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[Aavak]

Hold it right there survivor! No bites? No scratches? Well then, you're free to join me on my journey through: Deadlight!

Welcome to my latest offering, the 'action adventure indie platformer zombie-survival' game, Deadlight. Developed by Tequila Works, and published by Microsoft Studios. Originally published to Xbox Live Arcade on the 1st of August, 2012, it was later ported to the PC and released via Steam on the 25th of October in the same year.

The story takes place in 1986, and follows the journey of Randell Wayne, a park warden hailing from the town of Hope, in Canada, as he struggles to make his way through a zombie-infected Seattle in pursuit of his wife and daughter. With a grim and generally tragic feel, the game does a good job of balancing fast paced platforming action with story telling, to weave together a coherent and immersive zombie-survival experience.

This will be my first playthrough, though having watched Revocane journey through the game, certain gameplay elements will already be familiar to me. Though this doesn't offer any real shielding from my clumsiness and Randell's insistence on falling down every lethal drop he can find... so it's just as well that the game itself is relatively short, so you wont have to suffer through too much of my (sometimes hilarious) deaths ;)

Now then, with that introduction out of the way, let's get stuck in to some good ol' 2D platformer goodness! But remember... never leave the group!

Dear Diary...




Previous Pages:











As ever, feedback and suggestions are warmly welcomed :)

[Aavak]

July 4th - Midday
In the first episode we will meet the protagonist of Deadlight, Randell Wayne, learn a little about his past and the demons he seems to wrestle with, and find out what drives him in this Shadow infested hell on earth.

[Aavak]

July 4th - Evening
In the last episode we helped to guide Randell from the abandoned warehouse, the last resting place of Karla, to the very outskirts of Seattle. Along the way we picked up a few IDs and, better yet, a fireman's axe!

Now we rejoin our grim protagonist and drive ever further towards the sprawling urban centre and reach the city limits. I can't quite shake the feeling that this may not be the smartest thing to do, in a world where the dead get up to feast on the living, but men are known to do crazy things when they're trying to rescue their wives and daughters...

[Aavak]

July 4th - Late Evening
As the daylight began to fade in the last episode, Randy had made his way to Seattle's city limits, where a flashback and a .38 revolver later we were finally armed with something a bit less demanding to use than our fireman's axe.

But in this episode, will we find a time where we need this gun for anything more than shooting locks? As we've already seen, guns make noise, and noise makes shadows. Never the less, Randy will have to push onwards, deeper into the urban sprawl, in pursuit of not only his wife and daughter, but now also his friends. However, it seems we're not the only ones chasing after old Ben's motor home...

[Aavak]

July 5th - Early Morning
So it seems that we've already lost one of our number. Sam, the old cop from Vancouver has fallen prey to the 'New Law'. Scavengers picking over what remains of a dying world... we will avenge you Sam, mark my words! Though, before we got too much time to think just how we were going to go about avenging him, we ended up backed into a corner by an army of Shadows, only to be rescued by a most unlikely character.

It is here, in 'The Rat's personal Hell that we now rejoin Randy. Stripped of his weapons, we are expected to jump through hoops for the Rat, but is there any reason behind these tests, or are we simply here for his entertainment?

[Aavak]

July 5th - Morning
It would appear that behind his laboured laughing and crazed mutterings, the Rat had a reason for bringing us down here. A noble one, some might say. In the last episode we discovered that the Rat has a son, who has gone missing, and he'd like us to find him before anyone else does. In return, he will help us find where Randy's friends have been taken, and perhaps even where his family are. A reasonable trade, all things considered.

However, given that he has a vested interest in us getting out of this maze so we could find his son, I'm left wondering why he didn't give us back our bloody weapons!! Ugh... fine. In this episode we follow Randy as he fights his way back out of the Rat's maze and begins the hunt for his son, armed only with a slingshot and stubbornness. Will it be enough?

[Aavak]

July 5th - Midday
Finding the Rat's son was never going to be a simple task, that was obvious. But, not put off, Randy set off in the previous episode to find the boy. However, after dodging the New Law, a suburb full of zombies, and an exploding truck, it was starting to look a little grim. And then we crashed our van. Great...

On the plus side, it seems that our vehicular antics may have caught the boy's attention, and thus we find ourselves transported from the streets, to the roof-tops. Though given that the New Law have a helicopter, this may not have been the wisest choice.

