We were among the first to play Dead Island 2 at gamescom and were pleasantly surprised. The zombie carnage shreds. And shreds.
Communication between the development team in the game room and PR management in the waiting area is complicated. The simple reason: blood splatters are glued to the door”s peephole, which makes communication via standard trade fair hand signals only moderately possible.
But it fits Dead Island 2, which we will be able to play for the first time in the next 30 minutes. Because to call the zombie action game an orgy of violence is an understatement. There are more body parts flying through the air here than there are camels at the Cologne carnival.
You have to like that. But if you like such carnage, then you can look forward to an extremely competent and, above all, refreshingly uncompromising bloodbath, according to our first impressions of the game.
No Open World: The most important facts about the game
First announced at E3 2014, Dead Island 2 was released over eight years ago, then still under the wing of German studio Yager. Technically, the new Dead Island 2 no longer has anything to do with this project. The English team Dambuster started completely from scratch in 2018.
What has remained: the credo Paradise gone to hell and the setting in Los Angeles. The whole thing is staged with a heavily modified version of the Unreal Engine 4, but no longer as an open world. Dambuster wants to tell a linear story with spectacularly choreographed climaxes and therefore sends you through a mix of larger hub worlds and narrower story levels. A bit like in God of War, here as well as there you will be allowed to revisit and explore once unlocked areas later in the game.
You can play the campaign alone or in co-op with up to two friends, choosing between six different characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. However, we were only able to try out the single player mode at gamescom.
Our impression of the game: What gives us hope
The demo took us first across the zombie-infested beach of Santa Monica, then into an arcade where we had to restore the power supply in order to progress, and finally to a massive final battle on a Ferris wheel. The section was an example of the more linear levels, from the middle of the campaign and specially modified to give as comprehensive an impression of the game as possible, according to the developers. And this comprehensive impression was surprisingly positive.
The combat system shreds: One can argue for a long time about the sense and nonsense of an exaggerated depiction of violence, but certainly not about how massive and believable the fights in Dead Island 2 feel. Responsible for this is a procedural hit calculation developed especially for Dead Island 2. If we aim at a leg with a katana, we sabre it. If we hit the chin with a sledgehammer, the chin flies off in a high arc – either with the zombie on it or just the head, depending on the force of the blow.
This becomes second nature after a few minutes and is simply fun. Dead Island 2 deliberately does without the combo system of Dying Light 2, there are only light and heavy blows as well as a kind of rage mode that makes us particularly powerful for a few seconds. Instead, the game puts more emphasis on what you fight with and against whom.
The arsenal of weapons and enemies seems versatile: In the demo we fought not only with katana and sledgehammer, but also pipe wrench, electrified claws as well as pistol and MP. Ammunition will be severely limited in Dead Island 2, however, and the focus is clearly on close combat.
Instead, there are various throwing weapons such as Molotov cocktails and grenades, which have a lot of power, but also a cool-down, which seems slightly illogical.
On the other hand, the demo already makes it clear that just running in and hitting things is not enough in Dead Island 2. On the one hand, this is due to the environment, which you can both set on fire and electrify. On the other hand, it”s because of the zombies, who want to get at you in all sorts of different ways.
Some crawl towards you, which is slow, but surprised the hell out of us when we were playing, because we were looking towards the horizon. Some carry explosives on their bodies, which naturally limits their choice of weapons. And some hit the ground with huge fists, which will knock you off your feet if you don”t jump up in time.
In the finale on the Ferris wheel, we easily had to deal with more than 20 undead in various forms, which forced us to constantly manoeuvre and regularly change weapons, especially as the various bludgeons also wear out.
Accordingly, Dead Island 2 will place a great deal of focus on crafting; you will be able to upgrade and improve each weapon in various ways in order to become master or mistress of the zombie hordes. However, we haven”t been able to try this out yet, only to collect lots of stuff. How much this is annoying or motivating can”t be judged after 30 minutes of demo.
What is still unclear: Story and variety
It”s already clear in the demo: unlike Dying Light 2, Dead Island 2 doesn”t take itself seriously at all, in terms of tone it reminded us more of the film Zombieland. The developers therefore call their heroines Thrivers, not Survivors – not survivors, but beneficiaries of the zombie plague. They are infected, but immune and tackle the de-zombification with corresponding good humour and lots of snappy sayings.
To what extent the humour is effective or whether it will drift into the realms of a Saints Row is not yet clear from the demo. So far, however, it has seemed more cynical and black than over-the-top and hipster-like, which gives us hope for the time being.
It is also unclear how long the zombie slaughtering can really motivate in view of the simple combat system. Dead Island 2 needs to constantly deliver interesting weapon and zombie variants so that its concept works and doesn”t mutate into a dull hack and slay or crafting grindfest.
We are confident about the deliberate decision to forego an open world, because on the one hand it allows the developers to stage spectacular zombie moments and on the other hand it sets playful limits to the collecting mania through its structure alone. On the other hand, there was still plenty of stuff to pick up in our demo. So it remains to be seen to what extent Dead Island 2 strikes the golden mean between exploration motivation and trivia overkill.
In any case, our 30 minutes of gameplay flew by, which is why we weren”t at all unhappy that it took a little while for the developers to send the signal for the next press representatives through the peephole. Thanks to blood splatter.
Editor”s verdict
I like it when games know what they want and put that what into action without compromise. Dead Island 2 only wants one thing: to let us slaughter zombies – as brutally and spectacularly as possible. It subordinates everything else to this, be it the renunciation of a real open world or the deliberately simple combat system.
But as long as it”s as entertaining as it was in the demo, that”s fine with me. I”m actually anything but a splatter fan, but even I can”t deny the thieving joy of paving the Santa Monica Pier with zombie parts with a weapon selection that is as versatile as it is fun.
Whether the whole thing will entertain for more than a few hours is still difficult to assess. The same applies to the story and humour – Saints Row has just shown how fine the line is between laughing and being embarrassed.
In any case, Dead Island 2 showed itself at gamescom to be as well-rounded as it was fun. And that”s more than I dared hope for after its wild development story.
