Dead Island 2 has been in development hell for literal years now. More than ten, if you want to get picky. Rumblings about the game started sometime in 2012, and then soon before its scheduled 2015 release date, publisher Deep Silver announced that development duties for the ill-fated sequel were changing hands completely, essentially destabilizing the future of the entire project.
Fast forward to 2023, and first-person horror underdog Dead Island 2—somewhat miraculously—is actually headed toward an official retail release on April 21. This is via current developer Dambuster Studios (Homefront: The Revolution, Chorus) and it’s gracing all the usual gaming platforms, minus the woefully underpowered Nintendo Switch: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5 and PS4, as well as PC via the Epic Games Store.
Rather shocking, isn’t it? I’m just excited that the game is finally seeing the light of day. Oftentimes, when games get lost in development turmoil, they disintegrate altogether. Not this resilient title. For that reason alone, I admire the sheer undying perseverance behind Dead Island 2, no pun intended.
Yesterday, Deep Silver released a new 14-minute gameplay trailer, showing off the new zombie-infested Los Angeles (or HELL-A, as it’s known here), in addition to plenty of dynamic undead damage by way of something called FLESH (Fully Locational Evisceration System for Humanoids). Lots of gory digital mutilation is previewed in the video, complete with gaping head wounds leaking diseased blood, dismembered limbs and rolling, rotting heads.
The combat looks slow but admittedly satisfying, and the power kick showcased early in the demo packs a nice, bass-pounding thud when sending zombies flying. The crafted weapons look cool, too. ‘Zany’ is probably the key word here, because you can put together things like electrified knives, exploding hammers and even a pair of Wolverine-esque zapper claws.
Regrettably, I never got around to playing the original Dead Island, but only watched the infamous trailer everyone was talking about in 2011. The sequel looks aggressively okay, though the Mortal Kombat-style gore has me sort of intrigued. The campy characters could also make for a fun playthrough, so I’m keeping a peripheral eye on this one.
In the end, Dead Island 2 might end up being impressive simply because it finally launched. But will that be enough? I’m getting C-grade vibes from the recent footage, though I’ll reserve total judgement for my actual playthrough. Maybe it’ll end up being a solid sleeper hit, or maybe all this anticipation will end with a moaning whimper.