Dead Island 2 is going to follow a similar structure to its predecessor and give each character a set of skills that sets them apart from their allies. Hopefully, the character classes in the sequel will provide more diversity and give players a proper incentive to choose one character over another. Fortunately, Dead Island 2 not only has the opportunity to learn from its past but can curate its classes by looking into other games of similar ilk. The Borderlands series has made a name for itself as a class-based co-op shooter and Dead Island 2’s classes could benefit from aligning with the Borderlands classes.
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What Makes Borderlands’ Classes Unique
The Borderlands series first became popular for its off-kilter humor and addictive looter-shooter playstyle. The original game had four playable characters, all with their own unique abilities and personalities, so players could not only pick their preferred Borderlands’ characters character based on their abilities but also based on their charisma and attitude.
As the Borderlands franchise evolved, so did its characters and classes. What began with simple skillsets, such as enhanced scouting and melee combat, evolved into abilities that involved summoning mechs or creating clones. Not only were each character’s individual skills useful, but many characters were also granted additional buffs with particular types of weapons, which encouraged the use of a specific weapon but did not require the character to only use a single type of weapon.
Borderlands has been able to establish a wide variety of character classes through each of its titles that still feel fresh and different from previous iterations of a similar class. Even if two characters seem like generic soldiers who are proficient with firearms, their abilities, skill trees, and personalities make them stand out and play differently from one another. The Borderlands classes provide enough variety that, even if two players choose to play the same character, their playstyles could greatly differ based on their skill tree progression and choice of weapons.
How Dead Island 2 Can Follow Borderlands Classes
The classes in the original Dead Island did provide unique skills and abilities to each character, but oftentimes it felt like there were not enough unique abilities to make a player gravitate towards one character class. Since the game is melee-focused, most classes are based around efficiency with a particular type of melee weapon, whether it is blunt, sharp, or thrown. Since firearms are initially scarce in Dead Island, only one character is considered a firearms specialist with skills geared specifically towards guns.
The main issue with the classes in Dead Island is their lack of variety and useful, unique skills. Borderlands’ setting obviously allows for more unrealistic and outlandish skills, but Dead Island 2’s combat is aiming to be bombastic and over-the-top, which could play nicely with powerful, elaborate character abilities. Each class in Dead Island 2 should feel drastically different from one another, and each character should also have their own personality that coincides with their particular class, just as is the case in Borderlands.
Instead of simply allowing a certain character to be more proficient with specific weapons, Dead Island 2 should create widely different and special skill trees that would allow players to choose their preferred playstyle with a character that has abilities that feel unique. Considering that both Borderlands and Dead Island 2 encourage co-op play, and Borderlands gives players the ability and freedom to synergize with their teammates by providing a wide variety of character classes, Dead Island 2 should learn from Borderlands and create drastically different classes that work well together.
Dead Island 2 launches on February 3, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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