Dying Light

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Run the rooftops by day; flee for a safe zone when night falls.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Stores: Steam, Epic, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (95% of 497,680 reviews); Metacritic 74 on PS4 from 58 critics; 4.63 of 5 on PlayStation Store
Length: about 18 hours for the main story
Players: 1 to 4 online
Made by: Techland
Released: 2015

No. 20 of the horror games set at night · No. 4 of the quarantine horror games

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What frightens By day the infected shamble through the streets, but at sundown the city changes and you go from hunter to hunted, fleeing over rooftops from fast night creatures with only a flashlight and a UV lamp.
Content: gore, violence, dismemberment, strong language.

A first-person open-world zombie game by Techland, set in a quarantined city overrun by a virus. You climb and run across rooftops, scavenge supplies and craft weapons to survive the infected. When night falls the city turns on you, and the hunt is reversed.

About Dying Light

Dying Light is a first-person open-world zombie game by the Polish studio Techland, the makers of Dead Island and Call of Juarez, first released in January 2015 with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment as publisher. It came to PC, PlayStation and Xbox, and later to Nintendo Switch. The Definitive Edition sold on consoles, GOG and the "Epic Games Store" bundles the base game with The Following expansion, which adds a new story, a large new map and a buggy, and the other add-ons; Steam sells the Essentials Edition. A free Retouched update has since given every owner improved visuals and a remastered soundtrack.

You play an agent dropped into Harran, a city sealed off after a virus outbreak. Its streets are thick with the infected, so you move over them instead: climbing walls, leaping gaps between roofs and sliding under fences. You scavenge supplies, craft and repair weapons, help survivors in safe houses and, on a secret mission, must choose between the orders of your superiors and the people you meet.

Its horror arrives with the dark. During the day you are the hunter, carving through slow biters with the environment and your weapons. At sundown the world changes: faster, far more dangerous infected come out and you become the hunted, often running flat out for a safe zone with the sound of pursuit behind you. Venturing out at night is optional, and that choice is where the dread lives.

It is a gory action game more than a hiding one: the ESRB notes frequent dismemberment and decapitation, and you grow strong over time. It suits players who want movement and melee fights with a real fear of nightfall, and friends who want to take on a zombie city as a group of up to four.

How to play Dying Light

Climb and run across the city to reach missions, using ledges, pipes and rooftops to stay above the crowds.
Search buildings and bodies for parts, then craft and repair weapons and medkits.
Unlock safe zones by clearing them and switching on their UV lights, so you have places to rest and save.
At night, keep low and quiet and use the map to avoid the night hunters, and run for a safe zone if one spots you.
Invite up to three friends into your game to play the story together.

Screenshots

Dying Light screenshot: a hulking, bloody infected with exposed muscle lunges at the player in a dark yard, with more infected running behind it

Dying Light screenshot: a runner leaps from a rooftop toward a green building above a street full of the infected

Dying Light screenshot: a masked survivor kicks an infected off scaffolding high above the city at sunset while the player holds a bloody axe

Dying Light screenshot: at night the player triggers an electric trap that shocks the infected in an alley as fires burn

Dying Light screenshot: two co-op players, one with a crossbow and a skull mask, one with a spiked bat, face infected at sunset

Dying Light screenshot: survivors brace a boarded door as infected reach in through it and the windows of a sunlit room

Dying Light screenshot: the player strikes an infected with a spiked weapon in a crowded street near a clock tower and a bus

Tips

Head for a safe zone before sunset in the early game.
Repair your best weapon instead of letting it break.
Kick zombies off ledges and rooftops rather than fighting every one.
Night play gives more experience, but only try it once you can outrun what chases you.

Questions

Is Dying Light scary?

The day is mostly action, but nights are tense: dangerous infected hunt you through the dark and you often have to run rather than fight.

Can you play Dying Light co-op?

Yes, up to four players can play the story campaign together online.

What can you play Dying Light on?

PC on Steam (Windows, Mac and Linux), GOG and the "Epic Games Store" (Windows), PlayStation 4 (also playable on PS5), Xbox One and Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

How long is Dying Light?

The main story takes around 18 hours on average, according to HowLongToBeat figures quoted by Game Rant. Side quests and The Following expansion add many more hours.

What is Dying Light rated?

It is rated M (Mature 17+) by the ESRB for blood and gore, intense violence and strong language, and PEGI 18 in Europe. Enemies are often dismembered and decapitated.