The setting of Deadlight is fascinating because it’s based in 1986 Seattle where during some scenes, you can even see the inspiration of some of the events. Deadlight draws inspiration and setting from movies, and like them, it has its violent and tense moments. Despite the positives of the setting, the game fails with a typical horror story. Ray is your protagonist and seeks his wife and daughter in the midst of the civilization overrun by the undead. The game extends for about six to seven hours in history mode with the adventure of the character in a three-act story. The character within the game is a simple walk and jump; Ray repairs several fixed patterns, seeming a lot like Assassin’s Creed. However, unlike this, the platform becomes dull because it is not easy to run, jump, and do the acrobatics while avoiding the ‘rugs’ running around the city. The level, despite two-dimensional, appears in three-dimensional scenes that you need to jump over alternating between the background and the foreground of the stage. This level variation makes the game more diverse.

From a successful Spanish indie game company, we have Deadlight. Tequila Works first released Deadlight as an Xbox Live game in 2012 and later on as a PC game. The only survival in Deadlight is to run, hide, and fight in order to overcome all the mob that is in hiding, and which may appear at any moment. The player moves throughout the game dodging zombies and hoping that they will not catch whoever has to escape from the Seattle slags. Deadlight is similar to several games where shooting is the highest point, but in the case of Deadlight what saves is the need to run, as in Limbo and Full.

1.1. Overview of the Game

The gameplay involves a combination of platforming and puzzle-solving subtle action elements. Throughout the game, the basic mechanics and objectives slightly vary, but the overall success and smoothness of the gameplay are relatively consistent. The game is difficult but fair with a learning curve that depends heavily on the player’s intuition, trial and error. The game also suggests and provides a great opportunity for players to strengthen the belief in making claims, from players successfully going through the game to using the colorful and comprehensive option to strengthen the opponent. Experiencing the sacrifices and the highly rewarding prince rewards, as well as performing noble acts of self-righteousness. Most importantly, Deadlight’s gameplay is an intricate and cunning analogy of the illusion of freedom versus the unreasonable dexterity of a chained prisoner.

One of the most significant survival horror platformers and cinematic action-adventure games is Deadlight, which was developed by Tequila Works and published by Microsoft Studios. The game made its initial release in 2012, which was specifically made available on the Xbox 360. Subsequently, it was also released on Microsoft Windows and was also available for the re-launch of Deadlight: Director’s Cut on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Over the years, the game has been commended for its excellent presentation, which clearly emphasizes the game’s cutting-edge graphics and meaningful animations, all of which have graphics that outshone the 2D gaming stereotypes. The game also envelops its players in its unique ambience, plot, and dramatic atmosphere. The storyline of Deadlight is also worth noting, as it is a complex and compelling narrative that is supported by thought-provoking and self-narrative quotes. One of the main characters in the game, Randall Wayne, is deeply rooted in the deepest stereotypes or clichés, although it can be a good contribution to the game’s strong narrative.

1.2. Development and Release

There was no word about a possible version for personal computers in the announcement because the authors wanted to concentrate on creating a console game and the Studio Tadeo Games was not going to release a PC version. The creators also tried to create such, as they said, a unique console game and during the development of the concept they compiled a folder with press clippings from popular game publications such as GameSpy, Edge, and Game Informer, filed this folder on their days of struggle, on days of malnutrition and sleepless nights when nothing was working, and when they had difficulty finding inspiration, they opened the folder and told themselves that they had to return to do. The development of the game ended in the autumn of 2011, a month and a half after its announcement, and the release of Deadlight took place only ten months after its announcement, on August 1, 2012. As it turned out later, the PC version of the game was developed along with the console one but was announced just two days after the release of the console version, August 3, 2012, and was released earlier, a week later, August 20, 2012.

