Is there daylight at the end of the tunnel?
Fair warning; this opinion piece is based on first impressions of Daylight.
Daylight is one of the first Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) titles on the market, it is also a DirectX 11 limited title. These two items will come together with more titles, I am sure. I for one am very excited to see what the UE4 engine brings to the gaming landscape moving forward. Titles such as Fortnite, and EVE Valkyrie are looking to really set the gold standard within their respective genres. On top of that there is Mozilla who have showcased UE4 running in-browser.
What does any of this have to do with Daylight?
What really does get me excited about Daylight, you ask?
Well, I am more excited by the future of UE4 than I am by my first run with Daylight. It looks great. It sounds pitch perfect. It runs smooth. It just doesn’t have the scare factor that I want. Thirty minutes in and no jump? Yes, I was cautious when entering rooms, unlocking puzzles, and turning around when my phone started to display weird cult symbols, not once was I rewarded by the game for that.
The reality of things.
You awake, trapped in an abandoned hospital. Your only source of light is your phone. You hit a dead-end and must turn around, but behind you lurks an eerie presence and strange noises…
Daylight is billed as a psychological thriller. The marketing had me hooked! It has witches, flying wood, self opening doors, and a room full of empty cribs. Who wouldn’t jump at flying wood? The narration sets you up for jumps, the voice tells you to be aware. It guides you to ignite flares to fight off the evils you will meet within the asylum and beyond. To snap and shake glow sticks to reveal secrets, and to add to the atmosphere(?).
Not once in my time did I feel in danger. That is a major disappointment for me. The game has limited time to sell itself, a limited time to keep my attention when I have so many other games I want to play. I will be continuing with Daylight, but not from what the game had shown me, instead from my want to have my time rewarded as a consumer.
Experience Daylight, a procedurally generated psychological thriller for your PC..
What really does get me excited about Daylight, you ask? The quote above. Procedural. If the game can deliver some frights within the hours of gameplay, then I will definitely jump back in to get scared from unexpected angles.
Thirty in a sixty!
To summarise my feelings. If I can condense thirty minutes of gameplay into sixty-ish seconds that only one really noticeable moment, the women walking through fire in the medical warehouse, then what hope does the remaining time have to offer? A lot, I hope. Though being honest, I am not holding out for much. Sadly.
Have you played Daylight? Am I being too harsh, too soon? Let me know!
