In the history of the game, it is extremely rare for a game to be able to achieve commercial and word-of-mouth success after years of development or even a change of developer. After all, when the idea of a game project from the previous generation is delayed until the next generation, how much fun and selling points can it have to attract increasingly discerning players? Recent examples include "Blue Sea and Black Sails" and "Beyond Good and Evil", which have not yet been officially released, but judging from the reports released by Ubisoft, the situation is not optimistic.
Ten years after the initial announcement, "Dead Island 2" is likely to inherit the mantle of this tradition, allowing this meatless IP to continue to be buried in this year's blockbuster schedule.
Or perhaps, this work that has been remembered by Deep Silver will make people play unexpectedly, gain a foothold in their own market segment, obtain a double harvest of business and word-of-mouth, and create a history that has dragged on for a long time.
I'm not optimistic that the "ship of Theseus", which has been dismantled almost completely from head to toe, will still be able to set sail successfully.
Top publicity, okay content
Every year during the E3 or TGA Awards, there will always be some self-media who come out to take stock of "those classic trailer 'scams' in the history of games", and the rewind trailer of "Dead Island", which has a great cinematic lens aesthetics, will be pulled out and whipped together with "Watch Dogs" and "No Man's Sky". Unlike blockbusters that touted the prowess of technology and gameplay, Techland commissioned Axis Studios to produce a CG short film that shreds the tragic story of a happy family on vacation to a small island through flashbacks and flashbacks. In the excellent camera language, the zombie siege is a stark contrast to the happy family, whose fate has captured the curiosity of countless players with the soundtrack of Dead Island Trailer Theme, which goes from low and slow to high. Players who have been moved by the story for a few minutes are eager to pay for the game on the spot, become a sad father, and rush into the game with a fire axe to save his daughter.
This trailer formed a dimensionality reduction blow to the peers who were still trying to use cool combat and visual shock as the selling point back then, and made "Dead Island" slaughter the pre-order list of major game media for a while. But when the game was released in 2011, it couldn't be said to be exactly the same as the trailer of that year, or it could be said to have nothing to do with it. The plot of the game has changed from a much-anticipated delicacy to a dispensable wine and food, and a good pot of "Zombie Killing" wine has made many players call it fooled. The game that really reached the level of a trailer was "The Last of Us" released by Sony two years later. I don't know if the bigwigs of Naughty Dog were affected by the trailer of "Dead Island" when they decided to make the project.
Although the trailer is very different from the finished game, this is at least a game that focuses on fighting zombies, which brings a lot of novel experiences to players who are good zombies. For example, there are a wide variety of close-range weapons, an RPG development system with decent playability, and a multiplayer experience that is worth checking out.
Dead Island's overall above-average quality has allowed Techland to achieve its highest game sales since its inception. With more than 5 million copies, publisher Deep Silver has made a lot of money and is looking forward to the next Gen 2, which has the potential to sell another 5 million copies.
When people are full, they will have new desires, and Techland will have new ideals when they make good money. The largest game developer in Poland before CDPR became famous, wasn't willing to be just a part-time worker. While Techland has promised to start working on a new Dead Island IP, Techland is also raising staff to build on its experience in Dead Island to make a new game that injects more of its own ideas and game ideas.
After working with Deep Silver on Dead Island: Riptide, which had a worse reputation and gaming experience, Techland had plans to part ways with Deep Silver for good. After the two parties made it clear, Techland left Deep Silver with game development experience and the idea of developing a new game, and presented players with "Dying Light", a combination of parkour and zombies, 2 years later. This work not only achieved tens of millions of sales, but also excavated Deep Silver's own game concept subdivision gameplay, becoming a chicken that can lay golden eggs.
Techland showcased his talent without the beep of a party on Dying Light
Deep Silver left the first golden egg, trying to find another chicken in his chicken coop that was not much different from the shape of Techland, hoping that under the threat of the big stick and the material, it could also produce the golden eggs on time and in quantity. Driven by financial reports and earnings, Deep Silver is more concerned about the good looks of its financial statements and performance, and there is no reason for an IP that can reach 5 million sales to be put in the warehouse, which directly led to the tragic development process of the next ten years.
Under the chaotic development, no one takes over the mess
The experience of great success varies from game to game, but the lessons learned from failure are always strikingly similar. Deep Silver was a third-tier European publisher before it was acquired by Embracer, and Dead Island was the only title they could get their hands on at the time, so they didn't miss out on this opportunity.
After breaking up with Techland, Deep Silver couldn't wait to start looking for a new developer and found German developer Yager Development. Fresh off proving himself with Special Ops: A Silver Lining is a promising team, Deep Silver quickly signed up and released another impressive trailer in 2014 — yes, the absurd short film of the bodybuilder turning zombie through headphones.
The fake muscle fell off this section, which is really impressive
This trailer full of nonsense and absurd gore is a direct showdown, and "Dead Island 2" is a more exciting, exciting and non-playful zombie cleaner than the first generation. If the game follows this pace and optimizes the gameplay like the one demonstrated at Gamescom, perhaps the Dead Island series can be released in 3-4 generations, allowing players to experience another zombie bullying experience outside of the Zombie Siege series.
But Deep Silver may have been brainwashed by the previous 5 million sales, and felt that the zombie game currently developed by Yager must not be competitive under the shock of "The Last of Us". As a result, "after careful consideration, it was announced that the partnership with Yager was terminated", and the previous three years of hard work were burned, and the development of the game was transferred to Sumo Digital, the British developer who worked on LittleBigPlanet.
Five years after the project was halted, an early version of Dead Island 2 leaked online via 4CHAN. This leaked version is very close to what was demonstrated at E3 2014, and it's a decent quality game. Yager's producer, Jan David Hassel, said in his own tweet that it's great for players to see what their team did before they were fired. Apparently the producer was unhappy with Deep Silver's high-level meddling in the game's development.
