QCF: Daylight

he concept of mastering the invocation of a certain emotion in your art is an art within itself, and a challenging effort when tastefully handled at that.  When witnessing the attempt at this every effort in motion, you can’t help but admire the conviction of the chase to engage others into feeling the intended vision, even when the inkling that the whole damn affair is destined to derail into a train wreck much sooner than later.

Zombie Studios’ Daylight is one of the more sensational victims of experimentation within the craft of video game design geared towards immersion that I’ve played yet, and the lingering aftertaste of disappointment is still fresh against the roof of my mouth.

As the camera perspective steadily came into view, the immediate details of my surroundings flooded my sensory, setting me up for what I could only assume would be a journey filled with treacherous horror; little did I know though, that I would be leaving the one room composed of the most distinction and personality that the entire game offers.

Instead, I would be steered into one of the most monotonous tours of a setting so bland and uninspiringly repetitive that it actually did become a  nightmarish experience—just not the one this poor excuse of a game ever intended to put me through.

In the role of Sara and with as little exposition as you can imagine, you’re tasked with exploring a dilapidated mental hospital that’s equipped with every scare tactic you can imagine; only they’re applied with the finesse of a side-show parlor trick of a child’s birthday party magician. Trekking through endless corridors made of endless hallways vexingly more similar with one another than the last, a disembodied voice will exchanges taunts with directions to help you escape the dangerous mental hospital or whatever it is; Daylight doesn’t seem to remain consistent enough to care—it’s a hospital one minute, then a warehouse or prison the other.

The only way to progress further into the game is conquer a series of fetch quests revolving around diaries and logs of the events that transpired in the hospital prior to its presently condemned state. Again, just to clarify, the once unique now recognizably saturated practice of adding additional details of flavor text to the overarching fiction of the narrative is how Daylight primarily tells you it’s story, and manages to turn it into a series of mind-numbing objectives for you accomplish no less. Collecting these diaries/logs (or remnants as the game affectionately refers to them as) will summon a key in a room somewhere on the map, you get the key, then you locate the room you can use it in somewhere else in the map and you’re done. I stand firm that yes, this course of action is even more asinine than it sounds when playing it.

The only thing standing in your way of course is all of the supposedly spooky shit that’s going on, and honestly, none of these vengeful spirits every feel threatening in the slightest, How could they really? When the game has done nothing to introduce us to Sara, or even tease at anything that would motivate players to care about her wellbeing.

Simplifying the already mundane fright quest to a whole new level of boredom, you’re equipped with nothing more than three objects that reinforce the tediously dull cycle of mechanics that make up for Daylight’s exploration. On you Sara’s person, you’ll have access to a smartphone that displays an active mini-map just competent enough to assist you with navigation a fraction of the time, glow sticks that inexplicably do a better job of illuminating the darkness than the actual light on your phone, and emergency flares—you’re only defense against lethal paranormal elements that await you.  Getting through the game within the initial stages is almost condescending when you contrast the complete lack of challenge but then the difficulty curve drastically bumps up from out the blue in the worst way.

Before I knew it, I was slowly subjected to repeat areas several times from all of the deaths incurred from the countless onslaughts of deadly spirits encountered, pathetically trying to change up my tactics with the three, maybe four flares tops, as the only means to defend myself. In each the instances where I was beaten down for a good while before I finally managed to move forward, what really stung me the most is that after it was all said and done, I felt like I accomplished nothing.

To say that I was disappointed with Daylight is an understatement, considering the pedigree of the individuals involved with its creation like Anthony Gallegos, Jessica Chobot, and the rest of Zombie Studios; I honestly can’t fathom how the game was finished and released in the state that it’s in. We have a game that isn’t fun or interesting, instead, it’s a chore—one that yields no rewards in completing it, and no hidden, let alone, convincing incentive to continuing on with it. Just skip it all together , and stick with the frights you can shriek to in games much more deserving of your time.