Dead Island 2 promotes breakable melee weapons

If you played the original Dead Island, then you definitely remember the situation described in more detail. Weapon durability was an integral part of the gameplay. Each weapon had the limited number of hits she could take, which in the game was depicted as a white stripe near the weapon. So clear that the mechanics, very typical of the series, he won’t even disappear from the planned sequel.

Dambuster Studios describes several reasons why weapon durability and therefore breakage is the right thing to do. The players themselves cannot agree on whether such mechanics should support or destroy realism in video games.

“Firearms have ammo, so melee weapons have degradation.” says Adam Duckett, Game Design Director. “We’re definitely not skimping on this; we want players to explore the full arsenal of weapons – that’s why we have so many cool mods, so many perks and so many other things that we want players to go through. It also helps that players can have a wide range of tools in their arsenal, so they always have something to use.”

While at first glance the mechanics of weapon durability are realistic, players claim, for example, that a machete wears out after a few hits. it just won’t fall apart in hand. On the other hand, something like weapon breakage forces the player adapted to the world and resourcesthat he has in the world. Under different conditions, you would end Far Cry with a machine gun and an endless stream of bullets at a monotonous pace, and Zelda would lose its charm in its most successful game, Breath of the Wild, based, among other things, on collecting raw materials and creating new items and weapons .

Dead Island 2 is supposed to allow players to carry up to eight weapons, which they can swap at will and they can keep the other eight in their inventory. This is a total of 16 weapons that the player will have access to in a very short time (i.e. if they collect or create that many in the game). What weapon you use is the business of the enemy; for example, if you’re fighting undead that were originally firefighters, your fire ax will have less of an effect on them than other weapons.

“I think [trvanlivost zbraní] it also kind of matches our tone.” Art director Adam Olson also adds to the words of the design director. “Because it’s a game that makes you do things, it’s a game that’s a bit over the top, but at the same time, we want to be grounded in reality. Being one footed in reality – and having breakable weapons – helps us push other parts of the game into this over-the-top mentality.”

Both developers agree with this idea; although Dead Island 2 to some extent crazy, one of the key points will be realism, which will also affect the visual aspect of the game, and the aforementioned weapons will look more worn out with degeneration. So, even if we theoretically disable all elements of the user experience, we’ll see how it goes. weapon wears outin several stages.

“From our perspective, we want you to be able to tell what an enemy’s health is, how damaged they are, how devalued your weapons are, how long you’ve been in combat… just by looking around. We want you to understand everything, with or without a user interface.” Olson goes on to describe. And it plays on the whole atmosphere of the post-apocalyptic world and the survival horror genre.

And this is not a coincidence, but the real intention of the developers. Create an environment where the player can find their way without using the UI or HUDwas one of the key moments in the development of the second Dead Island.

“We want every hit to be connected to a zombie so that [zásah] they could actually see the zombies as well as your weapons. From this point of view, the degradation and durability of weapons makes sense.”