Dead Island 2 launched last Friday, bringing a near-ten-year development cycle to a conclusion with a blood-soaked trip to HELL-A that, among other things, wowed players and critics alike with its innovative FLESH (Fully Locational Evisceration System for Humanoids) technology.
With FLESH, players can see the destruction and dismemberment they’re inflicting on HELL-A’s zombies in incredibly gruesome detail, with skin tearing, burning and melting, organs spilling out, limbs coming off, heads splitting and basically any other disturbing damage you’re keen on dealing all being represented in real time, both visually and with gameplay implications.
Now, it seems as though others have taken inspiration (at least from the game’s early marketing cycle) with other recent titles upping their gore game through recent updates.
Dying Light 2, which happens to come from the original Dead Island’s developer, Techland, has launched the “Gut Feeling” update which adds new-and-improved dismemberment and gore VFX to the game, on top of other gameplay improvements. It’s more of a general increase in the amount of on-screen gore in the game than some new and fancy tech like FLESH, but it’s hard to argue the similarities especially given the connection between the two games.
Take a look at a trailer for the Dying Light 2 Gut Feeling Update if you’re alright with seeing a ton of blood and other viscera:
It’s not just games in the same vein as Dead Island 2 receiving gore upgrades, either. Sci-fi horror blockbuster, The Callisto Protocol, recently received a new Dismemberment Mode in its 5.01 update which allows players to instantly remove limbs from the alien horrors aboard the Black Iron Prison.
Of course, this one definitely comes across more as an answer to the dismemberment featured in Dead Space, which it shares a major creator with in Glen Schofield, but there’s no denying the timing. There’s a Gore War going on right now, and the only losers are all the zombies/infected out there waiting to get their heads unceremoniously separated from their bodies.
Introducing the new Dismemberment Mode! Get ready to tear your enemies apart limb by limb and feel the excitement of seeing instant dismemberment as you fight your way through Black Iron Prison. pic.twitter.com/7Ay0oFKI4D
— The Callisto Protocol (@CallistoTheGame) April 18, 2023
Dead Island 2 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. The cheapest copy is Amazon where it’s available for $78 including free shipping.
