An unfinished build of developer Yager's version of Dead Island 2 leaked online, and it's playable for fans of the long-dormant zombie series. Dead Island was supposed to be the next big thing a decade ago, and, for a while, it was. The original game was one of 2011's biggest sleeper hits despite a lack of polish, winning fans over with its intricate combat and in-depth RPG systems. In 2013, Dead Island: Riptide releases as a stand-alone expansion that fell short of feeling like a true sequel, but it nonetheless expanded upon the lore and mechanics of the initial entry.
Instead of making Dead Island 2, developer Techland chose to part ways with publisher Deep Silver and instead start a brand new franchise, Dying Light. Meanwhile, Deep Silver recruited Spec Ops: The Line studio Yager to craft a proper sequel to Dead Island while building the universe of the franchise with spin-off titles like the oft-maligned Escape Dead Island. Unfortunately, Yager's version of the game was quietly shelved after several years of silence. Dead Island 2 is currently in development at Dambuster Studios, with no release date in sight.
In a surprising development, an unfinished build of Dead Island 2 unexpectedly leaked online, and it's playable for fans of the franchise who are interested in a look at what could have been. Eurogamer confirmed the legitimacy of the footage as being from the cancelled version of Dead Island 2, not some kind of mod or elaborate hoax. While filled with placeholder assets and lacking any of the story context that would have surely been added in later, the build is fascinating as a raw look at a cancelled game.
Dead Island 2, as developed by Yager, would have included eight-player online functionality. However, multiplayer capabilities are disabled in this build, which dates back to June 2015. That's the same year Yager left the project, with development duties handed to Sumo Digital before being taken away from them and given to Dambuster, the current developer.
This leaked version of Dead Island 2 is likely not indicative of what players can expect from the long-awaited sequel when or if it finally arrives. Between the multiple developer changes and the innovations brought to the medium (ironically, by original developer Techland's own follow-up, Dying Light) in the five years since this build was made, Dead Island 2 will likely be a whole other beast from what players are discovering in the leaked version. For those who never played the classic Dead Island games or want to refresh their memory, the original titles were remastered for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016 as Dead Island: Definitive Edition. Regardless of where the series goes in the future, those original games will always be available to play, alongside this scrapped fragment of what was almost Yager's Dead Island 2.
Source: Eurogamer, GamersPrey