Dead Island 2 Shows Off New Gameplay

Dead Island 2 has revealed new gameplay prior to The Game Awards, showing off new gameplay and the world of Dead Island 2 itself, Santa Monica.

The trailer itself shows off the tourist landmarks of Dead Island 2, with icons such as Beverly Hills and Santa Monica Beach on full display, and even the Hollywood sign burning above. There's a heavy focus on the way that the combat works, with katanas, machetes, swords, hammers, and guns featured in the gameplay. 

Yet the gameplay doesn't solely focus on combat with weapons, showing off how the infection buried within you is affecting you, and how the zombie infection can help you defeat zombies without allowing it to take over you. Alexa Game Control was also shown off during the showcase, allowing you to use your voice to perform various actions in the game.

Dead Island 2 has been through what can only really be described as development hell. It was first announced back in 2014 with a trailer that had a very different tone from the above trailer. Yager Development was on the game from 2012 to 2015 but was then removed from the project and replaced by Sumo Development, who you might recognize from Sackboy: A Big Adventure and the LittleBigPlanet franchise. Sumo was also removed from the development and replaced with Dambuster, an internal studio of Deep Silver, who are working on the game now. 

Dead Island 2 is currently slated for an April 28th, 2023 release date. The game was originally re-revealed at Gamescom 2022 with a February 3rd, 2023 release date, but more development time was required to perfect the game according to Dambuster and Deep Silver.