Yager Development, the independent German studio behind the narratively clever, somewhat generic, yet overall solid third-person shooter Spec Ops: The Line from 2012, resurfaced in a big way at E3 this year, announced as the developer in charge of two upcoming Unreal Engine 4-powered titles.
Of greatest significance, Deep Silver has tasked Yager with Dead Island 2 development duties for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as original series creator Techland concentrates on building new franchises in Dying Light and Hellraid. Whereas Riptide was more of a standalone expansion to the original Dead Island, Dead Island 2, as the number “2” suggests, is the full-blown sequel open-world zombie slayers have been waiting for.
Several months after the events on Banoi, the United States military has put the Golden State under full quarantine. Now a restricted zone, California has become a bloody paradise for those who refuse to leave their homes and an action-packed playground for renegades who seek adventure, glory and a fresh start. Combining the classic Dead Island elements of immersive close combat, action and role-playing, Dead Island 2 features crazy, never-before-seen handcrafted weapons and over-the-top characters in taking players from the iconic Golden Gate to the celebrated beachfront boardwalk of southern California’s Venice Beach.
Once again a Dead Island game has been revealed with one of the best video game trailers you’ll see. Hopefully this time the end product will live up to the quality of its trailer.
In more of an indie capacity, partnering with indie publisher Grey Box, Yager has also revealed Dreadnought, a free-to-play “aerial armada action game” for PC. Designed as sort of a spiritual throwback to Yager’s 2003 debut production, a futuristic aerial dogfighting game bearing the same name as its developer, Dreadnought is a sci-fi space combat game involving large scale spaceship battles and tactical battleship command. Multiplayer warfare sounds like it’ll be the main focus; however an episodic single-player campaign is said to be in the works.
Dreadnought is scheduled to go into public beta testing beginning early next year. Dead Island 2‘s launch is booked for spring 2015. Yager did some cool stuff in Spec Ops, so it’ll be interesting to see what imprint the studio leaves on these new titles.
Supplementing the above teaser trailer, here are some screenshots and concept art pieces from Dreadnought:
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Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
