Home Gaming Dying Light will eat your PC while redressing sexist tropes in games

Dying Light will eat your PC while redressing sexist tropes in games

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DyingRight

Polish developer Techland’s next game might, thematically at least, be similar to their last one: Dead Island. Their new zombie-killing simulator has something the previous one didn’t though; a big budget and a whole lotta polish. We’ve had a go at the game a few times, and have been impressed – even if zombies themselves may be a little passé, the game is pretty damned exciting to play. And if you plan on playing the game on your PC, you may need an upgrade. No, not you, guy with your Nvidia GTX 980! The guy right behind you. Yes, you. It’s probably time to upgrade.

It’s coming at the end of January next year for the not-so-new consoles, and PC.  If you want to play it on consoles. all you need to do is insert the disc AND THEN WAIT FOR THE MASSIVE, INEVITABLE DAY ONE PATCH. If you’re planning to play on PC, your PC must be this tall, according to Steam:

MINIMUM:
OS: Windows® 7 64-bit / Windows® 8 64-bit / Windows® 8.1 64-bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2500 @3.3 GHz / AMD FX-8320 @3.5 GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM DDR3
Hard Drive: 40 GB free space
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670 / AMD Radeon™ HD 7870
Sound: DirectX® 10

RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows® 7 64-bit / Windows® 8 64-bit / Windows® 8.1 64-bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4670K @3.4 GHz / AMD FX-8350 @4.0 GHz
Memory: 16 GB RAM DDR3
Hard Drive: 40 GB free space
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780 / AMD Radeon™ R9 290
Sound: DirectX® 10

Anyone else find those recommended system specs just a tad high? You’ll need an i5 2500, 8GB and a GTX 670  just to play the game  – but if you want it with all of the shiny extras you’ll need a i5 4570K, 16GB RAM and a GTX 780. That’s a lot of machine for a game that – while good looking – doesn’t seem to warrant that kind of horsepower.

More importantly, and wholly disparate from the game’s technical specifications is the fact that its writers are looking to redress some of the sexist tropes against women in video games. Even the most straightest, whitest, and male…est gamer has to admit that when it comes to story-driven games, the majority of women are written one-dimensionally. Hell, I’d say that the majority of characters are written one dimensionally – but because most writers for games are males writing games about and for males, they tend to be a tad more realistic .

Speaking on his own blog, the game’s principal writer Dan Jolley spoke about how Techland wants to write better female characters.

We knew that there were already devs out there who wanted to change female portrayals in the gaming industry before the spotlight really hit the topic this year. And I think Techland should be proud to be among them now.

We tried our damnedest to take Dying Light’s female characters out of the one-dimensional, trope-defined roles seen so often – way, way too often – in games, and turn them into real, multi-faceted people. I can’t say that all of our female characters (or male characters, for that matter) live happily ever after; Dying Light is a grim, brutal game.

But if we’ve done our jobs right, we have given these women believable, realistic lives.

Lives players will care about

And I think that’s an important thing to realise: Having better-written female characters in games isn’t about those damned social justice warriors coming and taking your games away, it’s about making better games with more relatable characters – characters that you’ll be able to care about.Even if they do end up being eaten.  As somebody who favours games that involve or invoke some sort of emotional response, I can only believe that better written women – better written characters – will only lead to better games.

Last Updated: December 5, 2014

87 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    December 5, 2014 at 08:36

    I think they’re hoping, like Ubi, that high specs will paper over… lacklustre… optimisation.

    Reply

    • Biones

      January 28, 2015 at 17:51

      Looks like everything that touches GameWorks become a bloody mess, 1st – WatchDogs, 2nd – AC Unity and now Dying Light.

      Reply

  2. Rock789

    December 5, 2014 at 08:37

    I’ve been keen for this game since I saw the first trailer, demonstrating the day-to-night play shift (how the zombies become more aggressive at night). And the more I’ve seen or heard about it, the more shweet it’s been looking. So looking forward to jumping into this game in Feb next year!

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      December 5, 2014 at 08:43

      Who wants to play Witcher 3 in Feb right? 😉

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the fair

        December 5, 2014 at 08:50

        Nah. What’s a Witcher anyway? Can I eat it?

