The fact thatDead Island 2releases in April may still seem surreal to many fans of the franchise, as they’ve been waiting since 2014 for it to release, but perhaps they won’t have to wait as long for an eventual threequel. The reason for the long wait is no secret—the game had been passed from Yager Development to Sumo Digital over the years before settling into place at Dambuster Studios, where it’s been in development for four or so years. As a result, many fans are familiar withthe development hell ofDead Island 2, but that has little to do with Dambuster Studios. Only asking for a fair shake for those concerned by its history, Dambuster Studios lead narrative designer Ayesha Khan recently told Game Rant how the company has worked on building this world and laying a foundation forDead Island 3.
Because it has been so long since the first game andDead Island Riptidereleased, Khan acknowledged that the context around the player base is different. For example, some players may be interested in playingDead Island 2that never played the other games, so having heavy connections to the two may not land as effectively as it would have 7-8 years ago. Asking players to check out games that are a decade old, give or take, is also unfeasible. So, there are no major connections betweenDead Island, Riptide,andDead Island 2, but there are world-building hints, Easter eggs, at least one character, and more.
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Dead Island 2players who look into its worldbuilding will find “some really interesting breadcrumb trails that relate to the science or the facts of the matter for the earlier outbreaks,” according to Khan, but Dambuster didn’t want a neat resolution in the game. However, it has put in the work to create questions, provide certain key details, and scatter some puzzle pieces around. Dambuster has created a huge backstory that ties everything together, as well as composed a Lore Bible held under lock and key at Dambuster. All of this would be great for a threequel, and Dambuster is prepared for that with all this work. As Khan said,
We didn’t want it to be a huge, perfect finished jigsaw that people could put together, partly because we want to leave ourselves enough room for the future. Hey, publishers give us Dead Island 3!
That’s not to sayDead Island 2is incomplete or anything like that, as all games have their secrets, but it shows how much work Dambuster has put into this world and making sure this world has a way forward. This foundation means that some ideas forDead Island 3may already exist, although that is pure speculation, and that there are perhaps stronger narrative ties that could bring the whole franchise together, thanks to the world-building and lore bible compilation. That said, some of these decisions for the franchise may also depend on howDead Island 2is received at release.
It would seem, as it stands, thatDead Island 2’s gameplay, characters, and trailers have fans excited, and evenoriginalDead Islanddeveloper/currentDying Light 2developer Techland is excited to play the game. If Dambuster moves forward with the threequel, especially with all the work put into the franchise so far, perhaps the wait between the second and third numbered entries won’t be as long asDead Island 2.
Dead Island 2is set to release on June 19, 2025, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X\S.
