Memories are a funny thing; they can provide a sanctuary from the present while creating a soft-edged prison paralyzing you from moving forward. For Deadlight’s gruff-voiced, tough-skinned protagonist, Randall Wayne, memories of a world before a mysterious zombie-like plague ravaged Seattle and its surrounding suburbs keep him constantly, somberly searching for his missing wife and child.

As you press on through bleak, bombed-out landscapes littered with remnants of life and the horrors that have since taken over, your surroundings tell the story of Deadlight even better than the game’s often distractingly pulpy, overworked dialogue. But Randall’s desperate search for his family isn’t really the main focus of this side-view action-platformer — it’s the gameplay itself, and the constant push to navigate the environment so you can keep going. Getting about is fairly straightforward: all you can really do is jump, climb up/down ledges, dash through easily breakable objects, and wield a small cache of tools. Along the way, you’ll devise makeshift traps to evade a constant influx of “shadows” (Deadlight’s term for zombies), outrun militia-piloted aircraft aiming to gun you down (for mysterious reasons), and manage your limited skills to scramble across some smart, challenging obstacles.

You can collect three secret, retro-style "handhelds" and play them from the game's menu.

Downtime is scarce, as you’ll spend most of your time breathlessly dashing from one side of the screen to the other hoping that you’ll be able to figure out how to avoid spiked pitfalls, lethal drops, and the constantly encroaching shufflers on the way. It’s a trial-and-error formula that worked wonders in games like Limbo, and it works just as well here — you’ll learn puzzle solutions on the fly, and thankfully, a gracious checkpoint system mostly keeps you from having to replay areas, as you’ll die often. Any stumbles you encounter are squarely on your shoulders — Deadlight isn’t a difficult game, but it can be a good dexterity test in certain stretches of gameplay. In one tricky spot, a white-knuckle chase sequence allows no mess-ups to make it to the next checkpoint; in another area, you’ll have to figure out how to distract shadows long enough to dash to a safer room and quickly block the door with a moveable bookshelf.

As simple as it all may be, it makes for a frantic, dizzying, four- to five-hour rush. And that’s Deadlight’s strongest suit: you feel a constant, adrenaline-fueled urge to just. Keep. Moving. Though the pace does ease up here and there, the game involves less platforming and more action in later stages, forcing you to wield more weapons. Firearms are never the focus of Deadlight’s gameplay, but you will have a chance to take out enemies and obstacles with a revolver, an axe, and a shotgun. (A slingshot stays in your pocket; you’ll use it more for triggering switches.) Ammo is mostly scarce, and part of the game’s joy is that filling a shadow or human hostiles with lead isn’t necessarily the only way to progress — though as the game winds to its climax, your weapons become the only way to dispatch foes quickly enough to survive.

Deadlight's puzzles aren't as dastardly as Limbo's, but some will give you pause.

Cutscenes play out like nifty motion comics.

This late-game shift ends up being Deadlight’s subtle-but-grating Achilles’ heel — that by its finale, it’s devolved into a sort of “Greatest Hits” of zombie pop-culture tropes. The earlier stages’ smartly paced dread and suspense are replaced by the inevitable lesson that “the living, not the dead, are ultimately the real monsters.” Moreover, the revelation in the final moments — that memories are less reality and more a personal creation — rings slightly hollow due to the ham-fisted dialogue leading up to it. At this point in our zombie-saturated culture, we’ve all seen this stuff done before…and perhaps better, even.

At least if the story doesn’t motivate you to scramble from one area to the next, the gameplay will. Scanning each environment for ways forward while looting corpses for collectibles offering insight into Seattle’s ruin — it’s a chance to relentlessly piece through Tequila Works’ sly, obstacle-laden landscapes and soak in the game’s grim, melancholic atmosphere. These are the elements that make Deadlight such a frantic, memorable journey.

Being chased across rooftops is a sweaty-palmed feat of timing and dexterity-taxing action.

PUBLISHER: Microsoft Studios  •  DEVELOPER: Tequila Works  •  ESRB: Mature  •  MULTIPLAYER: None  •  ACHIEVEMENTS: Thorough  •  COST: 1,200 Microsoft Points ($15)  •  RELEASE DATE: August 1, 2012

On Xbox Live Arcade

+ Incredibly well-paced, fun, often challenging trip through the zombie apocalypse; plenty of secrets.

+ Smart checkpoint system; good soundtrack; great setting.

– Story feels clichéd and hammy at times; some controls are sticky, especially during chase sequences.

? Can you blame The Rat’s son for not wanting to eat rat meat all the time?

8.5