General Gaming Dead Island 2 (The Most Miraculously Technically Competent Game of 2023) - Information Thread, update: Steam release set for April 22, released on Xbox (not PC) Game Pass today

[SoberChef]

 

[SoberChef]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Gold status announced with release date one week earlier.

 

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You asked for it, you got it. Dead Island 2 went gold and it's coming out a week early. 

 

See you in HELL-A on April 21, 2023.

 

 

[XxEvil AshxX]

 

 

Okay... I think my hype meter just went from "meh" to "day one." 

 

This is actually looking pretty damn good.

[Phaseknox]

Day fucking one!

[stepee]

This is looking pretty good actually. I really hope my new build is ready in time for this because it’s an AMD sponsored game with ray tracing so going to need some cpu brute force strength here with no dlss3.

[Moa]

That combat looks CHUNKY

[skillzdadirecta]

These guys really know how to do first person melee combat.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Dead Island 2: The Final Preview - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

 

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In between these high points, though, there are early signs here that the decaying flesh hanging off its shuffling citizens might not be the only thing that could grow stale in Dead Island 2, and it could potentially become a fairly repetitive experience over the course of the adventure. Building interiors are noticeably reused, with the layout of one mansion I prowled through in Bel-Air virtually identical to another in Beverly Hills, and so are a number of mission objectives; I’ve had to replace the circuit breaker on an electronic gate to stop the advancing zombie hordes on more than one occasion already, which seems a little uninspired. In spite of the extensive weapon augmentation and skill buffs, combat in Dead Island 2’s opening hours too often boils down to just clumsily caving in zombie skulls with a bunch of blunt instruments, and once the horrifying thrill of seeing jaw bones knocked loose and eyeballs dislodged and left dangling by their stems has worn off, grinding through these garden variety ghouls does tend to feel about as challenging as bashing a piñata without a blindfold on.

 

 

 

Dead Island 2 Ditches The Open World, But Ramps Up The Gore - GameSpot

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After years in development hell, Dead Island 2 is looking better than you might assume, even as its scope seems to have been scaled down over the years.

 

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In all, my time with Dead Island 2 could be neatly divided in three: the first portion, in which I awaited the linear intro to give way to the sandbox, the longer period once I realized it wasn't coming, and the time in between, where I had to actively recalibrate my expectations. An open-world setting does not inherently make a game better, but I--and likely many others--were reasonably expecting to find one here. Hopefully reading this affords you the ability to recalibrate ahead of time, because I do think that if you can approach it on its own terms, not those assumed by the makeup of the first game or implied by past collaborators on its long road to release, there's reason to believe that Dead Island 2 has managed to escape development hell.

 

 

 

Dead Island 2 preview: work hard, slay harder in gore-geous LA | GamesRadar+

WWW.GAMESRADAR.COM

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Hands-on | Custom decks replace skill trees as you hack n' slash your way through Dead Island 2's beautifully disgusting vistas

 

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Judging from the few hours I spent in the game, I think it's safe to say that the studio succeeded in putting the gore in gorgeous. As David Stenton says himself, "Dead Island 2 is just all about allowing people to engage in areas that they find most fun." For me, that's literally punching the teeth out of a Runner before backing them into a puddle and whacking them in the shins with an electrified machete. Dead Island 2 might be a month away from release, but it's already in excellent shape to welcome you on April 21st, 2023. 

 

 

 

Dead Island 2's zombie fights quickly wear out their welcome—and its short, linear story has little else to offer | PC Gamer

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It's impressive that the long-in-development sequel is coming out at all—but it's a very thin experience for its premium price tag.

 

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When that core melee experience starts to fall apart, the sad truth is there isn't really anything else to sink your teeth into. The city looks nice enough, but feels much less distinctive than the first game's tropical resort, and while it has a bit of fun with the Hollywood theme—one memorable sequence has you fighting zombies across b-movie film sets—it doesn't take it anywhere original, at least not in this first third. 

 

 

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Dead Island 2 feels like it's come out of the trials and tribulations of its long development humbled and a little lost. I applaud Dambuster Studios for transforming the seemingly doomed project into something actually releasable, and even in some ways impressive—the gore tech particularly is a genuine achievement. But that doesn't make it a good value proposition for players. As a full-priced game, it's uninspired and too quick to wear out its welcome—but worse, it simply doesn't have a reason to exist in a gaming world that's long moved past its predecessor.

