Writer Deep Silver revealed Lifeless Island 2 in 2014 and Los Angeles was its main setting (with a tease within the recreation’s emblem that San Francisco could be in it as nicely). Followers had been excited in regards to the sequel for a number of causes – that unique reveal trailer was nice – however the query on many minds was this: Why is Lifeless Island 2 set someplace that’s not an island?
I traveled to Nottingham, England to go to Dambuster Studios, and this was one of many first questions I requested. Unsurprisingly, contemplating that is the group that is been growing this recreation since 2018, lead narrative designer Khan had an in-depth reply.
Merely put, Los Angeles has grow to be an island, metaphorically talking.
Lifeless Island 2 begins within the closing days of the evacuation of LA after the zombie outbreak has swept by way of the town. She says some facets of this evacuation have been surprisingly environment friendly, so your complete metropolis has been cordoned off unexpectedly nicely. The ultimate choice from authorities is that LA should stay quarantined in order that the an infection can run its course and, hopefully, die off. Because of this quarantine, no one can go in, and no one can depart. As if totally surrounded by water with no entry to boats or different methods to flee, folks (and zombies) inside LA can’t escape the town. Whereas not geographically an island, authorities have lower LA off from the remainder of the world.
That’s the lore clarification for why Los Angeles is the setting for a recreation collection about being caught on an island with zombies. There’s additionally the sensible purpose sitting someplace between the strains: Los Angeles is an iconic location, simple to market, and options extra selection than a resort island like Lifeless Island’s Banoi. I wouldn’t be shocked if Los Angeles is the setting just because designing a zombie recreation within the metropolis is nice enjoyable. It actually appears to be the case if my conversations with Dambuster are any indication.
“Going from Banoi on a resort island to Los Angeles… the reply is… it’s tremendous numerous,” design director Adam Duckett tells me. “There’s tons of alternatives and potential, each by way of environments, but in addition by way of characters, the personnel, and the zombies themselves that we will put into the sport. There’s that vibrancy, the sundrenched areas, the seashores, the unique mansions of Bel-Air, and past. It’s a terrific surroundings for us to have that fight expertise.”
Artistic director James Worrall echoed Duckett’s sentiment, citing that LA is a wonderful alternative for giant characters by way of location and precise folks.
“Los Angeles has fairly an eccentric or expressive form of tradition and id, and that id is acknowledged all around the globe,” he says. “Whether or not you’ve been to LA or not, we’ve all seen it by way of the lens of Hollywood, and we thought that kind of Hollywood lens could be a good way to entertain when you’re operating round punching zombies.”
All through my conversations with the group at Dambuster, builders referred to the sport’s setting as “postcard” LA. The open-hub design of Los Angeles will take gamers to the long-lasting areas you’d doubtless see on a postcard in a California airport: Bel-Air, Hollywood, the Santa Monica Pier, Venice Seaside, and extra. Given the sport’s tackle pulp action-horror, every of those postcard areas has been caricatured to a level, which is sensible – the areas must match the over-the-top gore of the zombies and the larger-than-life characters that selected to stay round in Hell-A.
“You’ve obtained these two or three layers,” Worrall continues. “We’ve obtained this fantasy model of LA that everyone’s seen – the Hollywood lens. We’ve obtained stamped on prime of that, the tragic stays of the evacuation try that failed… after which on prime of that, we’ve obtained your kind of traditional zomb-pocalypse. However we’ve been very cautious to boost the vibe and the colour of the place. [Art director Adam Olsson] and his group have performed a terrific job in… glamorizing this place. We’re not a model of Fallujah or one thing like that or a battle zone. It’s nonetheless a fantastical, simply navigable, and relatable area.”
Olsson says on the visible aspect of issues, he and his group have labored to construct up the just about mythological being that LA has grow to be as a metropolis, which additional brings out Lifeless Island 2’s pulpy ambiance. Worrall stated Dambuster’s inspirations for the Lifeless Island 2 vibe in LA return to 80s, 90s, and 00s horror, particularly within the extra schlocky realm, like Robocop, Nightmare on Elm Avenue, and the Alien and Predator franchises.
“I’ve actually, actually nostalgic recollections of going to observe a film within the afternoon, and also you’d be immersed on this world, and the credit would roll, and also you’d come out into this sunshine, and there was this actual sense that you just simply left an actual place behind,” Worrall remarks after I ask him what he needs gamers to really feel when Lifeless Island 2’s credit roll. “And there’s a little bit sense of loss, however a little bit sense of, ‘Properly, I can’t anticipate the subsequent.’”
As for Olsson, he needs gamers to really feel dazzled by all the colours and the way the whole lot in Lifeless Island 2 comes collectively.
“I would like them to say like, ‘Why doesn’t extra stuff do that?’” he says. “Zombies are unbelievable. Actually, what we wish to do right here is simply carry again the enjoyable with zombies as a result of… we’ve had so many video games for 10 or 20 years the place it’s been in style, however so a lot of them are simply that darkish mirror held as much as present the deepest depth of man. And I simply form of need folks to come back out and assume, ‘That was enjoyable. Zombies are enjoyable once more.’”
Worrall, Olsson, Duckett, and the group at Dambuster consider Los Angeles is simply the place to do this.
