Dead Island 2, Yager Developments’ upcoming sequel to Techland’s zombie-slaughtering RPGs Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide, brings its public beta test to PlayStation 4 a full 30 days before it’ll be available for Windows and Xbox One. According to the game’s FAQ page, the beta is exclusive to fans that pre-ordered November 2014’s cel-shaded (and execrable) spin-off Escape Dead Island through GameStop or EB Games.
If you are eligible, go here to enter the code you should have received when ordering Escape Dead Island. It is possible to switch platforms if you did not order it for PS4 initially and now want to change to take advantage of the Sony console’s early taste of zombie flesh. There is no date yet for when the beta will begin, but the developer promises that fans will get a two-week warning to prepare them.
Unlike the previous two games in the main series, which were developed by Polish studio Techland, this new entry is the work of Yager, the studio behind the critically-acclaimed Spec Ops: The Line. That 2012 game garnered immense praise for elevating the power of storytelling in the staid genre of modern war shooters. Many of the top creatives behind Spec Ops have since moved on to other opportunities, but the studio’s pedigree bodes well for what it can potentially bring to the saturated zombie survival genre.
Dead Island 2 expands upon the series’ open world loot hunting and item crafting with additions like more cooperative play (with up to 8 players, over the previous game’s 4), dual wielding, and — a medium first, publisher Deep Silver claims — a motion-captured cat. Adding more players and providing space to explore weapon combos akin to BioShock‘s system of weapons and Plasmids/Vigors should both add an exciting level of variance to the proven gameplay, along with an exciting level of motion-captured cat.
