Dead Island Interview

GameInformer has a post-mortem interview with Sebastian Reichert, a producer at Deep Silver, who discusses Techland’s open-world zombie title Dead Island, which discusses the changes made from the original game’s concept, the game’s ending boss, the decision to go primarily with melee combat and more. Here’s a snip:

I heard the original concept didn’t have melee combat. What made you change your minds about melee to the extent that guns only really play a big role in the later chapters?

The whole concept to simulate the fight for survival in a believable setting was always bringing up the question: Where do we get the ammunition from? A holiday island is not the best place for raw amounts of bullets. Additionally we wanted to make the fight more intense, and being right next to an enemy is definitely a whole new experience compared to shooting them from 10 meters away. When we did the redesign it became obvious that it was the right way to go.

What was it like developing a zombie game amid the sea of games with the undead? Did you ever lose hope that it would be buried by games with a similar premise?

At first it was a big concern. How do we set this game up to be not just another zombie game? But with this unique clash of the resort island and the ultimate terror we felt really good about the setting. When we added the RPG elements, the weapon modification and the close combat focus it was clear that the game has become a really new and fresh experience.

Tell me about what it was like for the team in the weeks leading up to release, anticipating how the reviews would pan out, and finally what it was like when the game became a hit and couldn’t stay on shelves.

After all the positive feedback that we had received through the press before the release, hopes were high of course. Then the reviews came, and the feedback was so unbelievably mixed. We heard basically everything about our game, from top to flop. When we heard how well Dead Island sold, we celebrated instantly.