Dead Island 2 Preview

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While at EGX I had the chance to get my grubby mitts on Dead Island 2, currently in development by the guys at YAGER. Not only did I have the chance to play it, but Isaac Ashdown who is the Senior Gameplay Programmer at YAGER, was on hand to answer a few questions after I played through the demo build, not once but twice. Jealous? Well you should be. Dead Island 2 is set in California which takes place after the zombie outbreak on the fictional island off the coast of Papua New Guinea, where the first one was set. It seems the zombie outbreak is spreading at an alarming rate if it has already reached the United States within a few months. The game will also feature well known landmarks such as Hollywood, maybe we will even see some celebrities in zombie form, you definitely won’t be hanging around to ask them for their autograph.

Is that George Clooney?

Jumping into the demo build we were able to play on the day sees you dropped into an open world with other players running about hacking and shooting their way through the endless zombies wandering about in the Californian sunshine. Each of these players are a different class, and I was “The Speeder”, which is fast as the name would suggest, equipped with a machete to chop up anything that came within striking distance. My character was not only fast but was able to launch herself into a rapid attack towards a zombie, while driving her weapon into it’s festering guts, quite a glorious sight to behold. With a quick tap of a back button I found myself driving my machete up through the skull of the undead soul, and rapidly ripping it out with a squelching, blood splattering yank. To say this was satisfying would definitely be an understatement. Dead Island 2 is definitely a more gore featured game, with heads being cut off, guts ripped from rotten flesh, and piles of torsos dropping at your feet as you hack your way through a wandering horde of festering zombies.

Now I won’t be talking much about the story in this preview because that is still tightly under wraps, as YAGER and Deep Silver don’t want to show any spoilers to the public yet. The open world demo we played is just a tiny part of the entire experience so I am going to try and give you all we know about Dead Island 2 so far. In the world you can have up to eight players populating it at once, whether it’s your friends or players you are thrown in with online randomly. This is not to say that you have to team up with anyone or even take part in the random objectives that crop up around the world. Isaac made it clear that you can do whatever you wish, and can simply wander off and do your own thing without ever helping out with objectives or anything else. In fact you don’t even have to play it online if you are one of those gamers who like the solo experience. One thing I would say is that Dead Island 2 is exceedingly great fun when played with others, as the zombie hordes can get to you quickly if you are alone, and murdering your way out when surrounded can definitely be tough if you are alone.

While I started out with a machete for the demo I asked Isaac about the crafting system and any changes that we might see in Dead Island 2. He was keen to state that the crafting will be easier in Dead Island 2, because you will have more customisation options, and modular mods for your weapons allowing you to quickly and simply upgrade your weapons. Dead Island 2 also features four new characters to the franchise, and asking Isaac if we were likely to see any of the old faces in this title, he simply replied, “you may or may not see any of the older characters appearing in Dead Island 2″. Well that was an answer that is worthy of a politician if I ever heard one. I then jumped into one of the objectives that popped up in the game world, we had to protect a karaoke bar from an invading horde. This was incredible fun as we hacked, murdered and down right destroyed zombies as they came to wreck the bar. Demonstrating what Isaac said about the freedom to do what you want, I simply left before it was finished and wandered into a house across the street. Where, if I am not mistaken, the zombies were doing a conga line, I swear it was the most surreal thing I have ever seen, but it did not stop them from noticing me and quickly ambling towards me baying for blood. I was only too keen to oblige and started heads rolling around the floor.

Get some!!!

While exploring around the environment of the demo build, even as it stands in it’s pre-alpha state, it was clear that YAGER have gone to great lengths to put in tremendous amounts of detail into everything. For instance, just walking into a house on the street you can find pictures of the family, carpets, wallpaper, everything you would expect to see in a house. Taking into account that this is just one house in California you are talking about extreme amounts of work that has gone into every detail of the environment. The sunlight, shadows, and graphics themselves, were stunning with shadows moving according to the angle of the hot Californian sun. To be honest, the world was extremely believable and rendered and textured to a high standard. We also wanted to know if Dead Island 2 would include any form of PvP play, so I asked Isaac. He told me that there will be a certain kind of PvP in the game, and he gave me one example of this as again they were careful not to give any spoilers out. The example he gave was one of a helicopter landing or crashing with supplies in the game world. Upon getting to this helicopter you can fight the other players for the supplies, so for instance you can simply try and kill everyone and keep the stash for your self, or if you are playing with a friend you could team up with him to take out the other players. Me, I would probably use him to take out the other players and then turn on him, that’s because I am just plain greedy.

When asked if the upcoming Dying Light has played any part in their development, YAGER were keen to emphasise that both games are offering a different experience and take on a zombie outbreak. The guys at YAGER said they are looking forward to the release of Dying Light which offers a more serious take on the theme and more emphasis on sneaking about and surviving, while their title is more of the fun take on a zombie outbreak. After playing Dead Island 2 I am definitely more excited about it’s release, I am also excited about the direction YAGER is taking the franchise. Talking to YAGER you can actually see the passion these guys have when it comes to the title, and that shows through in the gameplay. Graphically, even as it stands it screams next gen, the gameplay is hectic, fun and engrossing. I predict that Dead Island 2 will be one of the biggest games of next year if not the biggest. The only bad point I took away from my time playing it, was that I had to stop, I could have sat there for days and not noticed time go by totally wrapped up in it’s smooth combat and blood splattering antics.

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