Look at What Dying Light Did Wrong
Dying Light is Techland’s most impressive achievement yet, but it’s far from perfect. The game struggled with many of the same issues that plagued Dead Island. Wonky, uninspired writing, a dull story, eerily robotic NPCs — the experience was too often carried by the strength of its gameplay.
I have a feeling that Dead Island 2 won’t have as big a problem with this, but it will be interesting to see how far Yager is willing to go in their attempt to put their own twist on this game. Humor doesn’t seem to be an afterthought anymore, and I appreciate that. I’d appreciate it even more if the humor was more like Borderlands than Dead Rising.
Zombieland is a worthy source of inspiration, too.
Yager design director Jörg Friedrich has mentioned the horror comedy as something they’re trying to emulate, saying “We’re more inspired by Zombieland. That’s a serious zombie movie and the scenario’s not fun. But what makes it fun and interesting is that the characters don’t have the usual motivations of just surviving.”