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          December 5, 2014 at 08:50

          Yes you can! Witchers kill the hunger demons with a silver sword of tastiness!

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the fair

            December 5, 2014 at 08:51

            Yummy

        • HairyEwok

          December 5, 2014 at 08:54

          How dare you talk about Witcher like that. Id rather play Witcher than Dying Light still.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the fair

            December 5, 2014 at 08:58

            Haha. I’m prepping to do another playthrough of Witcher 2 at the moment and play The Witcher Adventure game on the side while I watch series. 🙂 Witcher 3 cannot be overhyped

          • Mossel

            December 5, 2014 at 09:11

            **POSSIBLE SPOILER**
            Which playthrough did you do?
            Blue stripes or elves?

          • Captain JJ the fair

            December 5, 2014 at 09:23

            Blue stripes.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            December 5, 2014 at 10:13

            Good man. Plough the elves.

          • Ragnar The Vengeful

            December 5, 2014 at 14:33

            Ploughing elves? Is that where half-elves come from?

          • Mossel

            December 5, 2014 at 11:41

            Elves is better, hehe. I liked it more at least.

      • Rock789

        December 5, 2014 at 08:51

        Exactly… Who’ll be playing that nonsense…? **runs** 😉 :p

        Reply

      • Rock789

        December 5, 2014 at 08:51

        Yeah, will have to split my time, damn it!! Witcher’s gonna be EPIC!!!

        Reply

    • RinceThis

      December 5, 2014 at 10:14

      I played it at rAge and it was loads of fun!

      Reply

  3. Brady miaau

    December 5, 2014 at 08:43

    Shepard is female. Why the fuss?

    Reply

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      December 5, 2014 at 08:45

      My Shepard is female. Jennifer Hale > Mark Meer. The end.

      Reply

      • Dutch Matrix

        December 5, 2014 at 09:07

        And for this comment, I will lick your boots.

        Reply

        • boondocksaint87

          December 5, 2014 at 10:38

          I will lick his boobs

          Reply

      • Kromas, Guardian of Cenarius

        December 5, 2014 at 09:22

        Have an upvote!

        Reply

        • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

          December 5, 2014 at 09:24

          I’m Commander Shepard, and that was my favourite upvote in the Citadel

          Reply

          • GooseZA

            December 5, 2014 at 09:30

            Have another!

      • Ragnar The Vengeful

        December 5, 2014 at 14:44

        I’ve always wondered if the Krogan treats you with more respect if Shepard is a woman. This could be an interesting way of addressing sexism in games, by actually experiencing it through in-game mechanics.

        Reply

  4. ReaperOfSquirrels

    December 5, 2014 at 08:50

    Well… Fuck… Won’t be playing this on my PC lol.

    Seriously need a PC upgrade.

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      December 5, 2014 at 08:53

      I will once I upgrade. BOOYAH! And a year later after it’s finished being patched & the DLC is out, and if it’s not kak.

      Reply

    • HairyEwok

      December 5, 2014 at 08:55

      Well think of it this way, this game is getting released on consoles, if your pc is stronger than a console you have no worries you’ll just have to bump the specs accordingly.

      Reply

      • ReaperOfSquirrels

        December 5, 2014 at 09:02

        lol, I’ll put it this way… my PC has a AMD X2 64 running at 3.2ghz.

        I’m sure that’s all I have to say.

        Reply

        • Deceased

          December 5, 2014 at 10:23

          :O

          Reply

    • Captain JJ the fair

      December 5, 2014 at 08:58

      Do it for Witcher 3 if anything.

      Reply

      • Ryanza

        December 5, 2014 at 09:00

        I could be wrong but I don’t expect The Witcher 3 to have such high minimum specs.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ the fair

          December 5, 2014 at 09:10

          I don’t think so either. But it’s a good enough excuse to upgrade. 🙂

          Reply

        • Matthew Holliday

          December 5, 2014 at 09:52

          wishful thinking.
          you’ll be a getting something more optimised than this, but its still gna take some hefty tech to run it nice.