Creation of Deadlight began immediately after the release of the previous game by the studio, called Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood in summer 2009. The inspiration for the creation of Deadlight was the one-time game Another World, which contained elements of action, puzzles, and platforming but was much darker in concept and graphic design. Indeed, the gameplay in Deadlight refers exactly to these genres, and the creators Nolan and Delgado regretfully admit that filming elements are completely absent in their games. They also admit borrowing graphics and game design elements from popular Limbo and to a lesser extent from Shadow Complex and Braid. The official date for revealing/announcing Deadlight was September 27, 2011, the announcement was made by Microsoft Studios, which stated that it would publish this game only for the Xbox 360 exclusively on the Xbox LIVE Arcade service.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

In terms of combat, Deadlight uses a simple but effective approach. Combat within the game is primarily melee-based, with the player being able to acquire an infinite-use axe which is used to combat the shadows (the zombies within the game). Guns are incapable of killing the shadows, so they end up becoming a somewhat underutilized accessory. In line with the narrative elements of the game, combat situations range from simplistic and underwhelming to fairly complex. There are occasional stand-out segments in the game, particularly towards the end. Unlike most platformer titles, the introduction of ammunition, rotatable aim (for the occasional gun section), and a rudimentary upgrade element make these sections a great deal more complex, but possibly not complex enough to sway somebody who is predominantly interested in challenging action.

In Deadlight, the gameplay itself is far more complex and interesting than in most 2D action-platformer titles. The primary focus of the game is on exploration and environmental navigation puzzles, punctuated with intermittent combat scenarios and light puzzle-solving. There is a strong element of exploration within the game, which is primarily driven by the fact that the entire game world is filled with collectible ‘journal’ items which offer a large amount of backstory to players who go out of their way to retrieve them.

2.1. Platforming and Puzzles

As for the puzzles, these represent another form of problem-solving. Players will need to endure trials to progress through the game. An example of this would be moving objects to see an electrocuted power box to press a switch to open the door. The player will also have to push objects like boxes, dumpsters, and laundry carts to be able to reach certain areas. At times during the game, silhouette objects will appear in which when pointed to, these will cause interesting visual stories to be displayed about the person’s demise. These are interesting to watch, especially when a player is interested in the story base of Deadlight. To activate these, the player will have to knock them by throwing an object at them or when they come into contact with water.

Platforming and puzzles in Deadlight play major roles in the game. In terms of platforming, this takes the form of the player-character using ledges and climbing physically on structures to traverse through them. To get from point A to B, players need to traverse buildings, pass through sewers, and go up roads to avoid the shadows. To do this, players will need to walk on ledges and jump from building to building, avoiding dangerous falls. At points, players will need to climb using ladders to climb up and down large structures to advance the story. After part one of the story, players will need to jump from standing start to opposite ledges to traverse areas in the sewer. With the difficulty of platforming being either too easy or hard, the game doesn’t do anything to challenge or reinvent the basic mechanics, which can only frustrate or bore players.

2.2. Combat System

The greatest advantage of this system is the ability to maintain a minimalist approach without offering simple or monotonous combat. Frenzied action games often go through repetitive stages, offering little flexibility, tending to promote a feeling of abuse as the player progresses through exploration campaigns on various stages, arguing the importance of continuous action in every sense. Under such pressure, the system seems to be thinning to accommodate both objectives. On the other hand, open world games can offer complex, flexible, and engaging combat systems, heavy mechanics in supporting RPG elements that dominate characters and their progress in the virtual world.

There are a few elements of the gameplay that do not perfectly combine with others in Deadlight. The combat mechanics in 2D environments offer players such mixed experiences that sometimes you are not sure whether you should be watching a survival horror, an action-adventure, or a side-scrolling platform. The combat system is relatively agile and offers a variety of movements and actions while retaining the simplicity of game execution. When executed, the protagonist has a set of movements and implements a range of actions: standard attack, side step, jump forward, shoot, aim, and execute special attacks.

