Whether you like it or not, the durability of the weapon will stay in the game. Whether or not you’re in the camp that thinks it helped make Breath of the Wild one of the standout games of a generation, you need to admit that the controversial system is a permanent fixture. Turn to almost any genre and you’ll find it there – like Dragons, Rise of the Dead, Fire Emblem, Far Cry, State of Decay, Minecraft, Zelda, Silent Hill. Weapon degradation will continue.
But that’s not a bad thing, is it? Of course, this seems impractical – why is the katana no longer used as a sword after five or six strokes? It’s not made of glass (in theory). In my opinion, it’s a bit unrealistic to use a perfectly functioning weapon and go all out until it breaks catastrophically and you can’t use it at all. Doesn’t it get sluggish, get stuck, or lose some functionality first?
But, as a mechanic, I love it. As a player, sabotage forces you to adapt to the world you’re in. Far Cry 2 would be more boring if you could waltz with a gun that never jammed, right? If you can grab an early game sword that you really liked, Breath of the Wild’s allure would be greatly diminished.
Dambuster Studio, the (current) developer behind Dead Island 2 agree. “Ranged weapons have ammo, so melee weapons have degradation,” said Adam Duckett, director of title design. “We’re generous with this; we want players to explore the full arsenal – so we have so many great mods, so many perks, and a lot of other things in the game that we want players to cycle through. It also helps For players to keep a wide variety of tools in their arsenal so they’re never short of something to use.”
Dead Island 2 allows you to equip eight weapons in a direct weapon wheel, and then keep another eight – so you can swap out 16 weapons with little notice, depending on the type of enemy you’ll be facing. You may encounter zombies of firefighters, when they were still human, if they attacked you with a fire axe (read: a fire axe that also breathes fire) while you were wielding a fire axe, you would have very little effect in them.
“I think [weapon durability] It also helps to fit our tone,” added Art Director Adam Olson. “Because it’s an ongoing game, it’s an otherworldly game – but we want to be grounded in reality. Having one foot in reality — and having weapons that can destroy — helps us push the rest of the game into this over-the-top mentality. ”
Duckett agrees; it’s part of the quarantined LA reality you’ll find yourself in after you’ve chopped 30 or 40 zombies into small pieces and the weapon falls apart in your h ands. in your hand and then see the rest of the blade embedded in the zombie’s skull,” he explained.
“You can easily turn off the HUD and be able to see the weapon degenerate in front of you, in different stages. So the player can look at their weapon and think ‘well, this looks a little rough’ and know they need to put it replace.”
“That’s what we really want to do with this game; we want you to be able to turn off the HUD and see what’s going on,” Olson added. “From our perspective, we want you to be able to understand the health of your enemies, how much damage they’re doing, how degraded your weapons are, how long you’ve been in combat… just by looking around. We want everything to look good for you. It’s obvious, with or without UI.”
Duckett goes on to say that this focus on realism—everything is on the screen in front of you, obvious and readable, with no UI or HUD icons everywhere—was a key part of development. The philosophical pillars that Dead Island 2 has always stood by. “We wanted to make every hit feel like it’s connected to the zombie — so you can see it on the zombie and on your weapon. From that perspective, weapon degradation and durability makes sense.”
The way your weapons and zombies display damage has actually caused “about 50%” of developers to also play the game without a HUD at all – that’s where Dambuster’s visual cues and details come in.
“In the full version of the game, players will be able to switch between full HUD, dynamic HUD, and fully immersive no HUD, and many of our game design decisions are made around the fact that the world should be readable; By the time their clothing or skin is torn, damaged or torn, they should be able to tell that the weapon they’re using isn’t causing the damage they expected. The connection of things should be reflected.”
From what I’ve played in Dead Island 2 so far, I can’t complain – not at all – about how the weapons work. They’re strong enough to last a fight or two, then as you overuse them, they start to weaken and crack. It’s satisfying to see your electrified bear claw sticking out of a zombie’s skull as it bangs in a cloud of foam on the floor, suggesting that maybe you should switch to a more effective weapon to kill Die this once obvious guy once, electrician.
All of these tell and clues are visible to you – if you pay attention – and Dambuster basically forces you to look at its richly detailed world, rather than just scrolling through icons and drearily switching between weapons. I think it’s a great way to keep you on your toes and engage you in a world that’s been meticulously researched by a very talented team of graphics programmers and artists.
Dead Island 2 is coming to the Epic Games Store, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in February 2023.