 

 

 

Dead Island 2 is looking refreshingly bloody and unpretentious

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We've been hands on with imminently-released zombie hacker Dead Island 2, and had a fun time spraying blood and guts all over Hollywood.

 

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Mostly, though, I enjoyed my time with it. There are some known issues Dambuster are still working out (I noticed some problems with collision, especially - don't kill a zombie near a pool table, that's all I'm saying), but overall Dead Island 2 is looking almost surprisingly polished and hasn't, Stenton says, suffered from its publicly-long development cycle. "I guess all we can say is, that wasn't our game. Our game, Dead Island 2 as you see it now, started in 2018," he tells me - although he adds that he does feel sorry for some of the people on the publishing side, who've been working on every iteration of it so far.

 

What'll be most interesting to see is how the cycle of combat and weaponry builds over time, as you get more powers and, Lord save us, guns. How will dinking a zomb's head with a golf club feel 20 hours in? Early on, it does feel satisfying, and refreshingly unpretentious. Stenton laughs a lot when I said I'd been looking forward to an 8-minute long cutscene about how the real monster was man. "There's lots of other stories, aren't there, out there to satisfy that if that's your bag," he says. "We're vibrant and horrific, and chaotic."

 

 

 

Dead Island 2 Interview – Making zombie-slaying heaven, but was it “development hell”?

WWW.THESIXTHAXIS.COM

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Years on from its original announcement, Dead Island 2 is finally about to be a reality for gamers. This zombie-bashing sequel has been infamous for its

 

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Years on from its original announcement, Dead Island 2 is finally about to be a reality for gamers. This zombie-bashing sequel has been infamous for its indefinite delays and being bounced from one studio to another.

 

We’ve been hands on with Dead Island 2’s opening hours, getting a look at how the final game has been coming together, but what was “development hell” like from the inside? And how has Dambuster Studios put their own stamp on a game and concept that they didn’t initially come up with? We were able to chat with Game Director David Stenton to peek behind the curtains.

 

 

Dead Island 2 Preview – On the boulevard of beating up zombies

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Third time seems to be the charm for Dead Island 2, as we play the opening hours of this co-op zombie-slayer and dive into HELL-A.

 

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We only really got to scratch the surface of this system, but it shows some promise and also allows you to switch things on the fly, which could be great for respeccing to find new card and ability synergies, or for more role-based play in co-op. In another quality of life nicety, you can very easily pay to repair a weapon you like or (less economically) pay to upgrade it to your character level, bringing an old favourite back into relevance.

 

From the opening few hours of Dead Island 2, the game is off to a pretty good start, showing some good promise through the storyline, the elemental and environmental combat, and the flexibility that you have. There’s just a few question marks really hanging over it, like how the co-op multiplayer will feel, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

 

 

 

 

Dead Island 2 Preview - Hell-A Of A Surprise

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Dead Island 2 is shaping up to be worth the long wait.

 

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When Dead Island 2 was re-revealed, I didn’t let myself get too excited. I was curious to find out how the long journey would end, but with a decade of restarted developments between different teams, I was worried that Dead Island 2 was going to end up as messy as a zombie on the receiving end of a sledgehammer.

 

Thankfully, after getting to play six hours of Dead Island 2, I was pleasantly surprised. Rather than reinventing the formula, Dead Island 2 smartly doubles down on the original’s weighty combat and layered weapon modding, while also being set in an infinitely more interesting location.

 

 

 

 

Dead Island 2’s developer explains why its ‘dev hell’ reputation has worked out well | VGC

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I think people were expecting it to be terrible, and so were pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t."

 

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Rather than portraying these real-world influences in a sombre or mawkish manner, Dead Island 2 goes down the satirical path instead. The LA setting gives Dambuster free rein to feature a variety of eccentric characters, many of whom are handling the crisis in their own interesting way.

 

Our favourite example of this so far is the large house that belongs to a group of YouTubers. While mostly abandoned, it does have plenty of in-jokes lying around that make cheeky jibes at the culture, the most notable being a whiteboard showing a YouTube apology script that says “this isn’t scripted, it’s from the heart” and delivers such notable lines as “sorry to all my fans that I’ve disappointed but most importantly my sponsors”, and the vaguely anti-vax “please take the evacuation seriously, it was a mistake, I shouldn’t have joked about it”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dead Island 2 Hands-on Preview - The Fresh Brains of Bel-Air 

MP1ST.COM

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(MP1st) Dead Island 2 Hands-on Preview - Dambuster's FLESH system brings gore and fun to the zombie genre in horrific new ways.

