Dead Island 2 multiplayer strongly influenced by Journey

Developer Yager has admitted the multiplayer portion of Dead Island 2 was directly influenced by Journey.

Speaking to TrustedReviews at GamesCom, Game Director Bernd Diemer admitted his experiences with Journey had directly influenced the multiplayer decisions in Dead Island 2.

“The inspiration for the Dead Island 2 multiplayer came surprisingly from me playing Journey. Because Journey did something that I’d never seen in a game before," explained Diemer. "I started playing and for some reason didn’t know a lot about the game before I played it. I actually didn’t know that the other guys in scarves were other players. I got my wife to play it too and she didn’t realise it either. The moment she realised that these were other players, she was like ‘This is fantastic’. We then decided that this is something we wanted to do [with Dead Island 2]."

Dead Island 2 will feature 8-player seamless multiplayer, with other gamers coming into your game similar to the way they can in upcoming games like Internally we call it the world’s smallest MMO.”

Unlike Journey and Destiny though you will be able to talk to the other players that join you're game. We're still debating whether this is a good or bad thing for Dead Island 2, but the aim is to enhance your experience.

"You will have your own quest line, but a lot of the quests and challenges are best with multiplayer."

The majority of the game will be about co-operative rather than competitive multiplayer, so you won't generally be able to harm your fellow player. There are no PvP leaderboards for kills or anything like that.

"We do have some PvP events. One for example are the shops or merchants where you can buy stuff with the in-game currency and resources – not real money. But you can also rob them. They have a little safe in the corner and you can rob them, but they’ll put a bounty on your head. You’ll have a little sign over your head and other players can hunt you down."

"It’s not something you have to do, but it’s there. That’s what we want people to do. Play multiplayer before they even realise.”

Read more: Best PS4 games