For good or ill, Dead Island 2 came and went without a huge amount of fanfare. Currently, the game has a Metacritic score of 73 (7.7 from user??s), which is pretty? good, but not exactly boundary-breaking.

However, if you missed your chance to check it out when it was released last year, here's your chance to play it on Steam soon: On April 22, to be exact. Yeah, pretty much on the one-year anniversary of the game's release, you can pick up Dead Island 2 on Steam, which, unt??il now,?? was only available via Epic Games Store if you wanted it on PC.

Developer Dambuster really wants to make sure you don't forget about its sequel, so to celebrate the re-release (let's call a spade a spade), the studio is offering discounts on the other entries in the series.

Weird how zombie games are still a thing these days

As well as being able to wishlist the new game, Dead Island Definitive Edition and Retro Revenge are currently 85% and 75% off, respectively. Additionally, Riptide is 100% free for a limited time only. And when I say "limited," I mean you literally only have u??ntil tomorrow to pick up a copy (the other two are discounted until February 20).

It was quite a tumultuous development cycle for DI2. Originally scheduled to come out in 2015 �and being made by Techland of Dying Light fame �the project passed through a number of studios before Dam?bu??ster took the reins.

Considering the first installment did not leave much of an impact, it's surprising a sequel was even green-lit. By this p??oint, you'd think everyone would have been sick of the zombie genre by now. Evidently not.

But say what you will about the first Dead Island, that trailer still packs a punch to the gut to this day.? It's just a shame? the actual game content didn't match the marketing.

The post D??ead Island 2 is coming to Steam this April, Riptide temporarily free appeared first on Destructoid.

It's still alive!

After the success of the first Dead Island game, players expected and looked forward to a sequel relatively soon. Instead, we've gotten radio silence for the better part of ten years. Dead Island 2 was first announced at E3 in 2014, and has been in development hell for around a decade. We finally got an update last week though, bringing to a close the years-long silence we had been enduring from Deep Silver, the game's developer. At an earnings presentation last week from Deep Silver's parent company, Embracer Group, we finally got some information that could point to a launch for Dead Island 2 as early as 2023, as reported by VGC.

The comment in question came from the event's host: “It [Dead Island 2] very clearly is [still alive], and I at least expect the release this financial year, or sorry next financial year, I should say. So, is that reasonable, an??d what can we expect from a title that has been in development for probably 10 years or so?"

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST262ZbNcos

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors responded that the company does have an "unannounced AAA project" that the host thought might be Dead Island 2, but that he couldn't comment further. For context, the company's financial year ends on March 31, 2023. It's a cryptic comment at best, but it's also the first we've heard of anything about the game for years. I understand why Wingefors had to deflect, but he also can't blame us for ?wanting any bit of information we can get about a game we've been looking forward to for this long.

For a long time, fans had given up any hope for the game, and thought that plans for its release would slowly fizzle out. Techland developed the first Dead Island game, so naturally they planned to make the sequel. After deciding to focus their attention on Dying Light, however, Dead Island 2 was going to be helmed by Yager Development, who are best known for creating Spec Ops: The Line. Sumo Digital took over after a while, but Dead Island 2 finally landed ?with Dambuster in 2019, a studio owned by Deep Silver.

The post Dead Island 2 could launch next year appeared first on Destructoid.

Cblogs of 3/13 to 3/19/2021

-Exber writes about the? psychological milestone of actual??ly beating a game.

-Black Red Gaming thinks that Outbreak mode is the correct path forward for the Zombies mode in Call of Duty.

-GoofierBrute shares his thoughts on Pokemon Stadium a??s part of his Games that Times Forgot blogging series.

-Lord Spencer reviews Saiyuki: Journey West as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-Damien Quicksilver thinks that Amazon Luna is the irrefutable ?future of ALL ??gaming.

-Humantofu looks back at Techland's Dead Island games.

-RedHeadPeak writes about the nature of "key wounds" in video game storytel??ling and the pitfalls associated with it.

-Gamingnerd writes about the history and prevalence of Gacha games.

-Gamingnerd shares tips on har????dware modifications to make legacy systems work better today.

-Black Red Gaming shares his thoughts on Sir Brante's Life, According to Myself and Others.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Final Fantasy VI and romantic waltzes.

-Toborprime primes his game, Savage: The Shard of Gosen, with a new update.

-Manasteel88 updates us on their li?ves and apologizes to Kadokawa Games for an earlier angrier blog.

-ABowlOfCereal designs a moveset for Smash Master Core as a fighter in Super Smash Bros.

-Julc3 looks back at their experience with Dtoid that?? they had all these ?years.

-ChronoLynxx opens this week's TGIF open community thread.

Thank you all for this week's awesome content! It really means a lot to us that you take the time to share your thoughts, opinions, and memories on your experiences, good or bad. Thanks to Lord Spencer for providing us with the recap. If you'd like to see your own thoughts captured for posterity on the front page, head ??over to the Cblogs and have at it!

The post What games have given you a satisfying ‘rush’ upon completion? appeared first on Destructoid.