          Reply

          • Ryanza

            December 5, 2014 at 10:13

            We will have to wait and see. During Gamescom the CD Projekt RED guys were saying that the demo was running on a mid spec graphics card. So I wouldn’t be surprised if low spec cards can run the game. Just with all the bells and whistles turned off of course.

    • Matthew Holliday

      December 5, 2014 at 09:51

      people who upgraded their PCs need an upgrade.

      Reply

  5. HairyEwok

    December 5, 2014 at 08:53

    Psh is that all…. wait what those recommended are abit steep for merely killing zombies. With those specs i do hope that i see the bloody ebola flowing through the zombies body.

    Reply

  6. Her Highness the Hipster

    December 5, 2014 at 08:56

    This is what I’m hoping for with the whole feminist thing in gaming – it’s not about having more women, it’s about being more realistic. so many characters are one dimensional – hopefully this improves not just the depiction of women, but of people in general, making for better games as a whole.

    Reply

  7. Alien Emperor Trevor

    December 5, 2014 at 08:57

    Better written female characters in games, that I’ll have to relate to? But I don’t know the first thing about talking about feelings & braiding hair. I don’t want to read a woman manual to play a game!

    Reply

    • HairyEwok

      December 5, 2014 at 08:58

      You mean this?

      Reply

    • Captain JJ the fair

      December 5, 2014 at 09:00

      With all the talks of how bad white males are in gaming I’ve forgotten that we actually play games because we enjoy it ;P

      Reply

    • Kromas, Guardian of Cenarius

      December 5, 2014 at 09:41

      The last time we let women rewrite something we loved we got Twilight!

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        December 5, 2014 at 10:16

        What about Tomb Raider?! Take that back!

        Reply

        • Kromas, Guardian of Cenarius

          December 5, 2014 at 10:44

          Hey I kinda sorta like the new tomb Raider but she was not completely rewritten. Sun = bad for vamps (as apposed to making them disco balls) and Lara = rich grave-robber.

          Reply

      • Deceased

        December 5, 2014 at 10:26

        You’re talking about the sparkly vampires and steroid fed dogs?

        Yeah, both those got ruined…
        Luckily the last Underworld kind of redeemed those…

        Reply

    • Ragnar The Vengeful

      December 5, 2014 at 14:47

      When it comes to women, I find it better if we’re not related.

      Reply

  8. CodeDisQus

    December 5, 2014 at 08:58

    That 16Gb tho!

    Reply

  9. Ryanza

    December 5, 2014 at 09:07

    The Witcher 3 already mentioned a few times in the comments section. Now I got nothing to say. The Witcher 3 specs will be better?

    Don’t Support DRM.

    Reply

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      December 5, 2014 at 09:08

      You’re nothing, if not consistent.

      Reply

      • Fnuik

        December 5, 2014 at 09:51

        Wonder if Ryanza will cease to exist after Witcher 3 have been out for a while. I mean what will he talk about?

        Reply

        • Matthew Holliday

          December 5, 2014 at 09:53

          still has DRM to complain about

          Reply

          • Fnuik

            December 5, 2014 at 09:55

            True dat.

        • Ryanza

          December 5, 2014 at 10:05

          After The Witcher 3 it’s Cyberpunk 2077. And that is going to take some time to be be released.

          Reply

        • RinceThis

          December 5, 2014 at 10:16

          No. He’ll cease to exist when the Witcher 3 comes out with a day one patch.

          Reply

          • Ryanza

            December 5, 2014 at 10:22

            No no no. I have been doing, Don’t Support DRM, long before The Witcher 3. The Witcher 3 is just a game that compliments that NO DRM sentiment.

            If The Witcher 3 comes out with a massive day 1 patch. I will use that to make my , Don’t Support DRM, comment.

            I don’t really care about The Witcher 3. I just want it to come out and fuck off so that Cyberpunk 2077 can come along. Now that game I will go nuts for.

            Yes even more nuts than now with The Witcher.

      • RinceThis

        December 5, 2014 at 10:16

        lol

        Reply

      • Sageville

        December 5, 2014 at 10:47

        Apparently Cyberpunk 2077 has been cancelled as the Witcher 3 DRM took too long to implement…..

