Dead Island arguably is the greatest new series of games to hit us since the last generation.. (Yes, the PlayStation 3 was last gen)

So, with the announcement that Techland were developing Dying Light for this generation as a spiritual successor to Dead Island I was super pumped for it. … Then Hellraid came up, utilising the Dead Island engine, but placing you in a fantasy medieval setting… I was double pumped. However, this begged the question… what IS going to happen to Dead Island? Had the Hype train just stopped off to pick up some more fuel, or had it slid off the tracks after never quite finding a solid platform to stop at… what with it’s numerous bugs and niggles.

Then Dead Island Epidemic was announced, in development by Stunlock Studios, a MOBA for the PC… however that kind of didn’t quite hit the spot.

But then, out of the blue came Dead Island 2 at PlayStations E3 event last month with one of Deep Silvers trademark excellent trailers.

I was on board from the start and had to find out more immediately, and here’s some reasons you should be too.

Developed by Yager Development, who are most well known for their award winning, and rightfully so, Spec Ops: The Line in 2012. This may very will bring along some polish Dead Island has so very well been needing.

It’s set in California, which on its own may not seem that interesting… (especially to people outside of California) but it gives the developers the chance to take iconic landmarks, and realize them in a zombie apocalypse. That familiarity doesn’t constrain them, it lets them experiment more with what people know, and gives a better sensation in playing the game.

It’s weapon system has been improved. Whilst I’m not sure about taking away the dependency on workbenches… it made it more of a challenge and put the tension a notch higher now being able to craft weapons anytime, anywhere can only add to the frantic fun on the fly the series is best for. Not only that but much more in depth crafting is added with motorized weapons, and you can dual wield at last!

It’s running on Unreal Engine 4. Whilst I love the Chrome engine, and it gave us some beautiful vistas, and some excellent damage modelling… the scope the Unreal Engine gives Yager is above and beyond the iteration of the Chrome Engine they could have used.

8 player co-op in a open world. … So whilst there isn’t technically an island this time round, being able to drop in/drop out when the feeling takes you and run around painting the town red without having to find a cog loading screen to take you to the  next small part of the game… certainly opens it up to lots more chaos.

Along with that comes more character classes, and more control over your character and builds. Not only that, but plenty more vehicles too and class specific version of said vehicles, if you ever get bored of battering zombies with your fists… if that’s at all possible.  I just hope Sam B still makes a return.

Human factions are waging war over territory… whilst not quite GTA San Andreas style, it adds more adventurous killing than before with the handful pockets of opposing humans you could find in the original games, the world is now breathing and teeming with all sorts of possible targets for your modified sledgehammer.

More and different zombie bosses and types… and with the hinted exclamation that there is a system in place so that no two zombies ever look identical… it’s the small things that I love so much… (don’t read too far into that)

The scenery doesn’t just act as… well.. scenery anymore. Sound plays a much larger part in this game, as does fire… nodding towards a FarCry-esque fire system which can only add to the hilarity.

They are trying their best to continue the tradition of over the top action, constantly bringing it into the “Zombieland meets The Expendables” area of fun… (despite Zombieland being not-all-that)

They have worked on the guns… and even though I really enjoyed the shooty pew-pews in the first 2 games, I’m pretty sure not one. Other. Person did. … so that’s good for some people right?

There is no linear narrative. Whether that actually proves to be a good thing or not is another question. Yes you could say one of Dead Islands weakest points was its plot … or rather lack of. But you could equally argue… zombies. And that Yager have quite a good experience with it, however they are trying to push the worlds smallest MMO and saying quests are repeatable, but change dynamically over time instead of going towards and end goal so that you can play the game forever… certainly seems to hit a spark. … Even though I have racked up just under forever hours in Techland’s Dead Island games.

And of course. Companions… or rather Rick Furry. Call of Duty dog has had its chance to shine, and now Yager’s motion captured feline friend will help out one of the characters in Dead Island 2. Lets just hope it’s as paw-some as it sounds… *hyuk hyuk*

However, some things like the analogue control system are not making a comeback… which is a massive shame as that was easily one of the selling points of the original, and something I strongly resent not being able to use, much like GRID 2’s cockpit view.

Along with Dead Island 2 however, Fatshark, the team behind the exciting multiplayer games in Lead & Gold and War Of The Roses are creating a 7th generation only title called Escape Dead Island… and you can see the drug infused nightmare trailer below.

So, what looks to be TellTale’s The Walking Dead… but roughly 2.4 billion times better features zombies, weapons, and some guy. The game seemingly will focus more on the stealth approach as you are not immune to the virus, but takes place still on Banoi, however, as far as narrative goes, much like Dead Island 2… there is to be some change.

The story will be told through psychedelic loops with not only zombies being in contention for eating you, but your own mind too. It certainly looks interesting, a tactical take on one of the most brutal run in, mash, jump on car game series ever. Releasing later this year… and with not much more to go on… the next few months could be really interesting for this series as a whole.

And with Dead Island 2 stated for a Spring 2015 release, and with Gamescom under a month to go… there is still plenty of excellent information out there which will put us full steam ahead.

3 games, plus Techland’s own zombie, weaponcrafting kill-a-thon… and Dead Island cross Skyrim in Hellraid… what a year for hype.