Forget about how long ago Dead Island 2 was announced, or how many developers it has gone through since then. The original game launched in 2011, and regardless of how much you may have liked it at the time, it’s hard to deny that it is little more than a rotting corpse now. It was never built to be a precise military shooter or tactile action game, it was a unique experience built on a relatively small budget compared to many triple-A games of the day.
If Dead Island 2 was just a shinier version of the game we played over a decade ago set in a new environment, it would be a disaster. So it’s honestly a good thing that Dead Island 2 feels like an entirely new experience. Taking place in an open-world Los Angeles, Dead Island 2 is more precise and rewarding than previous games in the series, and as long as it can keep up the intensity, it might be 2023’s first essential.
GLHF spoke with narrative designer Ayesha Khan and creative director James Worrall at Gamescom 2022, who explained why Dead Island 2 no longer takes place on an island.
“The first game was set on a fictional island resort, which is a really clear vision of paradise for a lot of people. But in the modern world, Los Angeles is a bit of a paradise, not just in terms of sun, sea, and palm trees, but it’s an aspirational kind of paradise,” Khan explains. “People in L.A. want to be influencers, rock stars, movie stars. So, that paradise, gone to hell, has been really interesting.”
The demo we played at Gamescom 2022 takes place at a fairground out on a pier, complete with carousels and a ferris wheel. Like everywhere else in the world of Dead Island, it has become an abandoned hub for zombies. You’ll find dozens of them hiding in stairwells, lurking in the corners of buildings, or ready to crawl through a gap in the door of a garage where legions more will spawn in shortly. This isn’t like Dying Light and lacks the flashy parkour, but it does give you an excellent sense of motion and impact.
You’ll be dodging under enemy swings with sidesteps and returning blows with your own heavy weaponry, or even parrying strikes if you’re good enough. Dead Island 2 feels incredibly weighty, and the damage you inflict on enemies with a charged strike of a big hammer reflects that weight. Enemies literally burst and are sent flying by the impacts your swings create, and that’s incredibly satisfying. Unfortunately, those first-person firearms aren’t quite as tactile, but you won’t need them when melee combat is this strong.
The ability to attach mods that imbue weapons with elemental affinities adds an extra layer, and you’ll quickly be able learn which types of zombie are affected by which weapon and elemental combinations.
“There are workbenches, you can add mods and perks to them, you can add the kind of damage you like best,” Khan adds. “We want you to really experiment with the weapons and find the style that suits you best.”
This works in the form of hazards and traps too. For example, a pool of water can now conduct electricity, meaning you can either disarm these hazards so you can pass through areas safely, or leave them intact to take care of pesky zombies.
“With a puddle of water you can use an electrical weapon and you’ll see arcs flaring, or a fuel pump or a jerry can be used to create a funnel for zombies, and then you can set it on fire,” Khan says.
The feedback is fed through layers of viscera. Each enemy is built from layers, from the innards to layers of fat and skin, each of which can be torn away in combat.
Observant players will see more there than meets the eye, as Worrall explains: “You will find organs on zombies that aren’t necessarily human organs…”
“Pre-installed,” Khan adds.
While we haven’t been told exactly how the story will play out in Dead Island 2, we know it’s set chronologically after the first game, and in the same universe, though we’re unlikely to see many callbacks to the original with this new team. Instead, Dambuster Studios is creating its own unique take on the themes Dead Island laid down, and Dead Island 2 just might be far better for it when it launches in 2023.
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.
