The recently released Dead Island 2 has been welcomed very positively by many fans, both new and old. After such a long wait, fans were eager to experience everything the new title has to offer, with the game doing well to reward long-awaiting players with a huge breadth of fresh content to enjoy.
One of the main new factors of Dead Island 2 that endeared itself to fans the most is the new FLESH system designed specifically for the game. This particular system is the lifeblood behind the release's combat gore, being equally impressive as it is disturbing. A system such as this is a fantastic compliment to Dead Island 2's core gameplay, and many are already pointing out its benefits over other contemporary and comparable systems, such as the dismemberment mechanics found within The Callisto Protocol.
The Callisto Protocol's Dismemberment Mechanics
The Callisto Protocol was released in December 2022 to great anticipation, much like the more recent Dead Island 2. The release is considered a spiritual successor to the iconic Dead Space franchise, which is thought by many to have produced some of the best survival horror gaming experiences of the past two decades.
Due to this, it is no wonder that The Callisto Protocol maintains many of the same core mechanics and motifs as the Dead Space franchise, both in its tense survival gameplay and in the gruesome and horrific ways in which the player can perish or inflict damage upon enemies. With Dead Space being so synonymous with its visceral gore, The Callisto Protocol having a dedicated dismemberment system is a sensible choice to maintain and build upon these mechanics.
Working in Unreal Engine, the team behind Callisto Protocol developed its own system that layered the likes of flesh, muscle, and skin over enemy skeletons, creating realistic and dynamic wounds that alter how enemies react to damage and be immobilized. The system was ultimately well-received by players, but a similar system recently developed for Dead Island 2 has pipped Callisto's dismemberment system in the eyes of many.
Dead Island 2's FLESH System
Like the aforementioned dismemberment system of The Callisto Protocol, the FLESH system of Dead Island 2 was designed specifically for the release, speaking to the importance and presence of combat interactivity and gore in the survival genre. FLESH stands for Fully Locational Evisceration System for Humanoids, and the team behind Dead Island 2 prided the game on this particular system in the run-up to its launch.
Like Callisto's dismemberment, the FLESH system sees the many zombies of Dead Island 2 react dynamically and realistically to the many different ways players can inflict damage on them. The FLESH system works procedurally in a much more granular way than the dismemberment system, with clumps of skin, muscle, and bone being ripped from enemies even from the slightest wing of a bullet or melee weapon.
As well as this, the main way in which FLESH thrives over the dismemberment system is the much larger frequency of enemies that are present at one time within Dead Island 2 when compared to Callisto. The greater presence of enemies leads to the FLESH system being used constantly, allowing fans to see the full breadth of variety that the system possesses. While the dismemberment system of The Callisto Protocol and the FLESH system of Dead Island 2 are both fantastic additions to their respective titles, the greater variety of the FLESH system and its more consistent usage puts it a cut above its Callisto counterpart.
Dead Island 2 is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
