Highlights
- Dead Island 2's upcoming Haus DLC will introduce eccentric characters and locations, offering a fresh gameplay experience reminiscent of BioShock.
- The DLC will explore the twisted world of a techno-death cult led by a billionaire doomsday prepper, adding depth to the game's post-apocalyptic setting.
- Players will enter a labyrinthian compound, experiencing isolation and tension similar to BioShock's Rapture and encountering both ranged and melee combat against human enemies.
Dead Island 2 is gearing up to release its first major story expansion, with the Haus DLC set to drop on November 2. More details about this mysterious expansion have been recently announced, with fans now having a fairly solid overview of what to expect.
It is already clear that Dead Island 2's Haus DLC will involve a lot of eccentric characters and locations, as well as opening up fascinating avenues of gameplay away from its base story. Many are already noticing the similarities that the proposed gameplay of Haus shares with the classic feeling of the BioShock franchise, and fans of the latter may find a surprisingly engaging experience in the upcoming DLC.
Dead Island 2's Haus: An Ode To BioShock
Dead Island 2's upcoming Haus DLC is set to be one of two major story expansions for the game, giving experienced players a fresh dose of content to enjoy post-launch. It seems that these two Dead Island 2 expansions will be polar opposites to one another in terms of what themes they explore, with Haus exploring gritty eccentricity above all else.
It is confirmed that Haus will see players interact with a billionaire doomsday prepper who has risen to high status in Dead Island 2's post-apocalyptic world. This will be complimented by the presence of a new human faction in Haus, who are described as a "techno-death cult." It appears that this twisted billionaire is the leader and financier of this faction, who wreak havoc over the enclaves of survivors that are scattered around Dead Island 2's take on Los Angeles.
With the DLC being named Haus, the German word for house, many believe that the expansion will see the player enter the lair of this deadly cult. This is where the similarities between Haus and BioShock come into play, with both experiences already exploring collapsed societies and the twisted survivors who remain within them. Haus will take this to another level, with the base of a techno-death cult having the same unpredictable and sinister vibes as BioShock's famous underwater city of Rapture.
In the techno lair, players will feel the same isolation and tension as Rapture, with its deranged cult members acting the same as the Splicers that populated Rapture. It seems that Haus will be the first time that human enemies will be present in Dead Island 2, with the player having to use a mix of ranged and melee weapons to deal with the increased complexity of human foes. This will match the gameplay of BioShock quite well, but the overall themes of the DLC and its location provide the main overlap between the two franchises.
With the cult being backed by a billionaire, the lair will have the same faded grandeur of Rapture, with bright lights and grand features being contrasted by the depravity of the cult's followers. Haus will serve as an excellent way for Dead Island 2 to enhance the depth of its world and show how society has devolved, with a labyrinthian compound being the perfect way to flesh out the new faction. The kind of enemies and bosses within this new location have an endless amount of potential, and the overstimulating insanity of such a place will hopefully have a memorable impact on players like BioShock's Rapture did back in 2007.
Dead Island 2 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
