Dead Island 2 adds new zombies variants in SoLA expansion available today
blog.playstation.comDead Island 2’s new SoLA expansion introduces players – sorry, Slayers – to a whole new side of Hell-A: an all-American festival where the stage is set for some of the game’s most gruesome zombie slaughter yet. The crowds of rotting, shambling festivalgoers will provide endless zombie-slaying hits, but where would any festival be without its headline acts?
Enter the Whipper and the Clotter, two brand new, powerful Apex Variants designed to give even the most experienced Slayers some serious frights and fights.
On the one hand, you have the Whipper, an undead bohemian that’s swapped festival glam for guts. In fact, she’ll flail you with her intestines or try to blind you with a handful of thrown entrails.
On the other you have the Clotter, a brutal zombie that can decompose and recompose at will. This big guy can effectively teleport in and out of the player’s space, making it hard to maintain visibility and control.
“The starting point was always the mechanics of the two new archetypes,” says Dambuster Studio’s Associate Character Art Director, Richard Smith. “They both offer completely new behaviors never seen before in the Dead Island enemy roster.”
Whippers are fast-moving, mid-ranged enemies with powerful attacks and special abilities that can stop Slayers using their own Fury powers. Clotters hound the Slayer, keeping them under constant pressure and unable to dominate one position.
To create the new enemies for the expansion, the team started out with a range of zombie concepts, then whittled them down to the final two. The basic concepts were fleshed out into concept art, always making sure that the new zombies would fit into the Dead Island universe and feel plausible within its blood-splattered, body horror aesthetic.
“In the case of the Whipper,” says Smith, “we had the call out that they would be self-mutilating intestine wielders. Filled with frustration at the zombie infection within, they’ve attempted to remove it, gouging out their own innards and
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