Summary
With enough time now having passed sinceDead Island 2’s April release, the post-launch roadmap of the wacky zombie slasher is now well underway. Just recently, the game welcomed its first major story expansion, Haus, which did well to help develop the world-building of the title and to expand its mechanics quite significantly from what was available at launch.
As many dedicatedDead Island 2players have already exhausted the Haus expansion of its content, attention is starting to be placed on the upcoming Sola Festival DLC for the release. Sola Festival is set to be the last major story DLC thatDead Island 2releases, putting a fair amount of pressure on the experience to leave things on a high. With this in mind, Dambuster Studios has already communicated a lot of information about Sola Festival that gives fans a clear idea of what they can expect from the final expansion forDead Island 2.
While thefiner points ofDead Island 2’s Sola Festival DLC are still up for debate, the expansion does have an official description, as was the case with Haus prior to its launch on November 2. As the name suggests, the DLC will take place around a huge festival, where “LA’s party people can greenwash their way to ecstasy and save the planet, one rave at a time.”
From this description, it can be inferred thatDead Island 2’s Sola Festival will have a concerted focus on human interaction, moving away from the infected as the driving force of its narratives. This was the case with Haus, and theDLC fostered some fascinating combat mechanics against human enemiesthat were not present in the base game, and fans should expect Sola Festival to also lean into this successful formula.
The dystopian nature of a Woodstock-like festival in a zombie-ravaged L.A. lines up perfectly withDead Island 2’s brand of satirical humor, and players should expect some very memorable and eccentric characters within Sola Festival as a result. The mention of ecstasy in the name of saving the planet within Sola Festival’s description could suggest some warpedpsychedelic sequences in the expansion akin to theFar Cryfranchise, adding another layer of gameplay toDead Island 2’s growing level of variety.
With Sola Festival still being a long way from release, many of these details may be subject to change.
Sola Festival Will Be Looking to Make its Own Innovations
With the Haus DLC making waves byintroducing human enemies for the first time inDead Island 2, it should be expected that Sola Festival will aim to stamp out its own unique mark on the release. Many have theorized that the festival itself will be based on the real-world Burning Man festival, which is often frequented by the kinds of L.A. socialites that the expansion’s description speaks of. In this way, Sola Festival could easily introduce groundbreaking new features toDead Island 2such as vehicles, with Burning Man itself taking place in the desert.
Dead Island 2’s Sola Festival is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2024, with its exact release date still being unknown. TheDLC is expected to be around the same size as Haus, meaning fans should expect to pay around $12.99 for Sola Festival when it eventually releases. The description of Sola Festival paints a vivid picture of the kinds of places and people that the expansion will explore, gearing fans up for a unique experience that boldy departs from the standard gameplay of the base game.
Dead Island 2
WHERE TO PLAY
The open-world zombie slaying action RPG makes its long-awaited return. Dead Island is back, and with it comes a host of enhancements to its winning combination of creative first-person zombie slaying, pitch-black humor and open-world exploration. Welcome to HELL-A. The City of Angels has been transformed into a hellish sprawl, its populace now mutated into disgusting zombies with an insatiable appetite for humans. In this extensive, visceral RPG experience you’ll journey to iconic LA locations, taking on quests, meeting eccentric survivors and enjoying a joyously pulpy narrative along the way. The game’s brutal melee combat gives you access to an expansive array of inventive zombie-slaying weaponry that lets you slice, smash and tear through the hordes before they get the chance to do the same to you. Can you survive HELL-A?