New job listing points to future release

It's been six years since PlayStation took to the stage at E3 2014 and debuted an (excellent) teaser trailer for zombie-smasher Dead Island 2. Since then, the sequel to Techland's clunky 2011 open-world shooter has been mired in development hell and, while never quite dead and buried, has repeatedly struggled to gain ground on its marathon journey to realisation.

Dambuster Studios, who picked up the project from previous developer Sumo Digital (who themselves took over from previous developer Yager), recently posted a brand new job opening for the project. Openly referencing Dead Island 2 in the post, Dambuster are looking for an Art Director to help design a game for "current and future platforms," suggesting that Dead Island 2 will more than likely be arriving on next-gen consol??es.

While at this point it almost feels like Dead Island 2 is a bit of a running gag within the industry, I do think that it will eventually see the light of day, even if it takes a few more years. Given that the original Dead Island was kind of a hot mess, it would make for a radical redemption story i?f, after all this time, Dambuster knocked this long-suffering sequel out of the park, whenever it finally chooses to come lurching out of the grave.

Dead Island 2 is currently in development at Dambuster Studio.

The post Dead Island 2 looking for resurrection on ?next gen platforms appeared first on Destructoid.

'We have entrusted Dambuster Studios'

The ballad of John and Yoko Dead Island 2 and Deep Silver continues. If you recall the game was actually announced in 2014, with two years of planning preceding it. Since then Techland jumped ship to the more lucrative and much more impressive Dying Light series, leaving Deep Silver holding the reins, trying to figure out who was actually going to make this thing they greenlit. Yager Development (of Spec Ops: The Line fame) got the gig until they didn't, a??nd were dropped in? mid-2015.

Then the always-popular Sumo Digital, who pretty much helps out every major publisher in the world at this point, was in. Then they weren't. Now Dambuster Studios is the active developer of Dead Island 2, as of this week thanks to info from a THQ financial statement. It's a blink and you'll miss it passage, a far cry from the video we got from Nintendo regarding Metroid Prime 4's shift: "We have entrusted Dambuster Studios with the Dead Island franchise, bringing the development of this key franchise to one of our internal studios. They are now leading the development of Dead Island 2."

So who is Dambuster Studios? Well...they worked on Homefront: The Revolution (also known as Homefront 2), which was....alright, kind of. Godspeed, Dead Island franchise.

Dead Island 2 is due out on PC, PS4, and Xbox One when the Eart??h is taken over by actual zombies.

THQ Nordic Interim report Q1 April-June 2019 [THQ]

The post Dead Island 2 pulls a Metroid Prime? 4, shif?ts developers again appeared first on Destructoid.

I mean, if you were still waiting for it...

Although it's been a solid five years since its original reveal, with things going very quiet in the interim, it appears that Dead Island 2, the sequel to head-lopping adventure Dead Island, is still in ?development, with new details to come at some point i?n the future.

For a quick recap, Dead Island was an open-world first-person adventure depicting the aftermath of a violent, zombie-esque outbreak taking place at a tropical hol?iday resort. It won many eyes and hushed whispers thanks to its dramatic and smartly-directed reveal trailer, before we all played it and realised it was rubbish.

Dead Island 2 reared its decayed head at E3 2014 with another very cool trailer, but things seem to have tapered off, with neither developer Sumo Digital, nor publishers Deep Silver or THQ Nordic, having much to say or show regarding the title in years. Yesterday, however, during a THQ Nordic conference call, CEO Lars Wingefors specifically mentioned Dead Island 2 by name, noting that we should all "Stay tuned."

As the sequel was always planned as a PS4 and Xbox One release, even back in 2014, there's still time for the game to drop before the generation ends, unless THQ has some amazing next gen release in the works, about to surprise us all. It will be interesting to see if Dead Island can rise from the bloodied sands once again, this time without the same bug that caused me t??o die because I kicked a beach ball.

The post THQ Nordic ?insists that Dead Island 2 is not quite dead yet appeared first on Destructoid.

Still kickin'!

It has been literally four full years since the reveal of Dead Island 2 and w??e only know three definite things about it: It's set in?? California, it has zombies, and it somehow hasn't been canceled yet. Here's yet another assurance about the latter point.

Responding to impatient fans about the underwhelming and quiet release of a Dead Island mobile game this week, the series' Twitter account said "What's going on is that it's in development and we won't be showing more until we're ready. Appreciate the wait is painful, but Dead Island 2 is still coming." New day, but the ?same o?ld story.

No surprise here, but developer Sumo Digital still has Dead Island 2 listed on its site as one of the titles it's working on. The other prominent and current Sumo game is the oft-delayed Crackdown 3. Neither is necessarily Sumo's fault, though; both were contracted after originally-planned development went sideways. In the case of Dead Island 2, Sumo was brought on after Yager was fired in the summer of 2015.

So, we're seemingly still a long ways away from a proper re-reveal of Dead Island 2, which is something that it absolutely needs considering how long it has been. If that happens -- and it kind of feels like a mighty big if -- expect a flurry of pieces about all the ways Dead Island 2 has changed over the ??past four years. It has to have changed because a game that started development in 2014 will feel dated as hell.

But that's all extremely cart in front of the horse. For now, Dead Island 2 sti?ll exists and that qualifies as good news even if it's not particularly interesting good news.

