By pressing in the left thumbstick you’ll begin to sprint, and pressing R will launch you vertically into the air in an action colloquially known as “jumping.” Because zombies litter the streets of Havana, you’ll want to stick to the rooftops as you head to quest markers. While I still find the parkour in Mirror’s Edge more fluid and interesting than Dying Light, the latter’s world has many more options for traversal, especially more than the former’s sequel but that’s a topic for another time. It’s the same thing that keeps me coming back to games like Mario Sunshine or Mirror’s Edge: the sheer joy of movement. After musing over this conundrum for much longer than any sane person should have, I think I’ve finally figured it out. No matter how “just OK” I know it is, I can’t help to try and see something more in the game and keep my hopes high for the sequel early next year. And yet, there’s something about it that endears me to the game. I heartily agree with former editor Jay Malone’s cleverly titled review it has novel ideas that it fails to capitalize on by playing it too safe.

The main character is bland white guy #23485 (though he is voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who does a wonderful job with what he’s given), the world lacks cohesion and is filled with the same shades of brown every AAA game of the previous console generation featured, and while the parkour has some wonderful moments it is marred by clunky climbing and night zombies getting in your way too frequently. Critics were relatively positive on the game and it sold pretty well, so why is this the case? Well, as many have already pointed out, it’s generic and derivative.

Dying Light is a 2015, open world, zombie parkour game and, after the success of its launch, I have never heard anyone talk about it.

Dying light ps4 target