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Techland Explains Why They’re Not Making ‘Dead Island 2’
When Deep Silver pulled the sheet off of Dead Island 2 last month, it looked like the series had finally dropped the serious tone shared by the first to games. Instead of another depressing trailer, we were gifted with a colorful, over-the-top zombie murder extravaganza. It looked like it was being made by a completely different team, and that’s because it is.
As much as I enjoyed the time I spent with the first Dead Island — and to a lesser degree, its pseudo-sequel Riptide — knowing Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager has the reigns gives me confidence that Dead Island 2 will be a significant step up over the last two games in the series.
Deep Silver smartly decided to remove what wasn’t working to focus on the series’ many strengths.
Even though I love the new approach, I’ve always wondered why Techland had been replaced by Yager. The answer could be an obvious one, seeing as this series hasn’t exactly been met with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Reception is important, but money is what matters and the first Dead Island sold north of five million copies. This series has been a gargantuan success for Deep Silver, and a significant portion of that success rests on the shoulders of its developer.
So why was Techland kicked to the curb?
According to Maciej Binkowski, a game designer at Techland, the answer is simple. Following the lukewarm reception of the first two games, Deep Silver decided to hand over development to another studio. Techland may have come up with the concept for what would eventually become Dead Island, but Deep Silver owns the IP, so the direction it takes is ultimately up to them.
Before Dead Island put them on the map, Techland wasn’t a very well-known developer. When they pitched their idea for a cooperative multiplayer sandbox game with weapon crafting and lots of zombies, they didn’t have the clout required to negotiate a “fair” deal.
“At that point we weren’t really in a position to negotiate,” Binkowski explained in a revealing chat with Eurogamer, “so that was the best deal we could get. It’s like playing poker: you have to make a decision with the information you have now. If you play the game thinking that something might happen, you’re going to lose the game. At that point, that was the best decision we could do.”
Sounds like Techland may have been screwed.
Making this situation worse is the rocky relationship between Techland and Deep Silver, which sounds like it could have had more lows than highs. Strained developer/publisher relations isn’t news, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the massive success and attention Dead Island received contributed to that tension.
It’s not a particularly positive story, but it is one that benefits us. Most of the time, drama sucks. In this case, we now get to look forward to twice as many open-world zombie games, with Dead Island 2 and Dying Light, both of which are coming in early 2015. Competition breeds innovation, and the pressure is on for both Yager and Techland to really prove themselves.
This is the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Techland. Dying Light could very well be their most ambitious game in the developer’s 23 year history. They’ve also found a new publishing partner in Warner Bros., and this time, they own the IP.
It’s easy to tell that the idea for Dying Light came from their desire to continue building on what they achieved with Dead Island. They obviously couldn’t make a direct sequel, but there’s nothing keeping them from shamelessly borrowing the winning formula they created as well as the lessons learned working on the series and apply them to a new series.
Binkowski sees the (deep?) silver lining, because “for us it turned out well, because being forced to come up with a new IP… We can’t just make a Dead Island 2 and change the name; it’s got to be something fresh, it’s got to be something unique.”
Dead Island 2 may have been announced in June, but Techland was aware of its existence long before that. Even still, Binkowski says the game hasn’t had an impact on Dying Light. “At this point in the game we can’t really change much, and it seems like we don’t really have to. They’re out to create something different: it’s Dead Island, it’s a different experience … it’s all very colourful and I guess kind of goofy. So I think we’re pretty safe, because our game is much more mature and dark, and we’re aiming at different unique features such as freedom of movement [and] the day-night cycle.”
Binkowski brings up and important point. The multiplayer co-op, zombies, weapon crafting and big open worlds describe the core concept that each game has been built around. If you can see beyond that, you’ll notice the wildly different identities that makes them unique.
It’d be a struggle to say which game I’m more excited for, because I’m eagerly anticipating Dead Island 2 as much as I am Dying Light. Do you feel the same way, or are you looking forward to one more than the other?
Let’s start with the good news. Lockbox looks far better than its misleading marketing materials suggest, a supernatural horror movie so darkly lit and color graded that you’ll have to squint your way through jump scares. It’s also anchored by reliable genre performers. That’s also about where the good news ends with this rote adaptation of Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop.”
The empathetic Carla Gugino gives her all as Ellen, a saint of a woman with boundless patience who takes on life’s hard luck with a kind smile. After giving up her career as a fashion designer to become caretaker for a dying mother, she’s then forced to reinvent herself once more when her caretaker role ends. That catches us up to the events of Lockbox, where Ellen is asked to take in a cousin she hasn’t seen in quite some time who’s dealing with severe PTSD.
Just as Ellen finally establishes a real connection with Winthrop (Lou Taylor Pucci), it’s interrupted by the arrival of peculiar neighbor Vahna (Katharine Isabelle), who spells clear trouble. When Vahna shows up dead, it sets in motion a supernatural battle of possession.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
Director Daniel Stamm (The Last Exorcism, Prey for the Devil) and screenwriter Justin Yoffe approach Lockbox in the broadest of brushstrokes, dooming it from the start with clunky storytelling and woefully underdeveloped themes of heady topics like PTSD. Winthrop is a character that comes loaded with emotional baggage and trauma that’s piled on throughout his tragic life, but much like its title, his interiority and history are treated like a tightly guarded secret meant to prolong the supernatural mystery.
The problem here, though, is that Lockbox is too sparse to sustain mystery at all, and it instead robs Winthrop of characterization. It winds up trapping the talented Pucci without anywhere to go, toggling between wounded animal and mentally disoriented.
From there, Lockbox bounds through plot developments without any sense of stakes or purpose, peppered by a smattering of haphazard paint-by-numbers jump scares. The only unwavering constant is Ellen’s resolute faith, and Stamm seems to leave it entirely to Gugino to guide confused audiences through this inconsequential story right up until its supernatural climax.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
To give more credit, Lockbox at least injects an unconventional exorcism here; just don’t expect much in the way of explanation. When the film finally reveals the meaning behind its title, it dangles a fascinating carrot it has zero interest in delivering. More than a severe lack of fleshing out its characters beyond plot drivers or devices, this faith-based flick also seems terrified to offer any worldbuilding whatsoever.
Yoffe’s script stretches the short story beyond its means instead of fleshing it out, and Stamm fills out the gaps with cheap CGI scares and overwrought performances; Isabelle’s Vahna is beyond cartoonish in her villainy. It’s also pretty nonsensical, treating only Ellen’s faith with the utmost sincerity and largely squandering its typically reliable talent. So much so that the final imagery, pure sunkissed saccharine sentimentality, leaves you with the feeling that this horror movie might be better suited as an entry in Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Lockbox releases in select theaters on July 3, 2026.
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