@deadislandgame [Twitter]

The post Here’s your obligatory update that Dead Island 2 isn’t canceled yet appeared first on Destructoid.

Dead Island: Survivors

We have a new way to kill some time while we patiently wait around to see if Dead Island 2 eventually gets canned. (Seriously, it has been more than a year since we last heard about it, and that was just Deep Silver confirming it wasn't dead yet.) Now there's a Dead Island mobile game.

Dead Island: Survivors launched today on iOS and Android. It's a free-to-play tower defense game with base building elements. Basically, defend yourself from all those dang zombies. Dead Island seems thematically well-s??uited to cater to this exact type of game.

Of course, there's the opportunity to spend money for anyone who wishes to go that route. In-app purchases range from $1 to $100, and they can be spent on gems?. Gems are used?? to buy loot boxes or cash for upgrading your base. It's almost precisely what you'd expect.

Despite not making much noise at all, Dead Island: Survivors has been around for a while now. It has spent two years soft-launching in various regions. Today marks its full, final global release. Survivors might not be what Dead Island fans definitively want, but it's what they'll have to take. Anyone who has backed t??hat horse can't be? choosy right now.

Dead Island: Survivors [iOS, Android]

The post Dead Island’s next chapter is a free mobile tower defense game, and it released today appeared first on Destructoid.

The light just keeps burning

It truly is surprising that Dying Light remains almost as popular today as it was when it launched in 2015. Most games die off relatively quickly in our current gaming landscape, but somehow developer Techland managed to retain its player base. The game, apparently, still draws in 500,000 active players each week, so to give those fans a treat for remaining so engaged, Techland will be releasing 10 pieces of free DLC for Dying Light over the next year.

As you can see from the video, there isn't really anything specific mentioned. Even without details, this is still a really cool move. Mor??e developers should take note of actions like this, as smaller, free updates go a long way to building t??rust within a community and getting them on board for any potential sequels.

Dying Light still so popular it's get??ting another year of free DLC [Eurogamer]

The post Dying Light is getting another year of free DLC appeared first on Destructoid.

Still not dead

Like a good little zombie, Dead Island 2 refuses to stay down. You could be forgiven for thinking Dead Island 2 was one? of those g??ames that got quietly cancelled; Deep Silver hasn't said much about it since developer Yager was taken off the project in the summer of 2015. The marketing trail has gone cold.

However, Dead Island 2 isn't six feet under taking a dirt nap. In a statement to Eurogamer (who simply asked somethin?g along the lines of "Hey, is this still happening?"), Deep Silver confirmed the?? game is still in production. Here's the comment in full:

"Dead Island 2 is in development at Sumo Digital, and we are excited by the progress the team are making with Deep Silver's most successful IP. When we are ready to share more informatio??n, we will."

It's not the sexiest of quotes but it does the trick, essentially just raising its hand as the teacher does role call. Present and accounted for. Basically "don't bury me, I'm still not dead."

(As a side note: Whoa to Deep Silver calling Dead Island its most successful property. I figured that would have easily been Saints Row. Maybe Deep Silver can't completely love Saints Row because it's a stepkid.)

Dead Island 2 is still alive, Deep Silver insists [Eurogamer]

The post Dead Island 2: Still a thing appeared first on Destructoid.

Bask in the warm ray of deals

Another holiday means another excuse for sales. Today, digital bundle retailer Bundle Stars jump started? a "Scream" sale with select horror-themed titles at favorable pricing. And when we say favorable, we mean some historic l??ow prices on certain games.

Deals will flow in batches and for the first batch, we're seeing a new low price on Dead Island Definitive Edition and Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition -- both??? are $11.27 a piece, at a nice 44% off from the $19 list price.

Other goodies includes the Metro Redux titles at $5 a piece and Killer is Dead Nightmare Edition for $4. For a limited time, Bundle Stars is also running a 6% off coupon "SCREAM6" which works on any titles $6?? or more.

Scream Sale Day 1

For orders $6 or more use code: SCREAM6

Dead Island

• Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition (Steam) — $11.27  (list price $20)
• Dead Island Definitive Edition (Steam) — $11.27  (list price $20)
• Dead Island Retro Revenge (Steam) — $2.99  (list price $5)

More Scream Sale Deals

• Verdun (Steam) — $16.44  (list price $25)
• SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell (Steam) — $9.16  (list price $15)
• Metro Redux Bundle (Steam) — $7.04  (list price $30)
• Neverending Nightmares (Steam) — $7.04  (list price $15)
• Lifeless Planet Premier Edition (Steam) — $6.38  (list price $20)
• Viscera Cleanup Detail (Steam) — $6.10  (list price $13)
• Sanctum 2 Complete Pack (Steam) — $5.63  (list price $30)
• Among the Sleep (Steam) — $5.25  (list price $15)
• Ryse: Son of Rome (Steam) — $4.99  (list price $20)
• Metro Last Light Redux (Steam) — $4.99  (list price $20)
• Metro 2033 Redux (Steam) — $4.99  (list price $20)
• Killer is Dead - Nightmare Edition (Steam) — $3.99  (list price $20)
• Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell (Steam) — $3.75  (list price $15)
• Door Kickers (Steam) — $2.99  (list price $20)
• Sanctum 2 (Steam) — $2.99  (list price $15)
• The Westport Independent (Steam) — $2.49  (list price $10)
• Goat Simulator (Steam) — $2.49  (list price $10)
• Super Sanctum TD (Steam) — $1.99  (list price $4)

The post Dead Island Definitiv?e Edition hits new low price in Halloween-themed sale appeared first on Destructoid.

