tested.
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In conclusion, this title sucks. It is nothing like Telltale's The Walking Dead or any zombie game it tries to resemble, neither does it's anywhere close to Limbo or Supermeat Boy or any other platformer it tries to imitate. It has failed miserably. Even the most patient players will find Deadlight frustrating. I'm sorry if I sound like a jerk. I'm actually a very happy-go-lucky person and very forgiving when it comes to video games but Deadlight is an isolated case, hopefully will remain the only one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraging you to give it a shot, I'm just warning you. If you're still curious, then go ahead.
But good luck with that.
Seriously, you're going to need luck, in fact a lot of it. So I'm going to wish you luck one more time to increase your odds of success.
Good fucking luck.
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