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Deadlight: Directors Cut takes place 145 days after ‘Patient Zero’, i.e. the first case of an infection being found which led to the zombie apocalypse the world now faces, with each segment named after famous songs like Never Gonna Give You Up and Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. You take the role of one of the survivors, Randall Wayne, it’s been four months since he last saw his wife, Shannon and daughter, Lydia. He’s understandably desperate to see them again, but how likely is it?
The date in the game starts at July 4th, 1986, so quite good timing for this 1080p remastered Director’s Cut, as Independence Day Resurgence is about to hit cinemas in the same week.
I never played the original release, but this game is very simple to get to grips with and a lot of fun, with a lot of atmosphere in very dark scenes, all spooky with lots of dead bodies hanging about all over the place, plus a stack of dead bodies about to rise!
The only time I had any major problems in working out where to go next was with getting through a level was when I was overthinking it, for example a time when I approached the sort of blocked-up passage (f’nar, f’nar) where you just run through it to break on through (getting in another song title, there!), but it looked slightly raised as is was for a window. I kept jumping at that point, and even tried to take an axe to it. I died many times… until I just ran at it!
And just one gameplay problem, which affects a lot of titles – again, it’s one of those games with a lot of buttons to get to grips with and I find myself occasionally pressing the wrong one, and then wonder why a zombie has bitten my head off.
Deadlight: Director’s Cut – Act I: Welcome To Seattle – first playthrough (1080p HD, 60fps, DTS5.1) – PS4 – DVDfeverGames
What’s really great about Deadlight is that it’s like certain ’90s games, like Another World, Flashback and Prince of Persia, but much more fluid. I know that’s the original intention of developers Tequila Works, but I love that they’ve gone for that retro feel while updating it for modern machines perfectly – much more so than those later Prince of Persia sequels that just tried to puff up the characters full of colour in a bid to make them modern, but that just made me feel distant from those games. (check gameplay vids)
That said, it is a fairly short game, as from start to finish it’ll only last a handful of hours (perhaps a bit more if you keep dying as I did!), but then it’s a budget-priced game, at just £13.49 on Amazon at the time of release.
Things there are a lot of: lots of accidental deaths, lots of checkpoints and there’s a smorgasbord of extra content to find. Randall owns a 60-page diary about everything that’s happened to him, and you’ll find some of the missing pages along the way. There’s also a stack of collectible items in the form of hidden secrets and handhelds (not what you’re thinking of if you’re normally having more fun fondling Gameboys), plus extras like – collectible items, an Art book (‘behind-the-scenes’-style images, including preliminary sketches), unlockables such as development art, videos and a ‘making of’. There’s also an online leaderboard, and while there’s no multiplayer in this game, you do alternatively get a the Survival Arena, where you can go hell for leather at all the zombies! (See the trailer below)
Also, while the light on my PS4 controller is usually blue (and it can change if you’re playing multiplayer games to denote which player you are), this one was turning it green, then red! What’s all that about?
Deadlight: Directors Cut is out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC/Steam.
Deadlight: Director’s Cut – Survival Arena Trailer – Deep Silver
Important info:
- Publisher: Deep Silver
- Players: 1
- HDTV options: 720p/1080i/1080p
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
|
GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
9 9 8 9 |
| OVERALL | 9 |
Directors: Chris Charla and Luis Ma Sancho Rodríguez
Producers: Filip Carvell, Laurent Manuel Garcia Carro, Isaac Barrón Herman, Manami Imai, Amaia Markuleta Arrula, John Mayhew, Luis Ma Sancho Rodríguez, Ruth Sarasa, Ian Stevens, Jason York and Earnest Yuen
Writers: Tony Elias, Antonio Rojano Mora, Raúl Rubio Munárriz and Ian Stevens
Cast (in credits order)
Randall Wayne / Benjamin F. Parker / Soldiers: Stephen Hughes
Stella Patterson / Lydia Wayne / Woman in Black: Elisabeth Gray
Karl ‘Ratboy’ Ratten / Soldiers: Garrett Wall
Sam Powell / Soldier #1: Jeff Espinoza
Shannon Wayne / Anchorwoman: Roxanne Bachmann
Helicopter Pilot / Soldiers: Kurt Schiller
Doctor / Soldiers: Silo Shutter
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.