While Dead Island 2's hellish Los Angeles setting is great fun, the third game should bring the series back to its island roots.
Thanks to the surprise success of Dead Island 2 this year, the possibility of a Dead Island 3 now seems more likely. After ten years in developer purgatory, developer Dambuster Studios has finally brought Dead Island 2 back from the dead, but the game's setting doesn't live up to what the title suggests. Although Dead Island 2 already contains two DLCs, with the sequel arriving sometime in 2024, many fans are hoping for more from Dead Island in the future. If this meant a third game in the series, having a real island as a location would be ideal.
There's no doubt that Dead Island 2 was a big surprise to many, but the fact that the game isn't set on an island while the title suggests that having an island seemed a bit jarring at times. Although it felt normal after a while, and there was clearly magic in calling zombie-ravaged Los Angeles “HELL-A,” there was a slight disappointment that we didn’t get to experience the island.
If Gearbox copies one of Dead Island 2's useful mechanics, the next Borderlands game could revolutionize the all-important loot system.
Dead Island 3 should go back to its roots
Although Dead Island 2 didn't have an actual island, it at least made sense to use Los Angeles as a metaphorical island. During the events of Dead Island 2, Los Angeles is overrun by infected people, cutting it off from the rest of America. This isolation makes the city a metaphorical island, and while it worked in the game's story, the third main Dead Island needs to return to what made it stand out: the real island environment.
Back to Banaue?
The first Dead Island game took place on a fictional island called Banoi off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The end of the first match gave fans a thrill, and it will be very interesting to see what Banaue has become now, after the first outbreak of infection. A game that follows a hardened survivor who manages to survive on the island years after a plague outbreak could be a great recipe for a zombie story. Like the first game, Dead Island 2 followed the events of the beginning of the outbreak, and it will be fascinating to see what an infected community might look like long after the outbreak in the next game.
If it's not Banoi, it's an exciting new site
If Dead Island 3 doesn't return to Banoi, the next obvious step would be to set the game on a brand new, never-before-seen island. Dead Island is made more immersive by its locations, and while the Los Angeles version of the second game was an exciting location, a never-before-seen island with its own unique story entirely crafted by the developers could be even more fascinating. Immersive. Getting lost in a fantasy world is one of the greatest parts of gaming, and Dead Island 3 should embrace it.
Of course, there's currently no concrete news about Dead Island 3 on the horizon, but the recent DLC and overall success of the game leaves room for another chapter in the story. Dead Island 2's use of real-life locations is fun, but Banoi Island in the original Dead Island made the game even more magical, and it would be exciting to see a third mainline game that returns to what made the first game so unique.
Source: GameRant