[Dorftrottel]

Just wanted to say that I enjoy these very greatly. Your audio quality is much higher than in most LPs I ever watched, and your commentaries and narration are very appropriate and entertaining. Two thumbs up, I look forward to further episodes!

[Aavak]

Thanks for the high praise, Dorftrottel. It's always great to hear that my LPs are enjoyable to watch, and I hope you continue to enjoy them as I upload more

[Aavak]

July 5th - Evening
As expected, seeking refuge from the shadows below, by climbing to the rooftops, only made us easier targets for the new Law and their 'giant bird'. Queue rooftop Helicopter chase scene! However, following that, and after  finally returning the boy to his father, the Rat, we were directed to a stadium, where we finally found Ben...

With Ben a little worse for wear, and currently struggling for his life against a peckish zombie, the clock's ticking. Randy needs to figure his way out through the basement and parking lot in order to reach his friend from the other side of the stadium, but will we be in time?

[Aavak]

July 5th - Late Evening
Reaching Ben ended up being the least of Randy's problems. Having saved Ben from being gnawed on by a Zombie, we had to quickly find medical supplies to stabilise Ben's condition after the torture at the hands of the New Law. While looking, we were confronted with more insanity and nightmares in the hospital, but we finally found the supplies we needed and all seemed well... it didn't last.

Almost inevitably Ben succumbed to his wounds, right in the middle of flying us to the safe point, and as a result crashed just outside. Somehow, having survived the crash we must now pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and press on deeper into the compound. We seem to be getting closer now, the Shadows are likely not the only things we have to worry about at this point.

[Xantalos]

PTW.

[Aavak]

July 6th - Early Morning
Having reached the outskirts of the military base, Safety Point, Randy had to navigate his way through an assault course full of death traps and collapsing buildings (as well as missile silos!) before finally encountering some of the members of the New Law. Not the most observant lot, to be fair, though when we decided to cut off their treacherous radio broadcast it seems we stirred the ants nest a little more than we expected.

So, now we return and join Randy, trapped in the New Law's base. They were kind enough to transport us by helicopter over here, little did they know that we are on a mission, that Randy is a man searching for his wife and daughter, and is ready to do whatever it takes to save them. But first, we must do something about a little unwanted attention Stella seems to have picked up...

[Aavak]

July 6th - Morning
Having helped Stella out of a sticky situation, and back into her clothes, Randy may have bitten off a little more than he bargained for. Stella was, predictably, less agile and prone to needing help to climb over tall walls, though her ability to squeeze through tight spaces did come in handy as the pair fled from the wrath of the New Law. On the way, Randell decided that the best course of action would be to shut down the base's power... it ends as one might expect, with Shadows pouring over the walls and all hell breaking loose!

Still, the pair managed to work their way through the rapidly escalating conflict, only to finally be caught in a dead-end. With their freedom so close and yet out of reach, Stella pleads for Randell to end her life, she doesn't want to become a monster after all...

And then it happens. Finally, all those memories, of which we've been given frequent but brief glimpses, come rushing back to Randy, as Stella's words echo those of his deceased wife back in Hope.

Yeah. We saw it coming, but for all the knowing of it, the reality of Randy's tragic story still had a bit of weight to it when it finally hit us. Faced with the imminent collapse of Hope, and with only two shotgun shells left. Randy acquiesced to Shannon's plea and shot her and his daughter, Lydia, to save them the monstrous fate that lay in store. Unable to bear the pain of it, he simply buried those memories deep inside, and constructed a lie to hide them.

We'd been chasing ghosts this whole time...

This time, however, things would be different. Refusing to let Stella make that same choice, a choice which leads no where, we watched as Randell carved a hole for her to escape through, and to a boat not far away. But Randy could not follow, but with Stella finally safe, he comes to terms with his past choices, lays his demons to rest, and turns to face the advancing hoard of Shadows with grim determination.

And with that, this LP comes to its tragic and climactic conclusion. Only 2 days after joining Randell Wayne, journeying with him as he scrambled, rolled, and often fell his way across Seattle, we must say a sad goodbye as we watch Stella sail off into an uncertain future.

It has been a fun playthrough, though not without its frustrations, which I can say (with some measure of surprise!) were not all down to my own fumblings at the controls ;) But for all the rough edges and sometimes irritating 'trial by error' level design, this has been a very solid game.

I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed recording it, and perhaps I may return to this game one day and try a Nightmare Mode playthough.

Until then, and as always, take care... and don't get bitten!