Well, another month, another new game. This one is a zombie game. Or at least that's what it portrays itself as, it's more like a Parkour simulator with zombies in it.

You are an agent of the Global Relief Effort, a UNICEF-like NGO with a Hidden Agenda. Apparently, a Rogue Agent has stolen the research GRE was doing on the virus, and threatens to release it so EVERYONE can remake the virus.
You'd think they'd send in the most pumped-up Special Forces badass they could, but instead, your character is a normal person. As soon as you get dropped in, you get your legs broken by the local thugs, AND bitten by a zombie for good measure. A boy and girl from The Resistance rescue you, the boy doesn't make it, the girl blames you--and this is just the intro, no interaction yet!
The bite will rear its ugly head in various places, blurring your vision and taking away your "Combat Stamina", making you unable to fight and do your cool Special Moves for a period of time.

You go throuogh a "Test"/tutorial that more introduces the jump/climb/shimmy/fall system than anything else. This isn't really a bad thing, as the climb system is the key to most of the game, and your biggest enemy is fall damage/fall insta-kill if you don't land in water, in trashbags, or on enemies. That's right, your greatest enemy is fall damage, not the unlimited zombie hordes, not even the super-zombies who shake the screen with every hit, not the bandits with their unlimited ammo cheat!

Speaking of screen-shaking, that is arguably this game's biggest problem: The screen shakes when you do things, from fighting to climbing--especially problematic on the climbing part. In all other games, from WOW to Fallout 3 to FarCry 4, you can climb to arbitrary heights, look in any direction...and your viewpoint will be steady enough to conduct surgery with (especially with a sniper rifle!).
In this game, though, your character has a fear of heights. The higher you go, the shakier you get. If you, the PLAYER, have any kind of fear of heights, it will trigger you like an SJW! Realistic, but unnecessarily complicates jumping/climbing puzzles, and there's no way to shut it off!

The meat of the game, is performing Quests, Story or Side Quests, which are "Fetch" or "Fix This Machine" Quests. It has a huge game world, which sounds like a plus--but is actually kind of a minus when you have to run, jump, and fight through it. Most buildings have to be entered through the roof, but once inside, you can USUALLY find a latch to open the front or back door. Some buildings can even be "secured and cleared" and used as a "Safehouse", AKA "Respawn Point" when you die. (And you WILL die, no matter how skilled you think you are!) Every Safehouse also has a Stash, arguably more important than the Safehouse itself, where you can stow your excess weapons you pick up in your quest through the disaster area! About half the items in the game can be used as a weapon, from 2x4s to lead pipes to assault rifles, and crazy...contraptions...you find or bargain for the blueprints for--and then assemble if you have the materials! Items have "rarity" that determines how many times they can be repaired, before breaking completely, as well as general Power Levels. It's dayglo versions of the Diablo hierarchy:
White-Normal
Green-Enhanced
Blue-Rare
Purple-Ultra Rare
Orange-Legendary
You also have a Scavenger Sense, which "Pings" the landscape and puts a white dot over things you can interact with as is, and Green, Blue, or Purple dots on things you have to Lockpick into. (There's a Lockpick minigame ripped wholesale from Fallout 3)
Foods are consumed immediately and will heal you. You'll be surprised at the healing power of Baklava!

There are not one, not two, but THREE Talent or "Perk" trees in the game. And the game is long enough you can max all three out without cheats (But what fun would that be?) Sadly, none of the Perks are game-breakingly powerful.
There are 23 levels for Agility, 23 levels for Power and 21 levels for the Survivor tree. Each Skill requires a certain Level and in some cases a pre-requisite Skill must be unlocked first. For example the Drop Attack perk which is under the Power section requires Power Level 7 and also Combat Adept to be unlocked first.

Survivor is your basic Leveling tree, and includes some basic Blueprints, like Fireworks and Lockpicks. It also allows you to increase the size of your Backpack. Game Logic! You also get the ability to trigger the traps you arm in some of the early-game Quests! And even some that others left for you!
EXP in this tree is increased by killing Zombies and bandits, clearing and securing Safehouses, and completing Quests.
Death will cost you some Survivor EXP points until you max out this tree. That's right, a singleplayer game with EXP loss!

Agility allows you to dodge out of zombies' way, or throw them out of your way. It's not as impressive as it sounds, although one of the abilities in THIS tree will let you break free of normal zombies INSTANTLY...And another ability Stuns them as you break free! Most of this tree is devoted to reducing how much Stamina running, jumping and climbing takes. Oddly, the Agility tree ALSO gives you a Health Regen factor, of the old "Don't get hit for awhile and your health will come back" type.
EXP in this tree is increased by running, jumping, climbing and exploring.

Power is my favorite tree, it's the combat tree! Abilities here allow you to give (and take) a bigger beating before dying, AND extend the life of your weapons between repairs. One of the skills here allows you to never get tired while fighting! However, that is a little misleading, as there are some points where the storyline will make your character tired...
Another great Skill here is to be able to step on the heads of any zombie you knock to the ground--or ones already on the ground, or ones climbing up to your position!
Another Skill allows you to insta-kill with your knee any zombie you've already Stunned...Like with the Agility Skill mentioned above?
This tree also includes "Takedown", the cliche "Sneak up behind the enemy and break its neck" move--boring, but VERY effective!
EXP in this tree is gained by fighting...and incidentally, by using Power Perk skills!

Now why is this game called "Dying LIGHT"? It's because it has a day/night cycle.
Zombies are stronger, faster, more aggressive at night. If you do anything OTHER than hunker down in a Safehouse and wait for the sun to come back, your EXP for Agility and Power trees are TRIPLED for any exploration at night. But there's a very big catch: Superzombies called "Volatiles" come out at night. Stronger and tougher than anything you'll face in the daytime, AND the Agility Skill to break free instantly doesn't work on these!
You have a flashlight with unlimited batteries so you can explore to your heart's content, day or night, and an Ultraviolet Flashlight with VERY limited batteries to temporarily stop the Volatiles--and light them up like a Christmas tree so you can fight or flee them more effectively for a little while. The UV flashlight also does a LITTLE damage to Volatiles.

As you progress through the game, new Zombie mutations will be discovered, including Mega (Double the size, hits with an ENORMOUS two-handed pole with a bit of concrete at the end. Even if you dodge, the shockwave can knock you down or even Stun you), Spitters (Spew globs of acid or globs of explosive at you), Bombers (Arguably the worst, they explode when hit, killing friend and foe alike. If you keep your distance and use thrown or bullet weapons, you can make it kill other Zombies!), and Defenders (Bigger even than Megas, they can take a PILE of bullets, or several dozen swings with a melee weapon, and have a Charge attack!)

The DLC was disappointing. You wake up with a bomb strapped to your ankle, and have to do a series of killing/climbing/jumping puzzles to get that bomb taken off, and MAYBE get some amazing loot...except the prizes are underwhelming at best, and the timer is too short...unless you cheat your ass off, then it's just a jumping puzzle.

ULTIMATE SPOILER ALERT: The ending of the main game is a QTE, so if that turns you off, you may want to look at other games instead!