We know we have been waiting a very long time for Dead Island 2 to drop, but Deep Silver’s upcoming zombie-action adventure is on the way and the team behind it are starting to share some more details about what we can expect come launch. If you’re excited to enter “Hell-a” and take on some nasty infected, you’re going to want to know about the Dead Island 2 zombie types you’ll come face-to-face with in-game. Although, you’re going to recognise these all-too-well if you’ve played Left 4 Dead 2 – or Back 4 Blood, for that matter – before.
As you’ll be able to see for yourself on the official Dead Island 2 site here, there will be at least three types of Apex Zombie in this hack-and-slash game: Screamers, Slobbers, and Crushers.
Visually, these enemy types look pretty grim – which is what you want from a game about mashing undead heads across a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. However, they also sound like they’re going to be almost identical to some of Left 4 Dead’s unique infected types.
For example, the Crusher in Dead Island 2 is described as “big nasty mother******s” that will “swing at anything” – which is something that also applies to Left 4 Dead’s Tank. However, they’re also going to “make you move” if you don’t move out of the way. While this isn’t going to be identical to Left 4 Dead 2’s Charger, it does sound quite similar to Back 4 Blood’s Bruisers.
But, things start to sound a little more similar when you look at the new Screamer Apex Zombie in Dead Island 2. When these start screaming in-game, “the whole neighbourhood swings by” – and they can actually attack you themselves. We don’t know about you, but it sounds a lot like what a Witch would end up doing to you in the Left 4 Dead series (if you were unlucky enough to trigger it). Again, it also sounds like Back 4 Blood’s Snitcher.
The third Apex Zombie type revealed by Deep Silver is called the Slobber – this is Dead Island 2’s equivalent of a Boomer, or the Reeker from Back 4 Blood. Originally called Floaters in the Dead Island universe, these enemies are going to puke at players if they get too close. There’s no mention of them exploding just yet, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see that little addition in-game.
Either way, as exciting as this all is, we can’t help but wonder why there isn’t more innovation in this unqiue genre of games. All of the best Xbox zombie games have these sorts of enemy types available, and it looks like Dead Island 2 is going to play it safe and adopt some archetypes for it’s own branch of infected.
Of course, though, this isn’t the be-all and end-all; we’re expecting to see more details announced as we approach the Dead Island 2 release date. With any luck, we’ll see something a little more unique pop up. Dead Island 2 will be just as humorous and horrifying as the original, though, so there’s still a lot to look forward to.