Here's another 14 minutes of Dead Island 2's zombies getting smashed to bits

eurogamer.net:

Long-in-the-works open-world zombie shooter Dead Island 2 is finally — after eight years and multiple delays — almost upon us, and in anticipation of its 21st April arrival, publisher Deep Silver has just shared 14 new minutes of combat-focused gameplay.

This latest airing follows Dead Island 2's slightly odd showcase in December — which buried a few juicy snippets of gameplay amid a heap of largely uninformative live-action sequences — but the focus this time is on gameplay from beginning to end.

Deep Silver's latest gameplay reveal picks up in Bel Air, just a few hours into the game, as players — having selected Dani as their Slayer of choice — attempt to navigate LA's sun-kissed (and zombie-infested) streets in search of the Halperin Hotel evacuation point.

Dani — a «foul-mouthed brawler from Ireland with a twisted sense of humour» — is one of six Slayers in Dead Island 2, and her «balanced» move set is described as being well-suited to an agile style of combat. Each Slayer has different personalities, stats, and starting abilities, but can be personalised using Dead Island 2's card-based skill system.

With the fundamentals out the way, Deep Silver's trailer turns its attention to Dead Island 2's exceeding gory dismemberment system, noting how its «realistic locational» damage can be used to a Slayer's advantage if they target specific weaknesses to slow down the undead — which come in standard, variant, and powerful apex forms.

Throw in a wide range of melee weapons and guns — which can be retrofitted with DIY mods to create increasingly outlandish upgrades — plus environmental props and corrupted DNA powers, and there looks to be a fair degree of flexibility in how combat challenges can be approached, particularly