Developer Dambuster Studios
Publisher Deep Silver
Format PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series
Origin UK
Release February 3
More than eight years have passed since it was revealed at E3 2014, so you’d be forgiven for thinking Dead Island 2 was, well, dead. Since Techland parted ways with the Dead Island series to start work on its own zombie survival game, this sequel has gone through multiple sets of hands: first Yager Development, then Sumo Digital, and now, apparently finally, Deep Silver’s Dambuster Studios. The new developer is well aware of how the project is perceived: one of the very first things we hear in our preview presentation is the affirmation that this is not vapourware. That much, at least, we can confirm after getting our hands well and truly dirty with the game’s combat system.
Zombie games are no strangers to gore, naturally – the original game let you merrily lop off limbs and heads, while its cousins over on the Dying Light branch of the family tree are ripe bloodbags just waiting to be popped – but Dead Island 2 is pushing it further still. Hammers leave wet splats where distinguishing features used to be, while blades allow for more surgical removal. But it’s the interactions between flesh and fabric that really stand out. As our katana slashes away at a towering basketball-player zombie, its back turned, we can’t help but marvel at how the tank top comes away in strips to reveal the deep red gouges beneath. And then the head comes off.
This story is from the November 2022 edition of Edge UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 2022 edition of Edge UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Anyone familiar with the concept of kitbashing is already halfway to understanding what Tomas Sala’s open-world builder is all about.
Children Of The Sun
René Rother’s acrid revenge thriller – an action game with its limbs broken and forcibly rearranged into the shape of a spatial puzzler – is at once a bonafide original and an unlikely throwback. Cast your eyes right and you wouldn’t blink if we told you this was a forgotten Grasshopper Manufacture game from the early PS3 era (we won’t be at all surprised if this finds a spot on Suda51’s end-of-year list).
Post Script
What does Rise Of The Ronin say for PS5 exclusivity?
Rise Of The Ronin
Falling in battle simply switches control to the next person up, and then quick revive fixes everything
Post Script
The pawn and the pandemic
Dragon's Dogma 2
The road from Vernworth to Bakbattahl is scenic but arduous. Ignore the dawdling mobs of goblins, and duck beneath the chanting harpies that circle on the currents overhead, and even moving at a hurried clip it is impossible for a party of four to complete the journey by nightfall.
BLUE MANCHU
How enforced early retirement eventually led Jonathan Chey back to System Shock
THE MAKING 0F.... AMERICAN ARCADIA
How a contrast of perspectives added extra layers to a side-scrolling platform game
COMING IN TO LAND
The creator of Spelunky, plus a super-group of indie developers, have spent the best part of a decade making 50 games. Has the journey been worth it?
VOID SOLS
This abstract indie Soulslike has some bright ideas