This is a frustrating game that I really want to like, but can't recommend. As others have pointed out, it looks great. The character models, use of lighting and vivid environments nail the atmosphere of the theme. Even the cutscene visuals are appropriately gritty and on point. The music is standard fare for the genre and unremarkable. The designers really knocked it out of the park in terms of aesthetics. Where Deadlight falls short is the controls. A platformer must have solid controls to work. When I play a platformer, I expect to make mistakes while I get a feel for how the game flows. I even expect to fail as the game gets harder. But, in a good platformer, the failures are my fault, not the game's. These are perhaps some of the dodgiest controls for a platformer that I have seen in a game (and I've played all the Prince of Persia games). I had to redo several jumps multiple times because he didn't take off when I hit jump, or he fell through the floor before/after jumping. Combat is somewhat better, but even then, I had multiple instances where I'd swing the axe, be well within range, but miss (sometimes twice) and then get mauled. The story is pretty non-sensical, which I can forgive if the mechanics are solid (which, as I've said, they aren't). This is made by a non-native English-speaking developer, so idiosyncracies with dialog are fine, but there some basic story structure elements that made little sense, even for a zombie game. (SPOILER ALERT) The stuff with the Rat and his son was just weird. Why did the soldiers even care about taking survivors? What would they possibly hope to gain? The ending especially baffled me since I literally had to break a lock right before getting to the pier. The dude is strong enough to chop a hole into the boards of a dock, he can chop a thin wire fence. (SPOILER ENDS) TL;DR Great atmosphere; so-so music; horrid controls; weird story decisions. Only play it if you just really like the genre and can get it cheap.
