Dambuster Studios Never Considered Remaking The Original Dead Island 2 Reveal Trailer

Dead Island 2’s original trailer has become an icon (or perhaps infamous) moment in video games. This trailer impressed people and they were thrilled. Fast forward almost a decade, the game has not been released.  

First revealed back in 2014, Dead Island 2 was in development at Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager, with Dead Island developer Techland having parted ways with the property to work on Dying Light. Deep Silver, publisher of Dead Island 2, was handed to LittleBigPlanet 3, developer Sumo Digital in 2016. Then in 2019, Dambuster Studios announced that Dead Island 2 would be developed by Homefront: The Revolution developer Dambuster Studios. Now it’s 2023, and Dambuster’s Dead Island 2 will be released in April. 

Dambuster’s new Dead Island 2 was revealed last year with a new trailer. It is a very different version of the 2014 unveiling. This isn’t necessarily surprising – Dambuster says it has developed Dead Island 2 from a clean slate, from the ground up. I visited Dambuster’s Nottingham location to experience 8 hours of Dead Island 2 and was intrigued by the possibility that the team might re-make the trailer for Dead Island 2. It was not. 

David Stenton, Dead Island 2’s game director tells me that redoing the trailer wasn’t on their radar. “I think it’s fun to sort of take that trailer – especially now the location of the trailer – and see how it applies to the tone of the Dead Island that we’re delivering. It delivered the postcard LA message in an impressive manner. I believe we can deliver postcard LA on a completely different level. 

It is possible that Dambuster did use the original trailer to guide the development of the game, given its popularity in 2014 and the fact that Goat Simulator 3 remade it recently.

Stenton said, “Not really.” We started from scratch, completely with our vision. “We aren’t looking back at what has happened or looking at other games. Our focus is on Dead Island 2’s future, how to bring it up to the present, and what we hope fans enjoy. 

For more about the game, read my Dead Island cover story here and then head to Game Informer Dead Island 2 exclusive coverage hub for stories you can’t find anywhere else, like why the game is set in a city that isn’t an island, detailed breakdowns of two of Dead Island 2’s survivors, Dani and Ryan, and how weapon durability is a useful instrument for Dambuster Studios. You’ll also find exclusive gameplay in videos like this one about how Dambuster Studios records the sounds of zombie guts in Dead Island 2 and new details about our hands-on time in the Dead Island 2 cover story discussion episode of Game Informer Show.

Is Dead Island 2 your favorite game? Leave a comment below with your thoughts!