A series of major recent games such as Destiny, The Crew, and Assassin's Creed Unity did not have pre-release reviews, either because of publisher embargoes or simply because the servers were not operational prior to general launch.
However, zombie fans won't need to worry about that issue in relation to Techland's Dying Light, as the developer says there be no restrictions on reviews prior to retail release.
In answer to a question on Ask.fm, the lead game designer on Dying Light, Maciej Binkowski, commented:
"No, we do not have embargoes of that nature. We want to be as transparent as we can towards our fans, so don't worry – there won't be any review embargoes before the game is released."
It's often taken as a sign of confidence from a developer in their game when reviews can be published early and it's worth noting that the review embargo for one of the year's best rated games and Game of the Year winner Dragon Age Inquisition lifted a full week ahead of the RPG's launch.
Dying Light is coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One on January 27th but you can watch the game's opening cinematic right now.
