I keep going back to "Dying Light"(2014), it's amazing how good this game is.

This post will include minimal story spoilers if at all;

You know how plenty go back to Skyrim /Fallout every some time? For me, that is the original Dying Light. In my opinion it's the best zombie themed game I have ever played. (It's OK if in your opinion there are better titles, everyone can have their own favorite).

Its gameplay loop is simple, easy to grasp and feels rewarding especially throughout the first section of the game.

The free running \ parkour mechanics are very simple to understand and utilize a well made control scheme.

The progression feels great and reinforces the player to do what the game is all about, climb obstacles and fight zombies. The player unlocks a lot of abilities according to skill trees that are leveled by doing. You want to unlock that stomp a zombie kick? Fight zombies. You want to unlock faster climbing? Climb more.

The game, while linear still has plenty of freedom to perform side quests and just explore. As you progress in the main quest, it unlocks more locations to explore and things to be found.

The main map (slums) where the story unfolds is very well designed and includes plenty of detailed locations and places to explore.

As you progress deeper in the game, the game there is an additional large map location that feels OK, but the slums definitely feel more fun and interesting.

It's not a hard game especially in the Normal difficulty and yet feels rewarding for understanding the tools you are given to perform tasks.

The world looks vibrant and feels believable in its design, shops, stands, locked houses, plenty of cars are places to loot.

So since the game is based in a Zombie apocalypse. There are quite a few events happening while you explore, for example there are air drops that come every few in game hours. You find yourself running through the city, dodging zombies to get to the drop before the "evil" human faction gets to it before you, making you rush and re-prioritize what you have been doing.

And then there is the night and day cycle; while at day the zombies are relatively tame, at night the fast and hard-core evolved special zombies ("Volatiles") come out to play and patrol, you mostly can't fight them until you are deep into the game progress, you have to either stealthy explore the outside world or to stay in a safe zone which you can unlock. If they detect you, they chase you until you are dead your main options are either enter a safe zone or outrun them which is extremely unlikely.

While the game is a power fantasy, there is a big catch, during the night you are not the unstoppable force you are in the day. Those are the Volatiles and fighting them usually ends in your quick death. The Volatiles are the ultimate threat and you learn to mostly respect them, until you learn how to deal with them, and still, that does not make taking down 1v1 an easy task.

While in the first half of the game you are mostly relying on melee weapons, as you progress you get to access ranged weapons like bows and eventually, guns which are loud. Loud brings a lot of attention to you making them not all in one solution, which is good design in my eyes. The game also doesn’t supply you with a lot of ammo. So they are definitely a tool to be used in specific situations, and not an all in one solution.

I found myself returning to this game multiple times in the past ten years and probably will come to it some more in the future. It's the fluent running around in the slums, chasing drops, kicking zombies in the head which is so well made that I always go back to that.

Regarding the writing, I like it mostly. Most of the characters are well written and have some kind of depth, there is a lot of tongue in cheek humor that makes the game feel lighthearted even if it's about a zombie apocalypse.

Regarding the ending of the original game (Not including DLC), it felt very underwhelming. That’s why I mostly enjoy the first half of the game, in the slums - and then stop playing for some time, only to forget about the last play-through and start a new game.

Dying Light (2014) is on my comfort game lists, I keep going back to it. It also runs really well on even pretty weak setups in today’s standards which makes it an easy pick for a handheld to kill some zombies and some time too.

P.S the game also has coop which is great for people with friends, with a friend that also likes this game, it works better than randoms. Loot is mostly leveled anyway but you can still share better items with lower level players.

I also tried playing Dying Light 2 but it doesn't feel as polished, it's not a bad game, it has some good ideas but it's not as good as the original, at least not in my opinion.

Thanks for reading.