Deadlight is a fun game to describe to a friend:
“Yo dawg, so there’s this game out on the Xbox that lets you be all Grizzly Adams in a 2D side-scrolling zombie game. It’s all about survivin’ and conserving ammo and janx. It has amazin’ graphics for such a cheap price.”
And, while the above is true, when it comes time to actually play Deadlight, it stumbles over itself on numerous occasions.
The Good
I was not just playing around in the intro; Deadlight is a stone-cold stunner of a game.
It takes place on July 4, 1986 in Seattle, Washington, in a decrepit wasteland that really takes the “destroyed beauty” setting to a whole new level. Again and again I would stop and just marvel at Deadlight’s presentation. The docile and slow-moving swing sets and merry-go-rounds begged for the cries of children and highways and streets are populated with the corpses of the dead and undead. Deadlight also conveys its narrative with colored graphic novel-esque cutscenes that are reminiscent of The Walking Dead graphic novels, which is a plus in my book.
A facet of Deadlight that I thought was interesting was that the game actively discourages direct conflict with the undead and stresses interactions with the environments. Often times, there’ll be a pack of zombies, as Deadlight dubs “shadows,” below you and your only means of progressing is to continue moving ahead above them.
The Bad
This game falters in the most important of parts, the gameplay.
Jumping and leaping from platform to platform, which you do frequently, is sticky and imprecise. I was stumped at a section that I thought was a puzzle only to realize that the game’s jumping mechanic was impeding my progress due to no fault of my own.
This game is also plagued with a number of noticeable audio glitches and zombies falling on solid pieces of air that really took me out of the glorious presentation of the game. Deadlight, narrative and pacing wise, is a mess. The game feels like three different teams of people developed it. It goes from slow and beautiful to massively obnoxious jumping sections and a shooting gallery towards the end of the game. And the game itself is short, like you’ll finish it in a weekend short.
The Verdict
I have no problem recommending Deadlight to the gamer that revels in atmosphere because this game delivers in spades. The gamer that wants the presentation to be backed up by tight and fun gameplay will be disappointed. As far as Xbox Live Arcade Games go, Deadlight was the most disappointing to me because of the high level of promise it had as being a 2D side-scrolling zombie adventure game. I would wait for a price drop on the Xbox Live Marketplace rather than ponying up the dough for the full price of Deadlight.
Follow me on Twitter @MaroonandGamer or send me an email to shfawcet@asu.edu
