Dead Island 2’s art director has been speaking about how the game seeks to best represent the diversity of the Los Angeles population - even as it’s both parodying the place as ‘Hell-A’ and, y’know, turning a whole load of folk into brain-hungry zombies.
In an interview with The Loadout, Dambuster Studios’ Adam Olsson reveals that the Nottingham-based developers have consulted with a diversity council to ensure that they’re presenting the population of their fictional city - one grounded in reality, of course - in an appropriate way.
Here’s the latest Dead Island 2 trailer, as debuted at 2022’s Gamescom Opening Night Live…
“It was a really interesting exercise trying to break down what makes something LA and what stands out as a truly unique LA experience,” Olsson told the website’s Jess Wells. “We were very cautious to take anything that would feel like a hurtful stereotype and that’s why, in the studio, we have a diversity council that helps us understand whether we’ve pushed something too far.”
Olsson added that the diversity council is there to oversee any game-in-development’s cast of characters, the script’s main story beats and overall tone, and much more. He continued: “The council worked closely with us to make sure we’re pushing out a good tone because we want to make sure we bring Dead Island 2 into the 21st century. We want to be contemporary, and we want to be representative.”
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Which all sounds like a very good thing to us. In related Dead Island 2 news, its makers have also outlined their intention to make it the goriest game ever, and it’ll also be controllable using your Alexa device. Which is… a choice, isn’t it. The game comes out for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series consoles, PC and Stadia on February 3, 2023.
Topics: Dead Island 2