Is it someone's GOTY? Reveal yourself!

Remember when Dead Island's ??GOTY edition came out, and everyone was scratching their?? head like "who actually gave this a Game of the Year award?" This is kind of like that.

A new trailer for the Definitive edition of the game has arrived, and it features some quotes that myself and several colleagues can't track down. Maybe these are from now-defunct outlets for the old games that they were saving for a rain?y day -- which would include "this is what next-gen graphics is all about," referring to the Xbox 360 and PS3?

Either way, Dead Island was a ?really interesting release in that it fluffed everyone up with an emotional trailer, then opened with "WHO DO YOU VOODOO BITCH?!" and fell immediately afterwards. I've forgotten a?bout it many times, only to be reminded by various forms of zombie paraphernalia that it exists.

The post W??here did these Dead Island Definitive ?trailer quotes come from? appeared first on Destructoid.

Curiouser and curiouser

Dead Island 2’s s?team page has gone missing, sparking rumours, o?nce again, the game is… well, dead.

Spotted by NeoGAFfer DeathSparks, the page w??as removed recently, along with the store descriptors and accompanying tags. 

Here’s a list of what was disappeared:

As we creep ever closer to E3, there’s every chance the page?? has been yanked in preparation for ??a new reveal, a new direction… or it's a quiet cancellation. Only time will tell.

Development of Dead Island 2 has not run smooth. Publisher Deep Silver severed links with the original development? team at Yager after citing it did not wish to make “compromises” with the sequel. LittleBigPlanet developer Sumo Digital took over development as original studio, Yager, filed for i?nsolvency. 

The post Is Dead Island 2 dead? appeared first on Destructoid.

Retro Revenge

Dead Island 2 is the next big Dead Island game, but it's not the next Dead Island game. That honor goes to the recently announced Dead Island: Retro Rampage&??nbsp;-- a 16-bit romp about rescuin??g your cat and recovering your RV. Alright then.

This trailer nicely sums up the tone of Retro Rampage, which might be described as "A Streets of Rage-like brawler in which a Jack Black-like man yells a lot." That Jack Blackian protagonist characterizes the game as "ch??ock-full of awesome enemies, sick combos, and enough challenge to send all you hardcore types cryin' home to mama." Again, alright then.

Those who are interested in Retro Rampage need to be interested enough to sign up for the full Dead Island experience. It's an add-on to the Dead Island: Definitive Collection which bundles Dead Island and Dead: Island Riptide. That package is set to release on May 31 for $40. There's no word on a standalone version of Retro Rampage that's in the works.

The post Feline res?cue is the basis of the new Dead Island game appeared first on Destructoid.

'Visceral'

LittleBigPlanet developer Sumo Digital has taken over development of Dead Island 2.

Publisher Deep Silver severed links with ?the original development team at Yager after citi?ng it did not wish to make “compromises” with? the sequel.

Within weeks of losing Dead Island 2, Yager filed for insolvency.

“It’s an honour to be charged with the evolution of such an important franchise in Deep Silver’s catalogue,” said Sumo’s COO, Paul Porter (via MCV). “We’re looking forward ??to exceeding fan expectation with an ambitious design that we’re confident will take bone-crunching, visceral, zombie action to a whole new level.”

“Sumo showe??d so much understanding of the brand, had creative ideas and an excellent, vision that was aligned with our own,” added Koch Media’s Dr Klemens Kundratitz. “It just made perfect sense for us to move the project to them.”

“We will revea??l more details at a later stage, but for now I’d like to say that we are obviously super excited about the progress that we are making with them.”

The post Sumo Digital takes o??ver development of Dead Island 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Banoi is now High Definition(er)

There are too many metaphors to make about a zombie game coming back to life just a scant few years after its original release, so I'll do my best to refrain from here on out. No promises, though. Dead Island and its expansion Riptide will be packaged into one sewn-together cadaver called the Dead Island Definitive Collection. Both games will have improved textures, lighting, and framerate. There will also be a sidescrolling beat-'em-up/endless runner called Retro Revenge, which you may remember Kyle mentioning last month.

The announcement trailer claims that this is "the ultimate zombie game series," which amuses me when Techland's own Dying Light is vastly superior (though I admit the tropical island setting was fun). According to Best Buy, the remastered collection will run you $39.99. If you're ready to return to Banoi, Dead Island Definitive Collection will be availabl??e for the PC?, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 31.

The post Dead Island: Definitive Collecti??on?? embalms both games on May 31 appeared first on Destructoid.

I'm afraid so

It's impressive how much Deep Silver has milked the Dead Island name over the pa?st five years. You kno?w, considering a trailer, of all things, is the zombie franchise's claim to fame.

