Deadlight

Developer: Tequila Works S.L.
Steam Release: Oct 2012
Hours Played: 5.9
Similar To: Black The Fall / Inside / Limbo / Monochroma / Toby: The Secret Mine
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

Deadlight is a well-produced side/screen scrolling platformer that incorporates so many different elements of platforming that it could easily have ended up in the miscellaneous section. Part shooter, part puzzler, part Metroidvania (though not much), it takes place in the big city in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. In the early sections, you'll leap about ninja-style while avoiding the walking dead and following tiny triangles that sign-post where you need to go. You'll first learn how to sprint, drop and taunt (and later to wall-jump) while climbing ladders, pulling levers and pushing boxes around. It begins like a standard jumping-puzzle game. Soon enough though you'll discover weapons like an axe and a revolver so you can tuck into some good ol' combat. The gameplay involves figuring out how to negotiate sections to reach liberally sprinkled checkpoints.

BALANCE & PACE

You'll interact with highlighted blue cogs to pick up items or secrets but more significantly to perform vital actions like operating machinery. In the middle section, this is done more by using a catapult to hit targets. You get three "lives" which you'll usually lose by being overwhelmed by zombies, falling from great heights or being zapped by electricity. Die outright and you'll be placed back at the checkpoint with full health. On the zombie front, you can knock one of them back with swings of the axe but more than one and you'll have to outwit them with your taunt or go route one by shooting them in the head. There is no inventory or leveling-up system and what you loot are items that you can read if you're into the story. Later, you'll die more regularly as the game starts to play out like a Limbo-esque trial and error affair - but in a good way. 

PRESENTATION & DESIGN 

It's a 2D platforming set-up with your brooding character almost entirely rendered in silhouetted or shadowed form most of the time. The city in question is Seattle with the environment dominated by sewers, derelict buildings and wastelands ravaged by zombies. Needless to say the atmosphere is gloomy and it's often raining. A character called The Rat has set up a home in the sewers but with gargantuan, heavy machinery and all sorts of elaborate contraptions it's as if he's built an entire city single-handedly! Graphics, puzzle-design and gameplay all contain more than the odd nod to Limbo to the point where I almost felt I was playing it. However, its stunning graphics will certainly immerse you into its sinister and hostile world. 
 

PROGRESS SYSTEM

One thing that'll strike you about Deadlight is the lack of inventory management or leveling-up. You optionally pick up diary entries or I.D. documents that fill out the story but they make no difference to gameplay. The axe that you pick up is simply used with the press of the button and the revolver and (later) shotgun , likewise, are ready to use with the tilting of the right-stick on the controller. There are no maps either and progress can be monitored outside the game by clicking select-scene from the start-screen. Here you'll see three panels indicating the three acts, each with a percentage underneath showing how much of that act has been completed plus the time used to complete it. Hardcore players and completionists will be pleased to see leaderboards with scores of various kinds.      

CONCLUSION

In all, I was pleasantly impressed by Deadlight. Although it has more than the odd passing references to Limbo in many departments, graphically it is quite stunning and a visual feast for the eyes. I found the controls to be fluid and although there have been complaints about lighting, found our man Wayne interacted realistically with the environments. There are definitely odd areas that require a tad too many multiple attempts to clear but I'm hard pressed to think of any platformers that don't. Special mention must also go to the camera-work which I found to be excellent. Panning shots that followed your character and beautifully framed shots that zoomed in and out of certain environments was all expertly executed.