3. Narrative and Storyline

Randall struggles with both infected and «shadows,» the infected that have evolved into something worse. He moves between shadows for the duration of the game, finally being attacked by one of them—thus realizing that «the survivor of the New Law» has found him. We are led to believe that his sheer tenacity will see him through to the game’s resolution. The voice-over driven RPG «Don’t Be Afraid!» from Broken Arrow Games feels more personal than the story-narrative performance of Jahnson’s efforts, offering the feeling from the script similar to that in 2013’s «The Last of Us.» Here in Deadlight, we see events, but we don’t feel them. We sense that Randall is dangerous, resourceful, and determined. However, when we lose him to a fall on the game’s climactic building, the impact is a minimal-first reaction to the lack of empathy throughout play. That is strange, given that most players admit that it was them who allowed him to die.

The opening cutscene sets the stage, outlining the dire straits that have befallen civilization and providing some dubious hope for a resolution. This opening movie is about the only time we will hear Randall’s voice, and it is clear that his aim is to leave the shadows of the city and return his family to the safety of a supposed haven outside. It’s a well-realized goal but one that is derivative of so many other zombie narratives. In that respect, Deadlight seems to sit somewhere in the 28 Days Later movie range of narrative-zombie navel gazing in terms of how the survivors are coping. This is New York built with what is described for the game as «the artistic generosity of screenwriter Randall Jahnson,» but it’s a pity. Randall himself came to life with the artistic generosity associated with Marcin Surma’s illustration skills.

3.1. Setting and Atmosphere

Deadlight has strong undertones of the survival horror genre, using familiar concepts from similar games such as Silent Hill and the Resident Evil games. These aspects make the setting seem familiar to most gamers. Deadlight has the same grind against certain common tried-and-true games as such. The player mainly keeps left through various forms of gameplay. The first time I moved to the left across a beam, I thought I was going to roll through the game like a steam engine on rails. That false pretense is short-lived. As puzzles emerge, you should see the light in the lighthouse pointing to the path.

Deadlight immerses the gamer deep into the horror of Seattle, WA, during a catastrophic outbreak of mass zombification. This game takes place during the year of 1986. Waking up in a hospital, you are given the impression of loneliness when you find no one else in the building. Careful observation before picking up control input reveals parts of the background story. Why is no one in the hospital? Why am I the only one monkeying around in this joint? When exiting the hospital, the back stories start to unfold and give understanding to where the general public is and what is happening with the city. The sudden appearance of all the main characters tells this is not a typical hotel California. Now that we have established the story and environment, let us move forward and get a feel of the terrain.

3.2. Character Development

When compared to the environment, Randall Wayne is somewhat numbed. Maybe Randall is numbed by feeling guilt and has received bad news. Why is now the time when Randall decides he needs to find his friend, not at any other time? Why does Randall need to get his butt in gear to help out when he has actively hung his wife in a basement room? Why does a character who saves people and cared so much about his friend’s safety live alone on the outskirts of the world by the woods? These are questions that are not answered. When the player is engaged in a plot that is unique in terms of what the gameplay might yield, the storyline fails to answer them.

The storyline in «Deadlight» is an allowed plot, and as a result, the level of character development is quite high. Randall Wayne is in a state of guilt over his own actions and has hung his own wife in a room. He then feels compelled to protect his friends as they are in trouble and cares about what is happening to them. The game also injects background information that the environment is dictating the behavior of the victims and that there is no established authority that is feeding off itself. This story allows characters to be more fleshed out in the storyline. As a platformer, the player must bear the responsibility to find out everything that is happening.

4. Visuals and Sound Design

4.1. Art Style and Graphics

4.2. Soundtrack and Audio Effects

5. Reception and Impact

When received well, praise of the game centers on the game’s strong narrative and its art direction; criticism is directed, almost unnamable, at the inadequate or unchallenging gameplay. The controls in particular have been heavily attacked, with some feeling its, at times, clunky manipulation is responsible for frustrating deaths. Otherwise, the main complaint is over the short duration, with most players possessing the appropriate skills completing the game in a single six-hour play session and in which Deadlight ends, almost abruptly, as satisfyingly as a counterpoint to this. Since the game sold well during launch week, its unstable negative reception is somewhat resounding.