So it comes as no surprise that the publisher is looking to drive the series into the ground (more than it already has) with yet another spin-off. According to Australia and Brazil's ratings boards, Dead Island: Retro Revenge is in the works at San Diego-based studio Empty Clip Games.

There isn't mu??ch information on the game at this time, though it's already received an M-rating from the notorio??us Australian games council and is in development for Xbox One, PC, and PS4.

While Empty Clip doesn't have much of a track record to speak of (it's mostly been a port factory to date), Deep Silver hasn't had much luck with the franchise. After following up the original with a pair of lousy sequels, Escape Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide, the publisher more recently hit Dead Island 2 with an indefinite delay and removed Spec Ops: The Line team Yager from the project. 

The publisher also recently shut down its MOBA Dead Island: Epidemic, which nobody ever seemed to play, despite the fact it was both free and constantly spammed Steam users with beta invitations. While it would be a pleasant surprise if one of these games ended up being worth it, one has to wonder how long Deep Silver can continue churning out shoddy products and still turn a profit.

Dead Island: Retro Revenge [Australian Classification, Classificação Indicativa]

The post Good lord, not another Dead Island appeared first on Destructoid.

But does it make PS Now worth it?

Deep Silver has just released a whole load of its ba??ck catalogue on to the PS Now streaming servic?e.

Saint’s Row: Gat Out of Hell, Escape Dead Island, Metro: Last Light, Narco Terror, Risen 3: Titan Lords, Sacred Citadel, and Sacred 3 are now all available for streaming to your PS3, PS4 or PS Vita. Some of those games, like Metro: Last Light, are really good. Others are uh… not so great. Looking at you, Sacred 3.

These games join Saints Row 2, 3, and 4, Dead Island, Dead Island Riptide, and a lot of other Deep S??ilver games that were already available on the serv??ice.

To be honest, the biggest news here is that peopl??e apparently actually use PS Now? For $19.99/£12.99 a month on top of my PS+ subscription, I’d always figured it was way too expensive to bother with.

Do you use PS Now? Do you like it? Does anyone like it? 

Metro: Last Li??ght and Saints Row: Ga?t Out of Hell Join PS Now Subscriptions [PlayStation.Blog]

The post Saints Row, Metro, Sacred, and more join PS Now appeared first on Destructoid.

Plus, hints at super secret project

Three Yager (Spec Ops: The Line, Dead Island 2) developers have left the company to go indie as inbetweengames. This is a few months after publisher Deep Silver dropped Yager as the developer on Dead Island 2, just a few months after delaying the game.

Currently the trio is bringing its Ludum Dare 33 game, The Mammoth: A Cave Painting, from PC and Mac to iOS and Android (still free).

Otherwise, they are working on a "super secret game" that can't be talked about yet, but is planned for fall 2016 release (and should be playable in April of 2016). My expert sleuthing into the aforelinked not-so-secret project page notes, "Absolutely no mention of cross temporal communication, Berlin nightlife or assassinati?ons." Cool.

The post Fired Dead Island 2 devs leave?? Yager, start indie studio appeared first on Destructoid.

Sure, I'll add more to my backlog

This week, popular digital retailer Green Man Gaming launched a Deep Silver Sale. The sale was OK, but n?othing exciting (else we'd have mentioned it earlier). Things changed today as most of the titles ??listed below got a savings bump from 50% off to 75% off.

This means lowest historic price on Metro Redux Bundle ($7.70), Saints Row Ultimate Franchise Pack ($8.47), and other series bundles such as Risen, Sacred, and Dead Island. Previous Xbox One timed exclusive Ryse: Son of Rome also hit a new low price of $10.40.

All excellent titles to grab to bulk up your backlog, which is obviously on the thin side these days due to the lack of sales event. FYI: Everything listed below is a Steam key so I'm not sur??e why we're doing the whole (Steam) label ?thingie.

23% Off Code to Use: 23PERC-AUTUMN-SAVING

Metro Series

• Metro Redux Bundle (Steam) — $7.70 (list price $50)
• Metro Last Light Redux (Steam) — $4.81 (list price $25)
• Metro 2033 Redux (Steam) — $4.81 (list price $25)

Saints Row

• Saints Row Ultimate Franchise Pack (Steam) — $8.47 (list price $55)
• Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell (Steam) — $7.70 (list price $20)
• Saints Row IV - Game of the Century Edition (Steam) — $5.78 (list price $30)
• Saints Row: The Third The Full Package (Steam) — $3.85 (list price $20)
• Saints Row The Third (Steam) — $2.89 (list price $15)
• Saints Row 2 (Steam) — $1.93 (list price $10)

Risen

• Risen 3: Titan Lords Complete Edition (Steam) — $9.63 (list price $40)
• Risen 3: Titan Lords (Steam) — $9.63 (list price $30)
• Risen 2: Dark Waters Gold Edition (Steam) — $7.70 (list price $30)
• Risen Franchise Pack (Steam) — $6.16 (list price $70)
• Risen (Steam) — $1.93 (list price $10)