 

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Understandably, there isn’t much to instill confidence in Dead Island 2. It’s been through hell, literally, with multiple developer switches, delays, re-announcements, reboots, and so much more. Everything that has happened to the game up until this point has had the signs of things not being quite right.   

 

So when MP1st was approached to preview Dead Island 2, I, like everyone else, had worries about what I was about to experience. 

 

Yet despite the odds, despite everything to suggest otherwise, somehow, someway, Deep Silver Dambuster Studios has managed to surprise this gamer, and in a good way. To cut to the chase, Dead Island 2 looks, plays, and feels fantastic.

 

 

 

Preview: Dead Island 2 Makes Up for Lost Time with Fun

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Almost 3,652 Days Later - Pretty much no game ever is worth waiting almost 10 years for, but when Dead Island 2 launches o...

 

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The game's opening hours prove you'll have a whale of a time just repeatedly smashing zombie's faces in, growing your arsenal with bigger and better weapons, and unlocking new skills. All the standard hallmarks of a quality open world experience, so don't expect Dead Island 2 to be much different from classics past. Still, what's there is evidence enough that Dambuster Studios made fun one of its top priorities. You may not come for the story or the looting, but Dead Island 2 clicks with a quirky set of weapons and a huge zombie horde to be beaten down. Combine the two and you've got hours of entertainment scheduled in for April.

 

 

Dead Island 2 Preview – The F.L.E.S.H. Prince Of Bel-Air

WWW.WELL-PLAYED.COM.AU

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Get ready to paint the town red

 

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There’s no denying that what I played of Dead Island 2 was fun and enjoyable, but after five hours of slicing and hacking zombies across Los Angeles, I’m still waiting for the game’s hook to sink into me – that element that makes it unique. The problem is that I don’t think it’s coming. I don’t think Dead Island 2 does anything new or adds anything to a genre that has been saturated with entries, but I also don’t necessarily think it needs to. But if we compare it to Dying Light, which has parkour and the day/night cycle, Dead Island 2 lacks that something that sets it apart from other games in the genre.

 

After a handful of hours with Dead Island 2, the experience is exactly what I expected – a fun and gory romp through a vibrant LA that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Whether that will be enough to stave off the combat’s repetitiveness or lack of any meaningful story in the back half of the game is hard to know. For some people, the thought of a Dead Island 2.0 is more than enough to satisfy them, and if that’s the case it looks like they are in for a good time.

 

 

 

Dead Island 2 Hands-On Preview – Right Down To The Bone

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Dead Island 2 Hands-On Preview – Right Down To The Bone

 

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In my time with the game, I was amazed to see how this system works in real-time. I’d run out of weapons early on, so I’d resorted to using my first on a lone zombie. It was almost shocking to see that a different area of the zombie’s face would be affected with every punch. Eventually, I’d punched past skin, and their eyes were hanging out of their head, and their jaw was broken and dangling. Intrigued, I turned my attention to all the dead zombies to see how far I could take things. You can slash away at a leg, through skin and muscle and even break off the limb of a zombie. It’s a macabre system but one that separates Dead Island 2 from other zombie games.

 

 

 

Dead Island 2 gameplay preview – take me back to the City of Zombies | PCGamesN

WWW.PCGAMESN.COM

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While our time experiencing Dead Island 2 gameplay was a fun and blood-splattered run through HELL-A, we’re eager to see more of what it has to offer.

 

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Dead Island 2 being intentional and clever brings us back around to how impressive the combat is. With the FLESH system in place, it doesn’t matter to me whether the story is a little lacklustre, or the voice lines somewhat cheesy, they’re not really what I’m here for. I’m here to slice and dice, burn flesh, and crack zombie skulls. Every type of weapon has its own impact on a zombie’s flesh, each heavy attack, each killing animation, all are intricately thought out and crafted around how that weapon would actually affect a fleshy, undead human – and trying these out is where I had the most fun. It’s easy enough to avoid the majority of walkers and shamblers, but rather than opting for stealth, take the opportunity to try different weapons, melt them with caustic acid, electrocute them with water and a nearby exposed wire, shoot that fuel tank next to them. Then go take a look at the damage you’ve done. Sound gross? Well, yes, it is. But that’s exactly what’s great about Dead Island 2.

 

 

Dead Island 2 preview -- What happened to your face?

WWW.PCINVASION.COM

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We preview Dead Island 2, which is finally coming out next month. Learn all about what the game has to offer, smashed faces and all.

