Review: Daylight

Daylight is a first-person survival-horror game from 2014, currently available on Stream and PSN.

The story to start is pretty simple. A young woman wakes up in an abandoned hospital with nothing but her cell phone for light and to map her progress. Many doors are locked, so she has to make her way through, constantly seeking a way out. Eventually, she comes across a mystic seal, that can only be undone with a specific key back somewhere in the maze.

Of course, you're not exactly alone in there either. The spirits of several witches stalk the corridors behind you, waiting to catch you in a dead end or isolated room to kill you. There's supposed to be only one way to survive, run like hell, or burn them with a flare. I found plowing into and straight over them tended to work pretty well too.

While the story isn't really original, the game does feature several innovations that set it apart.

This was one of the first games I've seen, outside of the Diablo series to feature randomly generated levels, which makes every playthrough different from the last. Given that the point of the game is just wandering until you find the exit, then wandering back until you find the key, while collecting seemingly random clippings of background though, it doesn't add as much to the game as you might think.

SPOILERS BELOW THE PICTURE

Of course, you learn more about the story as you progress. Well, honestly, not really. I have to admit I didn't pick up all the background clippings, but I never read anything which actually led me logically to the twist at the end of the story. Just being used to horror, I figured out half of the eventual twist almost right away, but there was nothing to suspect the true ending. Which made almost no sense. 

The part I figured out, was that you were one of the patients of the hospital before it closed. The part I didn't figure out, and that I saw no trace of coming, was that you were a witch. Yeah. All the witches chasing you around and trying to kill you? You're one of them. You are the 13th witch to complete their coven. Which just makes them trying to kill you throughout the game confusing, as opposed to any kind of closure to the game. 

As I said though, I didn't pick up all the background info, so I may have missed something which explains it all. I have to doubt that though. All the clippings I found were either cursed photos (which I only know because there's a trophy for collecting all of them.), reports from staff of strange things happening, and news clippings of deaths on the property. 

Overall though, this is a decent little game, especially for one that came out so close to the release of the PS4. You can get it pretty cheap too, so it's certainly worth a few hours of frightening fun. Don't expect it to be one of your favorites though.

~ Shaun