Sacred

• Sacred Franchise Pack (Steam) — $9.63 (list price $50)
• Sacred 3 Gold (Steam) — $5.78 (list price $30)
• Sacred 3 (Steam) — $4.85 (list price $20)
• Sacred 2: Gold Edition (Steam) — $3.85 (list price $15)
• Sacred Citadel Complete (Steam) — $3.85 (list price $10)

Dead Island

• Dead Island Franchise Pack (Steam) — $4.62 (list price $30)
• Dead Island Riptide Complete Edition (Steam) — $3.85 (list price $20)
• Dead Island GOTY Edition (Steam) — $3.85 (list price $20)

More Deep Silver Deals

• Ryse: Son of Rome (Steam) — $10.40 (list price $30)
• Emergency 5 Digital Deluxe Edition (Steam) — $9.63 (list price $50)
• Iron Front: Liberation 1944 Gold Edition (Steam) — $5.78 (list price $30)
• Killer is Dead - Nightmare Edition (Steam) — $3.08 (list price $20)
• Jane’s Advanced Strike Fighters 2015 (Steam) — $1.93 (list price $10)
• Lost Horizon (Steam) — $1.93 (list price $10)
• Narco Terror (Steam) — $1.93 (list price $10)

Deals expire Friday morning Oct 9th. Sales help support Destructoid.

The post $7 Metro Redux Bun??dle, $8 Saints Row Ultima??te Franchise Pack in Deep Silver Sale appeared first on Destructoid.

Dawnstar, Infinite Crisis, Epidemic

Anyone with a Steam account is probably aware of the MOBA Dead Island: Epidemic. A while ago, the game flooded inventories with multiple beta invitations. I’ve still got five of them, and now th?at the game’s in open beta I can’t bloody get rid of them.

That aggressive marketing didn’t seem to actually do much for the game though, as Deep Silver has announced via the game’s Steam community that Dead Island: Epidemic will shu??t down on October 15 and all devel?opment on it will be ceased.

Up until then, there will be a huge sale on all of the microtransactions, to let people who have been sup??porting the game up to now try items and characters they hadn’t had the chance to. Also? it’ll be to scrape the last bit of money Deep Silver can off of another failed MOBA.

It’s a shame, too. Epidemic at least tried something interesting by having three competing teams instead of the usual two. I guess the Dead Island name just doesn’t translate well to? that ?genre.

Now if you need me, I’ll be drowning in my beta invites whi?ch will never go away. Send help??... preferably a life raft.

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'Dead Island is our child'

The status of Dead Island 2 is up in the air after publisher Deep Silver took developer Yager off the project last month. Chances are that it's not dead given that Deep ??Silver has already sunk money into?? the project and it's one of the company's more prolific properties. Still, we don't know who (if anyone) is working on it.

Techland, developer of the first Dead Island, says that it would be happy to pick up development. Speaking with VideoGamer at gamescom, Techland producer Tymon Smektala said that he'd "love to go back to Dead Island" if approached by Deep Silver. "... Dead Island is our child. It's a title that we imagined, we developed. We made this game and we still have a very strong connection to that IP. So, it's very bad news. I hope that we will see some more Dead Island in the future and I?? hope that Yager is not affected that much as it may seem righ?t now," Smetkala continued.

According to Smetkala, there would really only be one caveat to Techland's involvement: It'd have to be different than Dying Light. He elaborated " I think there is a place for both franchises to strive in the market. As long as someone would be able to find something that would make them different, that would draw a clear line, 'Okay, here's Dead Island, here's Dying Light,' and I think that's doable, then why not?"

Of course, this is all just one perspective. Long before Deep Silver distanced itself from Yager, it also split with Techland who was possibly going to make Dead Island 2. There's nothing to say that Deep Silver would be interested in rekindling that likely fractured rela?tionship. But, if it wants to talk, i?t sounds like Techland's door is open.

Techland produce?r: I'd make Dead Is??land 2 if Deep Silver asked [VideoGamer]

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After being dropped as developer

Yager (Spec Ops: The Line) was recently fired from developing Dead Island 2 by publisher Deep Silver as the companies' "respective visions ?of t??he project fell out of alignment."

Last week, July 22, Yager Productions filed for insolvency. Yager Productions was a sub-division of the greater Yager Group spun off solely to make Dead Island 2, so it's no surprise that this is, "a direct result from? the early terminat??ion of the project."

It?? also safeguards Yager Production?s staff; employee wages in the coming months are "secured."

"In the course of the proceedings, we gain time to sort out the best options for reorganising this entity," Yager managing director Timo Ullmann said. "Insolvency proceedings solely affect Yager Productions. All other parts of Yager Group are independent and remain unaffected. In addition to titles that are already in production, Yager has a team working on new gaming concepts which also remained intact." This means Dreadnaught et al are fine and hopeful?ly this won't prove disastrous for the affected subdivision.

??Yager's segmented Dead Island 2 team files for insolvency [Eurogamer]

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PC, Xbox One, PS4

What happens when you have nothing to show at E3, delay Dead Island 2, and then fire the developer of Dead Island 2?

HD remake! HD remake!