Deadlight was a much-anticipated Xbox 360 release. The Preview – entitled Reveal: Deadlight, published in the December 2011 issue of Xbox World – explains that it was revealed at E3 «in rudimentary form». The reviews for Deadlight at the time of writing (3 August 2012) are dichotomous, with scores ranging from 27% and 40% on one hand, all the way up to 90% on the other.

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5.1. Critical Reviews and Ratings

Nonetheless, the game’s critical responses appreciated the work done by the team. The aesthetic aspect of the art provided by Tequila Works garnered a significant amount of press. The game’s graphics, depicting a burnt and devoured world, are rich in depth and texture, highly textured, and pleasing to the eye. The living shadows created by the new graphical approach cited in the game dock express both natural lighting and depth of field. The play is locked, though, and the lack of alternative graphics makes Deadlight less attractive. The visual look and design attract critics and players. Critics warn all players to discard the trivial famous zombies as they share different traditions in pop culture with other zombies. From the impact of the visual aesthetics, the game receives positive responses but is targeted for its lower scores.

From a scoring and critical perspective, how does Deadlight compare to its peers in the horror genre? Deadlight is relatively well regarded but has some critics. The game was an acceptable PC game with a score of 71/100 on Metacritic. IGN scored Deadlight (Xbox 360) 7.5/10 and Eurogamer ranked it 7/10. Gamer awarded the game an average score of 6.5/10, and it is the lowest score given to the GamesRadar game with a 7/10. The expert score provided by sites offers verified information and analysis from industry professionals. Compared to user reviews, the results are often generalized, nor is it frequently presumed that positive critics define the user’s perspective of a good game. Positive ratings inform you that you should evaluate the title, but the average or low ratings should be checked to get a complete picture. The Deadlight developers designed the game in a long-term fashion based on the principles of game design. They wanted to make a game with a particular focus. However, the rating level emphasizes some important negative points in terms of playability, such as the combat system that prevents the game from joining the list of great family games such as Limbo or Braid.

5.2. Cultural and Industry Influence

Tequila Works raised the necessary capital, particularly from some Spanish corporations and public fountains, which partially facilitated the evolution of the game; that such support is seen indicates how Spanish firms were motivated by the accumulation of a sense of belonging in order to stand out in such a hostily mediated environment.

The management of video gaming corporations generally was particularly trying to confound during the climactic cultural «soft power» explosion in the region. Deadlight was an exclusive Microsoft venture. Therefore, video game players who decided on Sony or Nintendo consoles had evasively to look for other means of accessing Deadlight, such as waiting for compatibility with other platforms or acquiring one of the initial releases of the Xbox 360 using parachuted exclusive content.

In terms of the release date, European video game development studios have long faced the problem of falling behind when they have attempted to continue through the increasingly severe situations arising in a market increasingly controlled by Japanese and North American forces.

Vallance’s creation was innovative and culturally significant in the competitive European market. With Deadlight, Tequila Works sought an idiosyncratic element by combining Latin-American concepts with film industry culture. Characteristics of Gonzalo Lara, Tequila Works’ art director, are distinguishable in the visual style of the game. He utilized distinctive lighting techniques to craft an impressive world, which prompted comparisons with Ridley Scott’s iconic Blade Runner. The spotless animation solutions that Tequila Works initiated are praiseworthy, however, another instance of the achievements.

6. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The game can be seen as an artistic venture in the development and promotion of the genre, or simply as an aesthetic undertaking done just for fun. And yet, the major shortcoming of Deadlight, in my mind, is its obsessive concentration on setting and craftsmanship, which appears to have happened at the expense of an engaging and affectionate story to accompany it. It is no doubt reminded of the exciting moment when there were fewer epic products at the beginning of the year, now fairly frequently. Often we lack a feeling of satisfaction about the story the environment has shaped or felt oblivious to the attributes of the characters that work solely in the service of player immersion. However, it remains that Deadlight is an enjoyable game.

