I loved the semi-open world exploration and quest lines, Dead Island 2The base game felt like it was missing an experience that truly elevated the brutal, gory combat and wild weapon crafting and upgrading. Now, with a first look at the upcoming Neighborhood Watch horde mode, this could be just that. The mode is coming soon in a major update that will be released alongside the game’s new Ultimate Edition.
Neighborhood Watch in Dead Island 2 was revealed in a blog post a few weeks ago, which provided some early details on the Horde mode, which weaves in strategic tower defense-style elements. Each run of Neighborhood Watch lasts five days. For the first four days, you complete objectives and kill zombies to unlock as many desirable weapons, traps, and defensive gear as possible. On the fifth day, you combine everything you’ve acquired to build the ultimate defense against the massive, relentless hordes of zombies trying to take down your base.
In the latest trailer for the zombie game, you can see this in action, and it’s honestly pretty awesome. This is exactly the kind of co-op experience Dead Island 2 needed. It requires a bit of strategy and communication, but in the end, it pays off if you have the best weapons and gear to turn as many zombies into slushies as possible.
There are also new characters with specific skill and ability trees designed exclusively for this mode. Dambuster Studios could have taken the easy way out here and reused the campaign’s lineup of Slayers, but no. We’ve got three new faces and bespoke classes: Dez, a chemist with gas traps and a grenade launcher; Rav, a medic whose signature weapon is a deployable heal station and a giant hockey stick bone saw; and Bozzy, who is a crossbow wielder and has a gear item called a “Spicy Meatstick.” Cool, right?
Plus, it’s set in an all-new location, depicting the Venice Canals of Los Angeles — again, The Dam Busters could have reused an existing location, but they didn’t, and I couldn’t be happier.
Dead Island 2 Neighborhood Watch will be released as part of Patch 6, a free update for the game, which will be released on Tuesday, October 22nd.
In addition to Neighborhood Watch, Patch 6 also adds New Game Plus, allowing you to replay the campaign with a new level of challenge.
Patch 6 also marks the release of a new Ultimate Edition for Dead Island 2, which brings together the base game, two DLCs, and a ton of exclusive cosmetic items. Surprisingly, these cosmetics include a sword themed after the upcoming medieval RPG Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Of course, both games are published by Deep Silver, so this crossover isn’t entirely unexpected. But what we definitely didn’t expect would be for Dead Island 2 to become a promotional vehicle ahead of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2’s release date.
While you wait for Patch 6 to bring more power to Dead Island 2, check out some other great FPS and co-op games you can play right now.
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