South African retailer Loot.co.za listed (now removed) Dead Island: Definitive Edition for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It would certainly make sense while Deep Silver figures out how to get Dead Island 2 and silly ass Homefront into 2016.

via @lifelower

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Still doing Dead Island 2

Deep Silver has announced it is parting ways with Dead Island 2 developer Yager (Spec Ops: The Line). Just a few months ago, Deep Silver delayed the game into 2016 over quality concerns.

The ?publisher made this announcement with a brief s??tatement, writing:

"With Dead Island 2, Deep Silver has always been dedicated to delivering the sequel that Dead Island fans deserve. After careful consideration, today we announce the decision to part ways with development partner YAGER. We will continue working towards bringing our vision of Dead Island 2 to life, and we will share further informat?ion at a later stage."

Deep Silver recently split with original Dead Island developer Techland. The latter went on to make this year's Dying Light for Warner Bros.

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Pushed back until 2016 over quality concerns

Dead Island 2 was supposed to release this spring, but that's no longer in the cards, as Deep Sil?ver has announced the open-world zombie game has been delayed until 2016.

The publisher and development team at Spec Ops: The Line studio Yager set out "to create the sequel that takes Dead Island to the next level," combining what fans already like about the series and adding "a ton more content and combat options on? top of that."

However, after some self-reflection, the companies decided they weren't happy with the product as it is just yet and needed to push back the launch un?til next year.

"We know that our fans will be disappointed by this news, but by giving Dead Island 2 more time we ?are confident that everyone will get a better game to play as a result."

Dead Island [Twitter]

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Run, you'll never escape

In my years as a freelancer and staffer at various videogame outlets, I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing a ton of great games. In fact, this year I had the privilege of reviewing pretty much every?? “AAA” game that hit stores. I also review a lot of garbage, or games that are fundamentally broken in one or more aspects. Games that only through providence made it out of QA.

I always try and remember though that every game, whether it’s an EA blockbuster or a one-man indie project, was someone’s baby. No matter what game you talk about, there is at least one guy or gal out there who put their all into it, even if the rest of the team couldn't be bothered to exert much effort. So I always try to approach criticizing a game from that angle. Escape Dead Island is a special case though. 

Escape Dead Island (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC [reviewed])
Developer: Fatshark
Publisher: Deep Silver
Released: November 18, 2014
MSRP: $59.99

The game kicks off with a small prequel scene cataloging the events just prior to the beginning of the first game. Xian Mei of the original Dead Island plays Halo's Cortana to your generic Commando. After infiltrating a top secret la??b (the only kind of labs video games know about) the two discover that YouTube commenters are right and a big corporation? is in fact part of some Illuminati clone, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then a Tyrant or something kills you.

The real treat comes when you meet Escape Dead Island's star: the rich kid with daddy issues that is equal parts Frank West, Jason Brody, and Colonel John Konrad. He decides the best way to get his father to love him is to go to Banoi with his two friends/employees and solve the mystery. However, this game lacks the creative writing of Scooby-Doo and the plot only serves to loosely tie the haphazard gameplay together. The only vaguely interesting part of the plot is related to the increasingly tenuous grasp on sanity the? main character has, but we&rs??quo;ll get into that a bit later.

Okay, so the plot is a bit generic and uninspired. Common complaints at this point, so what about the gameplay? Well, Escape Dead Island seems to have a hard time deciding exactly what it wants to be. Is it a stealthy survival horror title like Alien: Isolation? Is it an over-the-top zombie-killing free-for-all with photography elements like Dead Rising? Is it a combination of stealth and action like State of Decay? Is it a commentary on the fragility of the human psyche like Spec Ops: The Line? An exploratory action-adventure like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? It so badly wants to be all of those t??h?ings, but fails terribly.

In the beginning you’ll rely on stale stealth mechanics to channel that genre for good measure. The stealth sections exist solely just to be stealth sections. There’s never a sense of urgency or danger, just “If I don’t do?? the stealth then I lose.” This goes against any successful concept of stealth as the enemies are not smart or really ever too much of a threat.

The photography elements are worthless as well, as there are no point or upgrade systems. Your character will just comment on specific items you take pictures of, and they’re not particularly inspired comments either. Near the end of the game, you’ll have plenty of weapons and will be going Rambo on some zombies, but the controls are so mushy that it’s not very satisfying and makes the previous stealth gameplay seem even more cliche and needless. Oh, and the backtracking. Get a grappling hook? Time to backtrack. Find a gas mask? Better backtrack. With a game like Symphony of the Night, backtracking doesn’t feel so much like a chore because the gameplay is centered and focused to the point where it seems like natural progression. In Escape Dead Island, I couldn’t h?elp but feel like it existed to pad more gameplay time on.

The one somewhat unique thing this game has going for it is the growing insanity of the player character. As time goes on, his mind becomes more and more unhinged, as an increasing amount of hallucinations encroach into the game. It's actually quite interesting. However, Escape Dead Island's pacing strangles the one element that could have set it apart as noteworthy. For the first quarter or so of the game, the insanity elements are few and far between and although they grow in note, it isn’t until the last quarter that they really blossom, but by then the build-up was too much and I had grown tired of the whole thing. I won’t ruin it because it is genuinely the one part of the game I found interesting, but unfortunately it was too little too late, and too static of an experience. If there had been a sanity meter a la Eternal Darkness, it truly could have saved the game for me.