 

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The melee combat is more impactful and disgusting than probably even Dying Light offers. As always, you have your default weapon swings or heavy swings. You can also block attacks as Carla, although other playable characters have a dodge. If you time your blocks well (which is quite easy as the system is lenient), you’ll launch into a counter-attack animation that will often kill an enemy outright. As Carla, at least, I was taking advantage of this to wipe up zombies.

 

Weapon types have varying finishers, although the one that sticks in my mind the most is the bare-handed one where you put your entire fist through a zombie’s face. It’s nasty. You can also take advantage of environmental effects such as fire, electricity, and water. Grab a car battery and throw it in the pool for an easy zombie fry. And you’ll naturally be healing up by grabbing all sorts of snacks and energy drinks as you explore.

 

 

 

The first five hours of Dead Island 2 are a bloody good time

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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We've played the first five hours of Dead Island 2 and you can find out about them in this lovely Dead Island 2 preview.

 

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So here's a funny story. Thanks to YouTube's recent tightening of restrictions, the last time I previewed Dead Island 2 the video that I made was age-gated as soon as it was published thanks to the extreme gore on show. OK, so maybe its not that funny because I worked super late into the night to get the video ready for a crazy embargo and in the end it was a huge waste of time because hardly anyone watched it.

 

Which is why, my lovely friends, you will see a lot of pictures of my cats edited into my brand new preview video above. What better way to censor a video than by filling it with cats, eh?

 

Seriously though, the gore in Dead Island 2 is on another level to anything else I’ve seen in a video game. The procedural way that the zombies fall apart as you hit, melt, shock and burn them really has to be seen to be believed as it’s both gruesome and glorious at the same time. It’s like an early Peter Jackson movie come to life and honestly, if you’re a horror movie gore-hound, the visuals in this game are going to leave you whooping your beautiful little head off because there are some spectacular displays of dismemberment and destruction here.

 

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

Damn we're about to get hit with a LOT of good games in a short period of time aren't we?

[Keyser_Soze]

Hard to believe after 20 years this might actually turn out well.

[Phaseknox]

After the recent critic hands-on previews this game went from a day one purchase to something that I can wait to get for $30-$40. Based on previews it appears to be a linear and repetitive first person action game as opposed to a big open world mission driven action RPG like the first game. I have no doubt that the combat will be fun, but that’s all that it seems to offer in terms of gameplay.

 

While it’s called Dead Island 2, I think that it’s ultimately going to be yet another co-op zombie action game like Left 4 Dead that shares very little in common with the first Dead Island other than for its combat and weapon crafting. We’ll see what the reviews have to say when they’re posted, but that’s basically what the previews have been saying.

[Phaseknox]

If this game reviews well, has a good length (20+ hours) and the PS4 version isn’t gimped then I’ll probably buy it on day one.

[Keyser_Soze]

@Phaseknox has now been hacked by @best3444

[Phaseknox]

On 3/16/2023 at 11:34 AM, Keyser_Soze said:

@Phaseknox has now been hacked by @best3444

IKR. I was going to pass on Dead Island 2 and get Hogwarts Legacy instead, but Warner Bros. delayed the PS4 version again to May 5th so I’m basically giving up on it for now since it will probably get delayed again. Also, I think that it’s a sign that one of the playable characters in Dead Island 2 is a female below the right knee amputee.

[Keyser_Soze]

6 hours ago, Phaseknox said:

IKR. I was going to pass on Dead Island 2 and get Hogwarts Legacy instead, but Warner Bros. delayed the PS4 version again to May 5th so I’m basically giving up on it for now since it will probably get delayed again. Also, I think that it’s a sign that one of the playable characters in Dead Island 2 is a female below the right kneee amputee.

 

Time to invest in those switch games imo.

[Phaseknox]

On 3/16/2023 at 8:28 PM, Keyser_Soze said:

Time to invest in those switch games imo.

Which Switch games would you suggest that I get first?

[Keyser_Soze]

3 hours ago, Phaseknox said:

Which Switch games would you suggest that I get first?

 

Hmm yeah, not sure this is the topic to start shooting names of Switch games off but I could throw some out.

Also, knowing that you have a pretty wide variety of tastes I could say a lot of things

 

Spoiler

- The Fire Emblem Games

- Metroid Dread

- Bayonetta games

- Astral Chain

- Xenoblade 1,2,3

- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

- Super Mario Odyssey

- Bravely Default 2

- Kirby and the Forgotten Land

 

That's just kind of off the top of my head and games that aren't on PS4. Yes I didn't list BOTW

[Phaseknox]

5 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Hmm yeah, not sure this is the topic to start shooting names of Switch games off

You’re right, I’m going to make a separate thread asking people which Switch games that they would recommend to a new Switch owner.
 

