The continued existence of Dead Island 2 is quite frankly as astonishing as when you go to a motorway service station and see they've still got a Wimpy. Against all odds, this is one game that just won't die.
Originally scheduled to release back in 2015, the zombie action game has had the kind of troubled upbringing you usually see at the start of a horror film when you learn why the serial killer is so obsessed with murdering lake house teenagers. The project has been kicked around to a handful of studios at this point, moving between developers like a poo-smeared timebomb until 2019, when it finally came to land at Dambuster.
Last we heard, Dambuster was still very much hard at work on Dead Island 2 and promised to deliver a "kick-ass zombie game". It's unclear how much of previous developers' work Yager Development and Sumo Digital has had to be thrown out or completely re-worked, but the fact we haven't seen a single frame of Dead Island 2 footage for the better part of a decade isn't the most encouraging sign.
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In December 2020, publisher Deep Silver reassured fans once again that Dead Island 2 is on the way, although we didn't get any indication of exactly when or for what platforms. Development on the game first started at some point before 2014, and was originally supposed to be released as a cutting-edge title for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. But times change, and so must Dead Island 2.
According to a handful of new job listings over on the Dambuster career page (as spotted by MauroNL on Twitter), it would seem that Dead Island 2 will now be releasing for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC, apparently skipping last-gen hardware altogether.
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This definitely makes sense for Deep Silver and Dambuster. Assuming Dead Island 2 is at least a year away (and that's me being optimistic), I'd imagine they'd much rather focus their energy on making this seven-year project the absolute best possible version of itself. If that means waving goodbye to the original PlayStation 4/Xbox One vision in favour of a next-gen release, then so be it.
I'll see you five years from now when development of Dead Island 2 is shifted to the PlayStation 6 and Xbox 720.
Featured Image Credit: Deep SilverTopics: Dead Island 2, News