Despite its bleak atmosphere, Deadlight offers a rich gaming experience, including puzzles, combat, and platform gaming mechanics. It uses a standard gaming trope, the zombie apocalypse, to create a distressing world. The innocent plight of Randall is a lonely and terrifying feeling of despair that exists at the time the game occurs, the lonely desolation of the world, and the terrified screams of the undead. As we have seen, the feel and look of the game serve well to create the atmosphere; the story serves to reinforce this feel. Deadlight has a terrifyingly good time creating the apocalypse.

6.1. Summary of Key Points

Regarding its story, Deadlight features a basic storyline that teaches important lessons about humans as a society. Several thematic observations can be seen while playing Deadlight. The environment within which the story is set has features found within other fictional contexts, more specifically, the zombie apocalypse environment. In Deadlight’s case, the created environment is a combination of elements that are characteristic of the United States along with history. Along with fighting zombies, Randall Pearce showed the willingness to help other survivors. He takes good leadership by gathering some survivors to Washington Park, expecting to explain to them off through the security wall of the Space Needle. Their pain is Randall’s pain as he shares their plight. Through interactions with an elderly family man and the survival of a little girl who is on your way to salvation against all odds, Randall’s humanity is also laid bare. However, he showed hypocrisy. Randall is also willing to use the people he assists in a way. In this Serling Twilight Zone meta-story, Pearce burns down a man’s shelter to create his new safe house. All of a sudden, Randall has an obsession with his former wife. She was a mirage as a possible new partner for his old family. He helped him for his escape with Tom, bunking off away from Ben the soldier. When he came to his safe house, in the end, Shannon is offered by the people he has taken. Even more disturbing, this end goal changes. No problem leaving her son behind.

In conclusion, this paper has reviewed the gameplay, storyline, and impact of Deadlight, a video game that was created by developers Tequila Works as they sought to release a signature game that could match the standards set within the evolving and competitive world of gaming. Deadlight introduces a «run, jump, and fight» mechanic that has been seen in previous video games. In Deadlight, the gameplay is simple, and the goals are clear-cut. However, Deadlight may end various types of computer player rather than ensuring that Pearce strengthens and controls them. Throughout the game, the virtual environment consistently forces gamers into scenarios where they need to utilize the skill of the parkour posed by game nature.

6.2. Personal Reflections

The atmosphere created by Deadlight is a major accomplishment of Tequila Works. Including cel shading graphics, this transforms the gameplay into a comic book. I agree that immersion here is an open question, as per the research about DeepPlay and the desirable game commerce, but nevertheless, the game has succeeded in implementing a shocking and memorable experience. The game conduction is strange, including the limited diagonal movements, which require a long period of learning the 1980s keyboard-like instructions.

From a design perspective, we take advantage of the vast amount of gameplay mechanics, but we have to take into account the controversies and complexities arising when trying to control a wide variety of different actions – run, stop, jump, push, use rifle, throw axe, and so on – in only one device. Nonetheless, Deadlight is remarkable for its simplicity in tutorials and controls. The best moment in the game is when players are getting zombified (is there a better one?) as the game controls come up to the view in total sync with players’ commands in a smooth and natural way.

In order to develop the storyline and a thematic guideline, Deadlight mixes terror and action and artfully incorporates the hard scenarios from the period of the game. I learned a lot about the 1980s, especially about Seattle, its architecture, and geography. Also, Deadlight has the potential to be used as a Brazil Studies course content, since it could lead students to a more meaningful research project about a certain period of time, locations, and context. The students as players can put themselves into the game, living the characters’ life, and really experiencing the history itself, instead of only reading books, listening, or watching class.

No game opens itself to just one and only one perception. Each single player brings to each game his/her background, visions, and feelings, which affect their overall approach. Here we will discuss some personal experiences, as a player and lecturer, about Deadlight in order to achieve some insight into the repercussion of the game from a teaching and learning perspective. As the iconic Romero proverb states: «If the player fails, it’s because the professor wasn’t able to transmit the beauty of the subject.»