Dead Island 2 – Preview, Shooters

An undead from the development shell?

Eight years, three developers – and a small problem called “Dying Light”: The story of Dead Island 2 is eventful. After Yager and Sumo Digital, the British from Dambuster (formerly Free Radical) have been at the zombie helm since 2017. And with their last solo development, Homefront: The Revolution, they didn’t exactly make a positive impression. In short: These aren’t particularly good omens for an ambitious zombie slasher. Since Techland has meanwhile raised the genre to a completely different level with Dying Light 2, the expectations for Dead Island 2 should also have increased significantly.

But development shell or zombie competition: Against all odds, I’m now standing on the Santa Monica Pier at night, its neon lights reflected in the deep black waters of the Pacific. And that’s already more than has been expected from Dead Island 2 in recent years. In the hands-on demo, I slash my way through hordes of zombies who were still in beachwear for a leisurely day by the sea before the apocalypse struck. Dead Island 2 is based on the Unreal Engine 4 and looks quite decent, but the zombie action is far from being an outstanding next-gen tech demo. After all, the performance is good – the demo also ran on high-end PCs, from which nothing else can be expected.

played 20 minutes

The developers emphasize that a linear section of the game was specially chosen for the demo, so that many of the game’s systems can be presented in just under 20 minutes. As Amy, one of six playable survivors, I must recover a laptop’s “blood drive” from the end of the pier. On the way there I have to pass an arcade, overcome the Ferris wheel and survive a boss fight against a nasty zombie clown. As usual from Dead Island, part two is also an action role-playing game: Weapons have rarity levels and corresponding damage values ​​with elemental effects, my character has skills and perks that can be selected via collected cards and your own character level. There are life bars, cooldowns, crafting and loot. Really a lot of loot.

Of course, the respective opinion enhancers have a limited durability, but they can at least be repaired if you have a particular crush on one of the melee weapons. There are also firearms, including a revolver and an assault rifle, which are not intended to be the focus of the zombie action and therefore have little ammunition.