DEAD ISLAND 2

Back from the grave... again. With a vengeance

- Samantha Greer

It's all too easy to compare the continued existence of Dead Island 2 to the zombies it features. Lurching on for years, long after it seemed dead, passed from one studio to another. In spite of the name though, Dead Island 2 is practically a new game. According to David Stenton, when development was taken over by Dambuster in 2018 it was "built from scratch". The only thing they kept was zombies and its LA setting. "That serves the 'paradise gone to hell' pillar." Though the genre in which it sits feel like it never dies, with zombie games still releasing on the regular. What does something like Dead Island 2 bring to the table? What even is the identity of this series?

Speaking to Stenton and James Worrall at Dambuster, as well as having 20 minutes with the game, it's clear the focus is squarely on its gnarly close quarters combat. "It was the passion for the gore, the passion for up close melee combat," Stenton explains. "And just doing that really, really well." The section of the game I played had our player character, Amy (one of six heroes for players to choose) having to venture onto the well-known Santa Monica Pier. It was a tight, linear portion in which the bright lights and amusements rides are slowly brought back on as we delve deeper, which made for a poor showcase of how the game's ambitions as an open world will fare but a good showing for the game's moment to moment fighting.

It's a spooky section, more atmospheric and subdued than the bombastic trailer might have you believe.