While other games can only allow players to customize their skills while standing or outside danger, Dead Island 2 offers an on-the-fly option.
According to Dambuster Studio’s Game Director David Stenton in the latest issue of Play UK (Issue 22 January 2023), players will be using a skill deck where every ability upgrade is presented as a skill card that changes or modifies an ability. If a card is used, an ability might change so for example if a dodge mechanic gets applied with a certain card, it could become a block instead. It could also grant perks like recovering health which could happen after doing a certain kind of kill. Great for doing clutch move when you are in danger.
Stenton has assured fans that while others might be a bit wary that the game uses cards, customization will be super flexible. It is so flexible in fact that players could easily do it even while doing something in combat. Heck, you can even do it mid-air if you want.
“The reason it’s a deck is because you can customize it completely on the fly,” Stenton explains. “It’s really about customizing your deck at any moment in time. The combat setup and the sandbox is very varied from location to location, and we’ve got a huge array of different zombie types with different attributes and tactical consequences. So it’s really important.”
Players will be able to adapt to any situation at any time. If you encounter an enemy that has a high defense against your particular skills, and you are now closing in, you can just go to the menu and change your deck right away so you can deal more damage in the next moment. You might face two different zombie types and you want to deal with both of them at the same time. Use one particular deck on one zombie and then change it later in the next second.
If done properly, you will be clearing out infested areas in a jiffy.
Dead Island 2 launches on April 28, 2023 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
