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Techland shows off 12 minutes of Dying Light

The running dead.

Dead Island developer Techland has shown off a dozen minutes of its upcoming first-person open-world zombie adventure Dying Light (via IGN).

Cover image for YouTube video12 Minutes of Dying Light Gameplay

More Mirror's Edge than Dead Island, Dying Light casts you as a British Tony Jaa, who can seemingly run forever and jump on top of zombies from the ground. Perhaps he moves so swiftly because he has the naggiest comrade ever who reminds him every 30 seconds to move his ass. Like he isn't already hustling through several city blocks densely populated by zombies in a matter of minutes.

Intriguingly, the game's tone and mechanics change drastically after nightfall when the undead become more powerful and you're encouraged to hide from them. Dying Light transitions into something of a stealth game after sunset, though as soon as you're spotted you'll go right back to booking it, so there's still plenty of that kinetic energy on display. Despite the aesthetic similarities and almost identical premise, Dying Light looks like it plays a lot different than Dead Island, which is good because Dead Island: Riptide was content to retread the same territory, with more boats.

Dying Light is due next year on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.