14 DAY TRIAL // Dead Island 2 got a neat gameplay video at EGX 2014 in London, providing a more detailed look at the action in the upcoming first-person survival game.
The action takes place in California, following a group of survivors trying to make their way across in the midst of an all-out zombie outbreak.
The first installment in the series was developed by Techland, and was praised for the first-person melee combat and overall fun assortment of gameplay features, but since the studio decided to partner up with Warner Bros in order to make Dying Light, Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager stepped in.
The video from EGX showcases the sandbox experience that players can expect from the upcoming title, illustrating that the focus is generally on having fun and running around bashing zombies in the face.
Since one of the main draws of the original was the ability to pull off over-the-top action sequences, developer Yager decided to ramp things up, and gamers will be able to destroy the undead in even more crazy ways in Dead Island 2.
The 20-minute video includes a lot of commentary from the developer, talking about a lot of things, including the sunny California, feel-good vibe that the game seems to have. Instead of trying to bring to surface the gritty and dramatic facet of a zombie apocalypse, Yager attempted to cast the fun part into the limelight.
A fresh take on the zombie survival genre
The protagonists of Dead Island 2, the characters that players will assume control of when the game comes out, are not refugees desperately trying to scavenge supplies and food from the zombie-infested remnants of civilization, but instead are individuals having fun, enjoying their newly found talent of disposing of zombies and putting their skills to good use in order to protect those less fortunate.
The game will include a lot of familiar landmarks, among which Hollywood and the iconic Hollywood sign, as well as the Santa Monica Pier and many locations in San Francisco.
In order to keep things fresh, players will be able to craft a wealth of makeshift weapons, finding new and creative ways to get rid of zombies. The game will feature four playable characters that will come with their own skillset, and Yager has stated that the game is being built with multiplayer in mind.
While players will be able to enjoy the game by their lonesome, it's in multiplayer where Dead Island 2 will shine. The developers have even compared the upcoming action survival game with a small-scale MMO, saying that the persistent world of the game encourages social interaction and is better enjoyed in groups.
Dead Island 2 is scheduled to come out sometime during the spring of 2015, headed to the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC platforms.