5 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

  Hide contents

- The Fire Emblem Games

- Metroid Dread

- Bayonetta games

- Astral Chain

- Xenoblade 1,2,3

- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

- Super Mario Odyssey

- Bravely Default 2

- Kirby and the Forgotten Land

 

That's just kind of off the top of my head and games that aren't on PS4. Yes I didn't list BOTW

I’m interested in most of those, but why don’t you recommend The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? I’m interested in it as well.

[Keyser_Soze]

34 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

I’m interested in most of those, but why don’t you recommend The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? I’m interested in it as well.

 

It seemed rather directionless and all the world restrictions early on like the cold meter (you can't hang out in this cold environment very long or this meter runs down and you die) and the weapon durability thing was a major turnoff for me. I just ended up using bombs which you get unlimited of instead. But if you like big giant sandboxes to mess around in then I guess you might like it. 🤷‍♀️

 

Ask someone else and they might say it's the greatest game ever made.

[best3444]

7 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Hmm yeah, not sure this is the topic to start shooting names of Switch games off but I could throw some out.

Also, knowing that you have a pretty wide variety of tastes I could say a lot of things

 

  Reveal hidden contents

- The Fire Emblem Games

- Metroid Dread

- Bayonetta games

- Astral Chain

- Xenoblade 1,2,3

- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

- Super Mario Odyssey

- Bravely Default 2

- Kirby and the Forgotten Land

 

That's just kind of off the top of my head and games that aren't on PS4. Yes I didn't list BOTW

 

@Phaseknox Metroid Prime, too. As for BOTW, if you like gigantic sandbox games it's pretty fuckin good. Keyser did mention some annoying aspects but it's still a pretty great game. 

[Xbob42]

4 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

It seemed rather directionless and all the world restrictions early on like the cold meter (you can't hang out in this cold environment very long or this meter runs down and you die) and the weapon durability thing was a major turnoff for me. I just ended up using bombs which you get unlimited of instead. But if you like big giant sandboxes to mess around in then I guess you might like it. 🤷‍♀️

 

Ask someone else and they might say it's the greatest game ever made.

 

You seem like the type to reload your save if you have to use a consumable in an RPG boss fight!

 

"Shit bro, wasted a potion..."

[Keyser_Soze]

15 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

 

You seem like the type to reload your save if you have to use a consumable in an RPG boss fight!

 

"Shit bro, wasted a potion..."

 

Consumables in RPGs are useless most of the time.

 

I just don't like having to use a weapon 10 times and then equip another POS weapon over and over and over.

[Xbob42]

3 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Consumables in RPGs are useless most of the time.

 

I just don't like having to use a weapon 10 times and then equip another POS weapon over and over and over.

 

I mean, I get it, but using bombs instead which deal dramatically less damage just wastes time. There's weapons absolutely everywhere in BotW, plenty that last a good long time. And you're not constantly in combat or anything, most of the game is just exploration.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

[Phaseknox]

I’ve been watching walkthrough videos of this game on YouTube, and it looks pretty cool but linear. It seems level based with straight and narrow environments with only some slight branching paths here and there. The combat looks really fun, but there doesn’t seem to be much else to the game than that.

 

I came across this video of the previously canceled version of the game, and I think that it looks better than the game that we’re getting. It looked well into development, so I don’t know why it was canceled:

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

Oh shit this is coming out next week???

[Phaseknox]

10 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Oh shit this is coming out next week???

Friday

[skillzdadirecta]

59 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

Friday

Unless this gets STELLAR word of mouth, I'm gonna probably wait for a price drop or until I have some store credit to go towards this. I'm definitely getting it, but maybe not day one. I'm gonna be all about Jedi next week.

[Phaseknox]

13 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Unless this gets STELLAR word of mouth, I'm gonna probably wait for a price drop or until I have some store credit to go towards this. I'm definitely getting it, but maybe not day one. I'm gonna be all about Jedi next week.

Reviews will be up on Tuesday, and the information that they provide will determine if I buy it on day one or not. If it’s a somewhat linear and short action game instead of a big semi open world action RPG like the first game then I will wait to get it when it’s cheaper.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Launch Trailer:

 

 

 

Gameplay videos:

 

 

 

 

[Dodger]

When do reviews go live?