Check out Dying Light’s first-person take on parkour

By Will Fulton August 29, 2014

The latest developer diary video for Dead Island studio Techland’s next open world zombie survival game (we need a more succinct name for this genre) Dying Light showcases the team’s innovative approach to natural movement. On many occasions it will be wiser to run away rather than stand your ground against overwhelming odds, and the developer wants movement to be as flexible and organic as possible in order to feel as tactically rich as combat.

Parkour is the name of the game for Dying Light‘s free-flowing movement, letting you seamlessly slide under arches and scramble up walls without losing momentum. There is also more than a hint of Assassin’s Creed when at one point in the video the player leaps off of a building top into a dumpster, our modern bale of hay.

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Mastering the system will allow for greater utility and personal expression. Get the speed and angle just right as you leap over a low wall and you can kick your legs out to knock down a zombie on the other side. The freedom to view every space as playable, rather than being artificially bound by invisible walls, will do a lot for increasing the game’s immersion.

Dying Light will come to PC and PlayStation/Xbox consoles in February, 2015.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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