Home Gaming Dying Light launch trailer accompanies its lack of reviews

Dying Light launch trailer accompanies its lack of reviews

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DyingLight

Dying Light, the new zombie survival horror from Dead Island develop Techland is out today – but only if you’re in the US. If you choose to buy the game digitally, you can play it on Friday. Those waiting for physical copies of the game within Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania will have to wait a whole month. That might be a good thing, because you’ll be waiting quite some time for a review as well.

While YouTubers who’ve agreed to a branding deal have been sharing footage of the game for weeks, gaming press outlets only received digital copies of the retail build of the game yesterday – so it’ll likely be a while before you’ll be able to read reviews. In December last year, lead designer Maciej Binkowski insisted there wouldn’t be any sort of insidious “launch day” review embargo.

“No, we do not have embargoes of that nature. We want to be as transparent as we can towards our fans, so don’t worry – there won’t be any review embargoes before the game is released.”

Technically he was right – but with there being no launch day review copies either, the whole thing becomes moot. While I have no problem with YouTubers getting the game well ahead of press – some of them do mighty fine work, after all – the relative lack of review copies just hours before the game’s launch signals a lack of faith on the publisher’s part. With games costing as much as they do these days – up to R1000 for a single game – it would be nice to know if a game is worth the coin before blindly jumping in.

As a consumer, I’d even go so far as to cast sideways glances at the very first reviews, as reviewers rush out to have the first bits of critique in place. Rushing through games is seldom enjoyable, and taints the overall experience. And unfortunately, we’re doing the same; we received code yesterday, and have assigned a plucky cabbage to play through the game. We’ll have our review as soon as we can.

In the meantime, here’s the game’s launch trailer. The game looks good; let’s hope it can live up to its own hype. It’s out today, if you don’t mind buying it digitally on US marketplaces. The European digital version is out on Friday.

Last Updated: January 27, 2015

28 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief

    January 27, 2015 at 08:07

    I want to try this game, but I want Evolve just a little bit more than this

    Reply

    • Tosh MA

      January 27, 2015 at 08:40

      I just want to finish a run in Binding of Isaac. Damn that game’s hard XD

      Reply

      • li0n_za

        January 27, 2015 at 15:40

        Just unlock Azazel, and win.

        Reply

    • Rock789

      January 27, 2015 at 09:27

      Meh. I dunno – I have a severe lack of ‘Evolve hype’, I must say… It just really hasn’t grabbed my attention, no matter how many vids I check out.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        January 27, 2015 at 12:35

        The vids don’t do it justice

        Reply

      • li0n_za

        January 27, 2015 at 15:40

        I agree.

        Reply

  2. Mandom (Umar)

    January 27, 2015 at 08:08

    IGN has a review in progress. Gotta be the first one out their to have some sort of ‘review’ … Dying Light’s whole launch was just one big mess, and its really sad though…Techland seems to have put a lot into this game.

    Reply

  3. Axon1988

    January 27, 2015 at 08:09

    Are those bloodsuckers?

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      January 27, 2015 at 08:10

      Zey vant to zuk yor blud

      Reply

  4. Allykhat

    January 27, 2015 at 08:17

    I have this sick feeling that the game is going to be a let down…
    and I think the delay on physical is a conspiracy to get people to buy the digital copy so they cant trade/resell them…

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      January 27, 2015 at 08:18

      #TinFoilHatMode=Engage

      Reply

    • Mandom (Umar)

      January 27, 2015 at 08:19

      I don’t know, why not global delay then?

      Reply

  5. Peter Pan

    January 27, 2015 at 08:18

    I shall be approaching this game very hesitantly!

    Reply

  6. Hammersteyn

    January 27, 2015 at 08:22

    i think I can save a boat load of cash every year if I didn’t play games. Broken, always online, over hyped games. Not saying this is one but lack of reviews has me concerned.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      January 27, 2015 at 08:50

      MOAR PS2

      Reply

  7. Quo Vadis?

    January 27, 2015 at 08:24

    2014 smashed my confidence in games. I thought this game would be the bomb! Now it looks like its going to bomb, I’m afraid :/

    Reply

  8. Ceyber, The Metal Rabbit

    January 27, 2015 at 08:58

    Just had a look on Reddit, PS4 version seems to have a 1.75gig “Day One” update 🙁

    Can anyone confirm this?

    Reply

    • Spaffy

      January 27, 2015 at 09:48

      Pfft, acting like you are surprised…

      Reply

      • Ceyber, The Metal Rabbit

        January 27, 2015 at 12:26

        Nah just disappointed, only thing pre-ordered for this year is W3. Everything else I’ll wait until after release. Because this.

        Reply

  9. Warren Leibbrandt

    January 27, 2015 at 08:59

    theRadBrad has an awesome series on youtube with regards to dying light. he got an pre release build of the game and has about 10 vids on the game

    Reply

  10. Rock789

    January 27, 2015 at 09:26

    I think coz Techland are going it alone and able to this sans a Publisher telling them what to do, there were bound to be issues like stock, etc. As long as the game stands up to their original vision and is as good as it’s looked in the run-up to the release, then a stock supply delay is easily overlooked. It sucks to have to wait, but the wait might just be totally worth it!

    Reply

  11. Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

    January 27, 2015 at 09:31

    Funny but my game says 1 hour till launch.

    Reply

  12. house_hero

    January 27, 2015 at 12:33

    please let this game not suck… please let this game not suck… please let this game not suck…

    Reply

  13. Sovereign

    January 27, 2015 at 20:05

    I won’t be buying this yet. I’ll be waiting for at least one reputable review.

    Reply

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