Deadlight, the cinematic, side-scrolling, survival horror game from Tequila Works, was released today as an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive.

The demo is short, but tantalizing. It felt like a combination of Shadow Complex and The War of the Worlds. Deadlight‘s graphics are gorgeous, and really sell the feeling of post-apocalyptic dread. The controls are tight, which is especially important in a game that seems to rely a lot on scripted events and precisely-timed jumps. The only flaw was the combat that was introduced near the very end of the demo. Compared to the smoothness of the running and jumping, wielding an ax seemed slow and clunky.

Despite that one concern, a playthrough has moved Deadlight from “barely on my radar” to “games to buy.”

You can add the demo to your download queue or buy the full game for 1200 Microsoft points from the Xbox Marketplace.