The new SoLA expansion for Dead Island 2 brings in a different setting and two new zombie types. Players will find themselves in the middle of a music festival affected by the zombie outbreak, a really unique way to add more content to this very aged game.
According to a PlayStation Blog post, the two new types coming are the Whipper and the Clotter. The Whipper is a fast and agile enemy that uses its own intestines as whips and can disable the player’s special Fury powers. Its appearance is inspired by the festival setting.
The other zombie, the Clotter, presents a unique threat by being able to break down and rebuild at its own discretion. So, it can essentially move quickly across the battlefield to easily beat distracted players.
Dead Island 2 developer Dambuster Studios has put a lot of effort into creating new zombie types with unique gameplay mechanics. Associate Character Art Director Richard Smith highlighted that the studio aimed to introduce behaviors different from anything seen in Dead Island’s enemy roster. The studio drew inspiration from the expansion’s festival setting to ensure that the zombies would blend well with Dead Island 2’s established themes of body horror and dark humor.
The design process involved a lot of brainstorming and developing basic ideas for the zombies before settling on the final designs. The Whipper’s self-harm and intestine attacks connect to themes of frustration with the zombie condition. Meanwhile, the Clotter is directly inspired by the game’s F.L.E.S.H. system, featuring gruesome disintegration and reassembly effects. This teleporting monster gets its ability to reform from the gore and body parts scattered throughout the festival site setting.
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