        Reply

  10. Kromas, Guardian of Cenarius

    December 5, 2014 at 09:21

    Well above recommended specs so yay and the watercooling I added to my R9290x just makes my pc glide through any game (minus Metro:Last Light but then again show a PC that doesn’t suffer from that poorly optimized game)

    Reply

  11. Raptor Rants A Lot

    December 5, 2014 at 09:31

    This is screaming issues with optimisation.

    We said optimisation with AC:Unity and guess what, we were right. Game was terrible optimised and couldn’t run properly even on the platform it was done for (Console).

    This is the same thing. Unoptimised. Going to have graphics issues, poor framerate stutters. Watch

    Reply

  12. Matthew Holliday

    December 5, 2014 at 09:32

    an AMD 7870 is the minimum spec?
    what kind of joke is that?

    how is it that the MINIMUM PC spec is more powerfull than a PS4 or Xbone?
    i knew this gen was struggling to find a sweet spot, but this is just getting ridiculous now, next game out is going to render my brand new R9 270 useless.

    Reply

    • Ryanza

      December 5, 2014 at 09:42

      Isn’t the 7870 comparable to the graphics chip on the PS4. 7850 for the Xbox One.

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        December 5, 2014 at 09:49

        cant remember, i do remember the 7850 being mentioned alot back then though, so probably.
        still those minimum specs will run the game on low at sub 30 fps.
        how is it that a card that still retails for R2000 barely makes the minimum requirement?

        this is where conspiracy theories are made.

        Reply

        • Ryanza

          December 5, 2014 at 09:54

          Well Nvidia’s Gameworks can limit performance on older cards to promote sales of their newer cards. And Nvidia paying developers to use Gameworks. Makes me wonder about these PC requirements of late.

          Reply

          • Matthew Holliday

            December 5, 2014 at 09:59

            exactly, except its not promoting buying new cards, its promoting consoles that still use their old cards.
            why should i spend R6000 on an upgrade kit that will last me a year when i can spend R6000 on a console?

            at the rate things are going, its going to take 6 months for my 3 month old PC to switch from running games on high, to running everything on low.
            6 months ago, the minimum requirement was a nvidia 550ti, now we’re up to it being a 670/7870…

          • Deceased

            December 5, 2014 at 10:29

            Nobody said it was easy being a part of the Master Race 😛

            *runs off

  13. Viking Of Divinity

    December 5, 2014 at 09:45

    This is all mandated by the Console Companies. I know it in my gut.

    Thin About it, they Know that games look better on PC. So, How to make them competative? Simple. They only grant Licensing to companies who will Artificially Increase the PC minimum specs. The Net effect is that, People will think twice about console purchases, When you need a New Processor and GFX card to the Value of $600. Why not just buy a $400 console to play the game?

    This is all Bullshit….

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      December 5, 2014 at 09:51

      i agree man, 100%.
      conspiracy theories make sense here.
      quad cores and 2gb 256bit graphics cards are the minimum spec now?

      bs.

      Reply

      • Aries

        December 5, 2014 at 10:04

        The current gen is struggling to get games to run properly and they worried about losing out to the PC Masters

        Reply

    • Ragnar The Vengeful

      December 5, 2014 at 14:56

      I agree, your entire comment is all Bullshit. 🙂

      Reply

  14. Spaffy

    December 5, 2014 at 10:05

    Kak console port. I’ll skip this.
    I spend thousands upgrading my pc for Unity. Now I need another 2k for that extra RAM to play this at recommended.
    Oh the woes of the master race

    Reply

  15. Alien Emperor Trevor

    December 5, 2014 at 10:05

    THAT ARE Y PC SPEC SO HI! WIMMINS TAK MORE RESOURSE TO THINK PORPER IN GAME! THEY’S HIGH MAINTAINENS!

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      December 5, 2014 at 10:14

      YIS!

      Reply

    • HairyEwok

      December 5, 2014 at 10:29

      NEEDS MOAR MANA FOR GEWD UPTOMISE SESION, WHY NOT GIEV MOAR MANA? BAD GAEM NEVER BAYING IT EVAR.

