Deadlight

Run.

Randall is one of the last survivors of the apocalypse.  Shadows of people have risen from the grave and consumed humanity.  Now he must make his way to the last safe area in Seattle to save his group, his wife, and his daughter.  But the zombies aren't the only thing haunting him.

---

Recommended Age Minimum Age Available On... 14 12 PC, Xbox 360 Overall Fun Length Frustration   Violence Sexuality Substances Gambling 7 4 4   6 1 0 0 Mods Religion Anti-Law Community Sports Magic Miscellaneous 0 1 0 0 6 0 2

1.     Gameplay

• Overall Fun - 7

Deadlight is designed to be a bit more about story than it is about gameplay.  It’s just a very basic platforming game with some minor shooting elements.  But the shooting elements could have been eliminated completely and this game still would have worked.  Unfortunately, the brevity of this game left me wanting something more.  I wanted to see more of the main character, his adventures, and a better ultimate conclusion.

Where am I?!

The player takes control of Randall as he is separated from his group and has to make his way to the safe zone where his group and his family should be waiting for him.  His progress is hindered by “shadows”, this game’s version of zombies, and rogue members of the military.  The game takes place in Seattle, which is a nice change of pace since most real-world games like to take place in New York, London, Los Angeles, or other similarly sized metropolitan areas.  But the game’s history is a bit different from what took place in real life.

This seems dangerous. And impossible.

In Deadlight, Kennedy gave up during the Cuban Missile Crisis and eventually surrendered to the Soviets.  This brought about the end of the United States as a superpower and somehow ultimately brought about the zombie apocalypse.  I’m not entirely sure how it happened, but basically Communism eventually brings about zombies.

Thanks Kennedy.

There are only three chapters in this game, and the ending was extremely disappointing.  I found it a bit confusing that Randall could tell another character to never give up, while in the process giving up.  Both characters could have left on the sailboat, but he decided to give up his life for no reason at all.  I guess it could have been because his wife and daughter were both dead and he finally came to terms with it, but it still seemed extremely hypocritical.

Do as I say, not as I do!

But that aside, this game was definitely fun.  If you want to try out an interesting, short platforming game, I’d definitely recommend it.

• Length - 4

This game’s campaign is extremely short.  It took me around 3 hours to complete.  However, this game is priced at a fairly low level, so I thought that the short gameplay was worth the price.  I wish that the game had gone on longer because, aside from the frustrating sections, I enjoyed the experience.  There are collectibles that the player can go back and find, which does add to the replayability, but otherwise I don’t expect players to go back and attempt this game more than once.

• Frustration Factor - 4

For the most part this game was fairly simple.  The checkpoint system was very forgiving and usually in good locations.  However, there were a few sections where I simply had no idea what I was supposed to do to progress.  For example, in one section I was supposed to jump over two spike traps and then somehow get past three horizontal traps.  Rolling never worked right and I never gained enough momentum to jump past them.  Somehow I managed to make it past, but even now I don’t really know what I did right.  I doubt I could replicate the results without serious issues.

Can't avoid damage on spikes.

2.     Parental Notices

• Violence - 6

The violence in this game can be divided into two sections.  The first is the violence within the game.  The player can, and sometimes must, engage in violence with infected and humans.  The player will have access to a fireaxe, a revolver, and a shotgun, all of which will have relatively similar effects.  Limited ammunition will almost force the player to aim for the heads of infected enemies.  Getting a headshot will cause an infected’s head to explode and the zombie’s body will fall.

Pop.

The player can sometimes perform similar feats with the fireaxe.  However, this is much more difficult, since the player cannot aim his shots and will therefore usually hit the infected’s body.

This situation fell under "rule #2".

Human enemies can be shot with pistols.  Hits will result in a slight amount of blood, but no gore.

Getting blood on the walls was extremely rare.

The other section of violence comes in the cutscenes.  Cutscenes are significantly more graphic than the rest of the game, but because all of the cutscenes play out in still images the impact of this violence is significantly muted.  However, there are images that present a significant amount of blood and, on rare occasions, gore.

She was a zombie, man. Zombie!

• Sexuality - 1

There is one cutscene where the player watches as one of the female characters is captured by the enemy.  She is ordered to strip for a shower.  When she refuses, her captors tear her shirt off but leave her bra and pants on.  They imply that things will get “worse” later, but don’t specify what that means.

Weakest shirt ever.

• Substances - 0

The player can heal by using medkits that can be found in certain specific spots in the game.  However, because the player never learns what is in these kits, substances are not a factor in this game.

• Gambling - 0

Gambling is not a factor in this game.

3.     Other Factors

• Mods - 0

There are no modding tools available for this game.

• Religion - 1

There are some references to God and religion in the game, but these are all very short and used to show the chaos of the apocalypse.  The only particularly obvious one is the rosary the player can find in one of the houses.

How does one sew a rosary to skin?

• Anti-Law - 0

Eventually the player discovers that former members of the military are rounding up civilians.  The player will eventually have to fight his way through and kill some of them.  However, because the rule of law is no longer present at any time in the game, anti-law is not a factor in this game.

• Online Community - 0

There is no multiplayer portion to this game.

• Extreme Sports - 6

Extreme sports plays a significant role in this game’s mechanics.  The player will use freerunning in order to get from place to place.  This will sometimes involve wall jumps, moving across powerlines, and jumping from significant heights without taking much damage.

Take the time to find me, then be impressed I didn't fall.

This will happen all throughout the game.  There are even some sections where the character can perform almost superhuman jumps to cross insane distances.

Just draw some wings.

• Magic - 0

Magic is not a factor in this game.

• Miscellaneous - 2

Human Disfigurement

The player will have to deal with “shadows” aka zombies.  All of these shadows will look like traditional zombies.

Dude. Not nice.

Kidnapping

The story revolves around the player trying to find and rescue his wife, daughter, and fellow survivors.  All of these characters have been kidnapped by the rogue military members.  Only two people are ever seen kidnapped though.

The guy on the right was kidnapped. I get to rescue him eventually.

Suicide

There are two sections where suicide is included.  The first is a man who has hanged himself inside a house.

I knew I should have guessed "r".

The second comes later when the fate of the main character’s wife and daughter is revealed.  It turns out that he performed assisted suicide with a shotgun.  His wife asked him to kill her and their daughter, so he complied.

The correct answer was "no".