Dambuster Studios has revealed the extent of gore that can be achieved in Dead Island 2 when it launches on Xbox in April, thanks to its Fully Localised Evisceration Simulator for Humanoids — or FLESH for short.
Dead Island 2 is set to launch on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One on April 28th, finally giving us a chance to dive into this long-awaited sequel. Developer Dambuster Studios is promising a game full of gore, and now we know that its proprietary FLESH Engine will give us the tools we need to turn Hell-A into a bloodbath — and possibly make it one of the best Xbox zombie games.
How gory is Dead Island 2 going to be?
Like onions, zombies are multi-layered organisms in a way. No, we’re not discussing the complexities of their individuality, but of their physicality, that’s where the true comparison can be found. While an onion’s layers consist of the hardened tears of the poor soul that tried to cut it before, a zombie contains layers of its past humanity and the person it was before its inevitable demise. What we’re trying to say is that zombies, like us, have skin, fat, muscle, and bone that needs to be cut through when you’re furiously attacking them — layers, like an onion.
In a new video from Game Informer, Dead Island 2’s developers offer up another look at the game’s FLESH Engine, and some of the fun that can be had with it. By continuously attacking a zombie in the same spot with a weaker weapon, you’ll begin to slice through each layer. Of course, it will depend on the weapon you’re using, as a sledgehammer to the head generally removes the need for cutting through many layers of a shambling corpse. One cool thing that Dambuster points out, is that the system even allows bruising to appear around wounds, depending on what you’re hitting the zombie with.
Dead Island 2’s gore system aims to be akin to films, so more over-the-top and entertaining violence over raw realism. It does rely on many different factors to make sure the resulting damage is grounded in reality, though, so expect tougher enemies with more health to withstand a bit more damage, or to not chop a zombie in half with a mallet — you’ll really need to clobber them to pull something like that off!