      Reply

  16. Aries

    December 5, 2014 at 10:10

    This game should be reviewed for us on console and PC, doing it on one system these days is not a proper review for me anymore, especially when I prefer my K/M for these types of games

    Reply

  17. RustedFaith

    December 5, 2014 at 15:13

    Yup its no secret that the chrome engine runs like crap no wonder you need such high specs to compensate for the bad engine.

    Reply

  18. Jack

    December 5, 2014 at 23:27

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/239140/

    Please check the minimum its a lot lower 🙂

    MINIMUM:

    OS: Windows® 7 64-bit / Windows® 8 64-bit / Windows® 8.1 64-bit

    Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2500 @3.3 GHz / AMD FX-8320 @3.5 GHz

    Memory: 4 GB RAM DDR3

    Hard Drive: 40 GB free space

    Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 / AMD Radeon™ HD 6870 (1GB VRAM)

    DirectX®: Version 11

    Sound: DirectX® compatible

    Additional Notes: Laptop versions of graphics cards may work but are NOT officially supported.

    RECOMMENDED:

    OS: Windows® 7 64-bit / Windows® 8 64-bit / Windows® 8.1 64-bit

    Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4670K @3.4 GHz / AMD FX-8350 @4.0 GHz

    Memory: 8 GB RAM DDR3

    Hard Drive: 40 GB free space

    Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780 / AMD Radeon™ R9 290 (2GB VRAM)

    DirectX®: Version 11

    Sound: DirectX® compatible

    Additional Notes: Laptop versions of graphics cards may work but are NOT officially supported.

    Reply

    • Ceyber, The Metal Rabbit

      January 27, 2015 at 17:09

      Thanks, just had a look for myself and you’re right. Wonder why the article is so misinformed regarding specs…

      Reply

  19. jesse white

    December 16, 2014 at 23:42

    with all this requirements only few can play this game

    Reply

  20. PiratesLyfe4Me

    January 27, 2015 at 16:58

    “Even the most straightest, whitest, and male…est gamer” What the f*** is this? You do realize that saying this is also racist and sexist, right moron? Or are you from the Tumblr hive-mind that believes “you can’t be racist/sexist against white people/males”?

    Reply

    • Ceyber, The Metal Rabbit

      January 27, 2015 at 17:11

      That’s a stereotype others have come up with, not like the author of this article came up with that baloney. With a username like that there must be some solid logic going on in that brain of yours.

      Reply

      • PiratesLyfe4Me

        January 27, 2015 at 17:42

        Stick up for the author who parrots hypocritical racist/sexist SJWs and then attack my username that I created because of my favorite game EVE Online. Seems like a standard comeback attempt, but a little un-original. 2/10.

        Reply

        • Ceyber, The Metal Rabbit

          January 27, 2015 at 19:31

          Not defending the author, just correcting you. Highlighting a social ill is not parroting, which is what the sarcasm was all about. But you’re entitled to your opinion, as lowbrow as it may be.

          Also, your username hints at your personal preferences, regardless of where you’ve used it to sign up… but hey, that’s just my opinion.

          Reply

          • PiratesLyfe4Me

            January 27, 2015 at 22:48

            No need to correct me when I wasn’t incorrect, but hey that’s just my opinion. Also “Also, your username hints at your personal preferences and characteristics” actually made me laugh out loud. Thank you!

          • GrowUpDammit

            January 28, 2015 at 02:28

            Contextual reference of the extreme is entirely relevant in the case of the article. Mockingly using a stereotype which is already broadly employed is perfectly fine, especially when it’s coming from an Asian author.

            See… now ‘m bringing race in. Do you not see what you started?
            You probably won’t seeing as you think your name has nothing to do with the way you think.

  21. asfsafsadf

    February 19, 2015 at 13:37

    Too late. Anita Sarkeesian has already declared Sying Light to be sexist.

    https://twitter.com/femfreq/status/561761720834592768

    Reply

  22. Cheeseman

    February 22, 2016 at 22:46

    If they wanted to write good women characters why couldn’t they hire women writers instead of having guys write them. Common mistake.

    Reply

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