A new game in the Dead Island zombie franchise was announced today on the European PlayStation blog. But the latest installment, titled Escape Dead Island, is not like previous titles in the series. In this game, players will find that the action/RPG gameplay will now emphasize stealth mechanics, as opposed to just action elements. Now the zombies can hear and smell you, so the player has to act quietly to minimize detection.
Another change compared to the past zombie action games is the art and feel of the game. Escape Dead Island features a comic book art style that differs from the more realistic graphics of the past two games. This style is fitting for Escape because, apparently, the protagonist is going insane. The trailer features the graphics turning black and white, shipping containers falling from the sky and the main character apparently finding time repeating itself.
"Cliff struggles with his own sanity as the world around him begins to become increasingly unpredictable. Time distorts and folds in on itself; strange messages appear and impossible events shatter reality," according to Deep Silver Producer Alex Toplansky, who wrote the blog post.
Players control Cliff Calo, the son of a wealthy media mogul who has decided to take some friends, steal a Yacht and go document the zombie outbreak. He finds himself on an island installation previously unseen in the Dead Island series, named Narapela. He will obviously find some strange facilities, hordes of zombies and who knows what else. Deep Silver has described the game as a "mystery."
"Escape represents a crucial bridge between the events of Dead Island and Dead Island 2, and will finally reveal the origins of the virus, and even some tantalising clues as to where the events are going to lead," Toplansky said in the blog post.
With the original games taking place in a set of islands, Escape Dead Island has the task of explaining what happens in the story that causes the zombie outbreak to reach land for the Dead Island 2 setting of San Francisco.
Dead Island 2 will be released in Spring 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The game was announced via a teaser video at Sony's E3 press conference in June. A free-to-play Dead Island MOBA for PC called Dead Island Epidemic will also be released at some point this year. Escape Dead Island is coming for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC this Fall.
