Dying Light 2 is finally set to release in December of this year, bringing an end to a wait that has lasted over three years. The original Dying Light brought something new to the table upon its release in 2015, combining Mirror’s Edge-style parkour with Dead Island’s zombie survival action. While Dying Light 2 may not revolutionize the zombie survival genre as Dying Light did in 2015, it looks as though it’s bringing plenty to the table, including a brand new setting.
Dead Island 2 may be the game’s biggest competitor after Publisher Deep Silver confirmed earlier in the year that Dead Island 2 is still being developed. But while Dead Island 2 appears on the surface to be rather similar to Dying Light 2, there are a number of differences that set the two games apart. For starters, the different gameplay mechanics are an obvious difference, as if Dead Island 2 will involve parkour, it hasn’t been made public as of yet. However, a bigger difference between the two games is the settings, which could prove to be a determining factor in gamers' decision-making process.
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While not all too much is known about Dead Island 2 currently, one of the things fans have a very good idea about is the game’s setting. When Dead Island 2’s trailer dropped over 7 years ago, it made no attempts to mask its location. Featuring a beachfront promenade lined by palm trees, the trailer eventually reveals a billboard for the ‘California Gym Exporium’ confirming what fans may have already guessed. This makes a change from previous Dead Island games which, as the title suggests, were set on an island. The Departure from Dead Island’s niche may come as surprising to some, however, California may capture a similar style to the previous two games, and if Dead Island 2 is to be released on the PS5 and Xbox Series X, a California setting could be pretty impressive.
The Dead Island franchise's new choice in setting could allow for greater freedom in exploring new locations. One of the issues with a game’s setting being an island is that the game can really only explore one type of environment. However, with Dead Island 2 being set in California, it can explore a variety of locales. It is known that Dead Island 2 will be set across three California locations: LA, San Francisco, and a third unknown area. While the third location is unclear, variety can already be seen in the two locations that are public. If the third could explore some of California’s more rural locations, a great amount of diversity would be offered by the setting alone.
The setting of Dying Light 2 has been covered quite extensively in a series of trailers released on Youtube. In Dying Light 2’s gameplay trailers, players are introduced to ‘The City’, a sprawling metropolitan dystopia populated by infected. The City is the last bastion of mankind, although first appearances may lead visitors to a different view. The streets of The City have been co-opted by the infected, who make up the majority of its inhabitants, but three factions have begun their attempts to rebuild society upon the rubble of the old world. These factions are in a struggle to reshape the world in their own image, but they need the help of the player in order to do so.
While first impressions may lead survival horror fans to believe they need to pick between Dying Light 2 and Dead Island 2, the two settings seem as though they will offer vastly different experiences from one another. Most obvious is the locations themselves, as Dead Island 2 is set in California, while Dying Light 2 is set in a fictitious European city. While each may have large city areas, the continental European architecture does differ enough from that of LA or San Francisco.
Where Dead Island 2 may look to play off the post-apocalyptic vision of iconic locales, Dying Light 2’s setting is all about placing the fate of The City in the player’s hands. Regardless of the inherent differences between a continental European city and LA or San Francisco, the intent of each setting and how the player will experience each is quite different. The world of Dead Island 2 is meant to be known by the player, with the familiarity of each area ravaged by a zombie apocalypse offering its own novelty. The world of Dying Light 2, however, is unfamiliar, alien, and intended to be impacted by the protagonist.
Dying Light 2 is confirmed to be in development for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S,and Dead Island 2 is in development.
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