Publisher PLAION (formerly Koch Media/Deep Silver) and developer Dambuster Studios have announced the release date for the second Dead Island 2 expansion. Titled SoLA, it will be available on PC via Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X on April 17. Five days later, the whole game will also launch on Steam after the year of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store.
SoLA will include:
- New Story. A deadly virus sweeps through The Valley, turning its inhabitants into ravenous zombies as a chthonic rhythm calls from beyond: the beat of the Autophage. Lured to the festival by an enigmatic warning message, players must explore SoLA’s ruins and stop this otherworldly menace.
- New Location. A visceral, gore-drenched music festival in the heart of LA (or HELL-A, as we like to call it) echoing to the sound of The Beat, which threatens to turn the living into zombies, and with the potential to be heard across the world.
- New Enemies. The Whipper is a new apex variant enemy driven mad with self-loathing by the Autophage. Their compulsion to self-mutilate has turned them into a horrific nightmare of disemboweled intestines, allowing them to lash out at range. The Clotter is another new unsettling apex zombie that can decompose into a revolting pile of gore, making it immune from damage in that form, and then reform elsewhere to continue the fight. Capable of firing a powerful jet of putrid blood from their heart.
- New Legendary Weapons. The Ripper is a lethal combination of a baseball bat and circular saw into a percussive machine of dismemberment. The Sawblade Launcher is a heavy weapon firing rotary sawblades; the perfect weapon for ranged decapitation and dismemberment.
The first Dead Island 2 expansion, Haus, wasn't exactly beloved by Francesco De Meo, who rated it just 6 out of 10. However, he enjoyed the base game a lot more and scored it 7.5/10. Dead Island 2 also did very well commercially, marking a new record for Deep Silver launches.
