Five years ago, Deep Silver revealed Dead Island 2 during the E3 2014 showcase. The game has since been in hiatus following Sony’s E3 press conference. The game was originally in development by Jager, the developers known for Spec Ops: The Line and Dreadnought, but was later turned over to Sumo Digital the developers behind Crackdown 3, Split/Second, Forza Horizon and more recently Team Sonic Racing. After being turned over to Sumo Digital, little information about the Dead Island franchise has been gleamed.
During a THQ Nordic financial call, CEO Lars Wingefors discussed Metro Exodus sales on consoles and PC, as well as other titles the studio owns. During that same financial call, Wingefors briefly discussed the highly-anticipated zombie RPG. Wingefors stated, “Dead Island 2 is still being worked on, stay tuned,” and that the game is still slated for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC platforms. With those words, Dead Island 2 may still have a slim but possible chance of releasing before 2020.
The game has been in development limbo for the last five years. At the time, Dead Island 2 set out to provide a memorable experience that would allow players to explore a vibrant world full of events, missions, and many excuses to go zombie killing. Since its debut trailer in 2014, many games have come out with a similar premise of what Dead Island sought to be. Games like Anthem, Destiny, Call of Duty, The Division 2, and State of Decay can all potentially thank their zombie predecessor. Despite little information being released about Dead Island 2 other than a trailer and a gameplay preview from Gamescom in 2014, not much has been said at all about the game.
Recently, Dead Island 2 has re-emerged on the Microsoft Store with a placeholder date of December 31st, 2019. With Sony sitting out of E3, Microsoft has free rein to showcase any AAA title not currently under contract with Sony. This pre-order could potentially indicate one title that might appear during the Microsoft or PC Gaming press conference. 2019 might be the year we see multiple titles that have been missing throughout the years.
Dead Island 2 could potentially emerge before the release of the next Generation of consoles.
If Dead Island 2 sticks to its roots, players can expect to be in a paradise-like setting that has gone to hell. Will players be the bomb that crushes the zombie apocalypse in paradise or will they just blow up never to be heard from again? We will potentially find out at E3 2019. The scenic Venice Beach terrain and California setting could be an interesting zombie apocalypse playground. Who doesn’t want to see zombies on the Santa Monica Pier or in downtown Los Angeles?
Keep an eye on Sumo Digital and THQ Nordic’s social media sites for official updates. For more zombies, check out our review of Dead Rising 4. For a unique take on horror, check out the recently released Yuppie Psycho that we played at PAX East a while back.