But I have to say that if Dead Island 2 was really released around 2015, it's really hard to say how many players would be willing to spend money on a Dead Island 2 with no story to tell after the shocking performance of The Last of Us. Maybe it will be the same as its similar "Zombie Siege", sales died and it was hidden deep in the warehouse.
Sumo Digital, a deep partner between Microsoft and Sony, has great R&D capabilities, and Deep Silver feels like he's met the right person. The CEO said, "Sumo has shown a great understanding of the brand, they have a lot of creative ideas and an out-of-the-ordinary vision, which is very good for us. Paul Porter, Sumo's chief operating officer, was also very helpful when he said, "We're so confident that we're meeting the expectations of our players, and we're taking some of the set's iconic elements to a whole new level."
However, the fiery pair quickly fell into a period of cold war, and for the next three years, both sides seemed to forget about the cooperation at the same time. Deep Silver has found new tracks in games like Metro and Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and Sumo Digital has seized on the new pain points of Riot Warriors 3 and Team Sonic Kart, leaving Dead Island 2 crying in the corner.
It wasn't until Embracer brandished a bill to buy Deep Silver's parent company, Koch Media, that it discovered that there was such a game project on the project list. Embracer was clearly not happy with the progress of the project, after all, Sumo Digital was working on three games at the same time, including a stunning hit like Riot Men 3, so it was better to make a change sooner rather than later.
In 2019, Embracer announced that it had terminated its partnership with Sumo Digital and handed over the project to Dambuster Studios, the former Crytek UK studio.
After passing through developers in Poland, Germany, and the United Kingdom, Dead Island fans have finally been waiting for the news that it will be released. But this result made fans even more desperate - Dambuster took over as the developer of the worst game of the year for Homeland Defense 2: Revolution. Could it be that Embracer has run out of patience and just wants to launch a wave of money as soon as possible?
Industry analyst Tom Henderson claimed in a Youtube video that he has been in contact with developers in the know, saying that the title is currently in good shape and confident in the title, and also revealed some of the plot from where the game began: "The plane you're on suddenly has zombies, the plane ends up crashing in Hollywood, and you survive, and then your next mission is to survive. But this boring plot introduction is hard to look forward to.
It's hard to imagine how the game has changed in those 10 years. It's like the ship of Theseus, everything has changed except for the name and the same name.
Stimulating, refreshing and more plasma
Since the release of the game was confirmed in the second half of last year, "Dead Island 2" has successively announced the actual gameplay and game features of the game, without exception, it is a close-range and refreshing beating zombie and a different trick to beat the zombie, changing the way to let players enjoy the good time of overflowing blood.
The game has announced 6 killers with different styles for players to choose from. Whether it's thick or agile, it's all about expanding the game's combat experience vertically. Coupled with the new "Skill Card" system, it can be predicted that the game will have a lot of time for players to develop their characters and upgrade their skills. This new system has some similarities with Bloody Revenge, and it can really improve the combat experience of many games.
The in-game weapon system has also been increased from the previous game, and in addition to the regular weapons of knives, guns, clubs, and hammers, there are also unique weapons such as the Finger Tiger that can increase the sense of impact and plasma. Moreover, the weapon also has a cultivation space for components and attribute bonuses, and a single weapon can add attributes such as thunder and lightning, flames, etc., to improve the combat power of slashing zombies, and at the same time, it can also play with beauty in a variety of ways, and take the nonsensical absurd effect to the extreme.
Foreign media PC Gamer recently announced the game trial experience, saying that the content of the game itself is small, and it feels mediocre to play, so it is better to play "Vanishing Light 2" at the same price. At the same time, it also said that the game is incomparable in terms of bloodiness and excitement in fighting zombies, and the effect of zombie bodies being broken by a little click is very realistic, fat, skin, muscles, and bones are all clearly identifiable, and the game's technological progress in this area is a must.
It can be seen that PC Gamer's reviews have been quite unkind, and GameSpot's opinion is somewhat euphemistic: "Dead Island 2 may be better than you think after years of 'development hell', but this game is not a large-scale open-world game, so be sure to adjust your expectations before playing." Fortunately, both media outlets have affirmed the experience of fighting zombies, which shows that Deep Silver has finally realized what players want after years of development cycles.
If Dead Island 2 can take the zombie-fighting experience to a new level after its official release, it may be able to gain its own niche in this zombie-filled environment. Today's environment is not as good as it was 10 years ago, and titles such as The Last of Us, Decay Nation, Resident Evil, World War Z, and Bloody Revenge all have their loyal users, and it's not easy to make players who have seen it have the patience to experience Dead Island 2 repeatedly.
The game is exclusive to Epic on PC, and the cost of development should be partially recovered, and then how much the game can sell depends on its own ability. But it would be a fool's dream to recreate the 5 million sales of the original generation, and in my opinion, to have more than 3 million sales is a success.
Conclusion
Once a pillar of Deep Silver, Dead Island has given it so much hope beyond reality. After a 10-year development cycle and the replacement of 4 developers, after releasing blockbusters with more than 5 million sales such as Metro and Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Deep Silver should have recognized where Dead Island 2 should be: a good zombie adventure. This is also in line with Embracer's strategy of continuing to launch 2A games.
With the release of Dead Island 2 approaching, it is up to the franchise that will go down in history through a trailer to perform in April, a gap between few blockbusters. I hope that players who once loved "Dead Island" can regain the surprise of seeing it for the first time in the past, so that this game that focuses on nonsense and nonsensical zombie fighting can firmly sit in its market segment.
So, Capcom, aren't you really planning to release a new installment in the Zombies Siege series?