The visuals at least are non-offensive. They attempt to replicate the cel-shaded comic book appeal, but in this type of game, which tries to tell a gritty and tragic story, the graphic novel look is a bit of an odd choice. Unlike Sunset Overdrive which reveled in its zany disconnection from logic and the real world, or The Walking Dead, where its graphics are an homage to its graphic novel origins, Escape Dead Island seems content to piggyback off of the popularity ??of cel-shaded games that are far and away better than it could ever be.

Last, but not least, the replay value must be discussed. It consists of a host of audio files and data on BigBad Co. experiments and postcards. There are also a ton of pictures that must be taken in order to see everything. The collecting is not terrible, but it gives nothing in return as there isn't anything to really connect you to this world enough to care about the tidbits of info you're after. Unlike the random notes and books in Dragon Age: Inquisition, or the audio logs in the BioShock series, I didn’t ever?? find myself caring enough to learn more about these people, thus making the collectibles completely superfluous.

Escape Dead Island is what would happen if after all the big AAA games were born, after the doctors all shook each others' hands and the bouncy babies went home, someone scooped up ??all the afterbirth and tried to cobble together their very own abomination. The game in and of itself is serviceable enough, but it’s the lack of any soul that makes it so infuriating to play. There are plenty of games that in th?eory play worse that I enjoy infinitely more.

The first Dead Island was absolutely ridiculous and quite flawed in my opinion, but because I can feel the love that went into the game and thus the care, it's a blast to play in some areas because the developers cared if I had fun. Unlike its predecessors, Escape Dead Island feels devoid of heart or identity. It is a cruel reminder of the shovelware that plagued the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and the Wii and behind its generic facade hides a malnourished? newborn of a game starved for nutrition and attention.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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There's a Rupert Holmes song here somewhere...

Do you like piña coladas and getting caught in zombie-infested time loops? Are you not into yoga, but into land masses that are surrounded by water on all sides??? Deep Silver took out a personal ad. It want?s you to meet at a bar called O'Malley's where you can plan your? escape.

Escape Dead Island, that is. The mysterious zombie tale breaks out on November 18 on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 and bridges the gap between Dead Island and Dead Island 2. It deviates from the Dead Island you know however, as it deals heavily with sleuthing and mystery solving. Don'?t fret -?- it still looks big on the whole zombie slaying stuff.

You k??now, I'm nobody's poet, but I thoug??ht this post wasn't half bad.

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Hands-on at gamescom

You'll be able to explore Los Angeles, Santa Monica, some beaches, a golf course, and maybe even more in the final version of Dead Island 2. But what Deep ?Silver was showing at gamescom 2014 was pretty limited. I only got to run around a small, closed-off section of the Los Angeles suburbs. It was a short taste of what th?e Southern California zombie-slaughtering life is like. 

I played in a group with three others, with each of us playing one of the two available classes in the demo. The berserker class does exactly what you'd expect: crowd control. Named Ryan, he can push through with big weapon??s, brea?king up zombie traffic with only a few swings. But I played as Dani, a speeder. She's quicker, and can slice limbs off with her blade. She's great for the type of player that likes to slash and run. 

Both types work great on the standard zombies, called walkers. A short bout of slashes has their heads flying off easily. There are runners that charge at you out of nowhere, though. Playing Dani made it easy to get in and get things done. She was also great for?? getting the hell away from the suiciders -- the? zombies that explode after they chase you down. 

Dani has thi??s great move where she can sneak up on a big zombie thug tank-type character, get behind it, kick it to have it fall on its? knees, and then cut it up in a big way. I did that a few times. Her big attack required a wait, but if it hit right it would slice most zombies clean in half.

It's too bad that our demo had no real objectives ?outside of a short defense mission, guarding a video store. That was still a good time, though. I looted an electronics store to upgrade my weapons, snuck around a neighborhood, fought in backyards, and found some great vantage points to enjoy the view. I enjoyed playing with the various weapons the demo had available. Picking a lock in the back of a gas station had me finding a wood axe to get slashy with. And throwing propane tanks into crowds is always fun. 

Dead Island 2 isn't finished -- what I played was considered pre-alpha -- but it's looking pretty nice already. Things lagged a bit when the crowds got thick, and there was a weird blur when I spun the camera around. Still,? the highly detailed neighborhood was easy to appreciate, and the California sun that drenched the streets was just as I know it to be. The Hollywood sign served as a backdrop to all of this.

Crowd control in a small, closed space is only fun for so long, but I'm sure there will be plenty of next-gen gutting in the final game. We'll get a better look at it as we draw closer to its Spring 2015 release date. Dead Island 2 is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC. 

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I probably shouldn't get my hopes up

There's a new gameplay trailer out for Dead Island 2, called "Sunshine & Slaughter" revealing a variety of ways to to dispatch the un??dead. The most interesting of which involves some sort weapon modifier allowing players to freeze enemies.

In this video, I also offer my musings at the change of hands behind the Dead Island franchise. Could we get a truly worthwhile Dead Island game from the creators of Spec Ops: The Line?

Watch the full trailer below.

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