I beloved the primary Lifeless Island recreation again within the day, however returning to play it once more earlier than the DI2 launch date, I discovered myself tired of the to-ing and fro-ing of the missions and lengthy drives the place you’re simply working down zombies. Lifeless Island 2 doesn’t have the vehicles, and touring is, to an extent, quicker, however even then plenty of the marketing campaign nonetheless feels prefer it could possibly be streamlined. That is the place the Lifeless Island 2 Haus DLC shines.
Haus will be began pretty early on within the zombie recreation, and accomplished mid-way by means of, however I like to recommend ready till the tip for causes we’ll get to later. Everytime you choose up the DLC inside your Lifeless Island 2 story although, you’re instantly transported to a surprising fashionable home overlooking Malibu Seaside. In full distinction to the maybe too expansive base recreation, this home, consider it or not, is the place you spend everything of the DLC. Because of its mysterious inhabitants, there’s somewhat greater than meets the attention.
The inside of the primary room is attractive and splendid – Dambuster definitely hasn’t dialed again on the fantastic thing about the Lifeless Island sequel. A gilded statue and opulent inside hints that you simply’re in the home of a wealthy LA cult – a cult that may type the comedic core of the entire DLC. Whereas the Lifeless Island 2 base recreation takes a mocking have a look at the stereotypical residents of LA, Haus broaches the subject of wealthy secret societies the place the 1% stand up to god is aware of what behind closed doorways. In Haus, they’ve been engaged on the reply to immortality, as you discover out once you casually choose a speaking head up off the ground and place it again on its physique.
I’ll go away you to discover all the pieces Haus has to supply, however belief me, it’s a lot. It is perhaps DLC, and it’d, in a way, happen in ‘one’ location, however Dambuster strikes us from one dynamite set piece to a different. Boss battles, problem rooms, a whole bunch of zombies. A stunning, atmospheric forest culminating in a terrific boss battle in a sort-of ’50s-style diner which I’ll allow you to expertise your self.
All of this takes place in maybe 4-5 hours max, although, which I’ve learn others say isn’t sufficient. I disagree. It’s a DLC, in spite of everything, and prices simply $12. A fancy, attention-grabbing, and interesting story nonetheless takes place on this time and – one of the best bit – doesn’t drag on or ever really feel boring. Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty DLC has been hailed as one of the best enlargement this yr by many, and, whereas unbelievable, it’s fairly huge. In fact, that is nice worth for cash, however even right this moment there’s nonetheless one thing to be mentioned for a brief, partaking, linear recreation. I can full it, have my enjoyable, and be on to the subsequent – I’m in my thirties, don’t have a lot free time, and my still-to-play backlog will get longer by the day. That mentioned, there are new mechanics, a brand new weapon, new blueprints, and new talent playing cards to find, so there’s nothing stopping you taking all of those again to the bottom recreation in order for you extra.
I additionally discovered the boss battles to be far superior in Haus than the bottom recreation in that they really felt simpler. Once more, this won’t sound like an excellent factor, however I received extremely pissed off with the bottom recreation’s closing boss to the purpose that it was now not pleasing. I by no means received to that time with the bosses in Haus, however I nonetheless felt challenged. There are not any new zombie varieties, however all of your favorites from the bottom recreation are again (in new, fashionable outfits) and also you’re typically overwhelmed by hordes of a number of zombie variants.
I’ve nonetheless not even broached the best possible bit about Haus: how the story completely and seamlessly hyperlinks to the bottom recreation. All through the gameplay, you’re repeatedly instructed that you simply’re right here for a motive, that they, the cult, know who you’re. Finally, you even uncover that the very first minutes of the bottom recreation are linked to this enlargement. Whether or not this story was crafted alongside or after Dambuster wrote the bottom recreation you possibly can by no means inform, because it appears like this cult has at all times been behind the scenes of the story you’ve already performed out. With out eager to spoil something, the one grievance is that flashbacks that happen upon completion of the DLC are associated to the tip of the bottom recreation, which is why I’d strongly advocate solely triggering Haus once you’ve completed the Lifeless Island 2 marketing campaign – you’ll admire the reference a lot extra.
From the concise story, stunning areas, and seamless integration with the bottom story, the Lifeless Island 2 Haus DLC is all the pieces I need from a recreation add-on. One in all two confirmed Lifeless Island 2 DLCs, Haus is to be joined by Sola subsequent yr, and the enlargement move for each will be bought for a similar worth as Phantom Liberty – to which we did give a stable rating in our Phantom Liberty evaluation. If Sola, a satirical critique of elite music festivals, is something like Haus although, it’s positively price a play. Should you’ve nonetheless not performed the bottom recreation but, check out our Lifeless Island 2 evaluation to see if it’s for you.
