The very first video for Techland’s latest zombie-survival game might not carry the same emotional weight as their previous game’s debut, but weight is the last thing you want when the infected are sprinting after your delectable flesh.

The Dying Light trailer doesn’t make the “Dead Island with parkour” comparison any less avoidable. You fight zombies with custom weapons you cobbled together from spare parts, in an urban environment, while trying to avoid becoming the undead’s next meal. It sounds a little too familiar, but Techland’s trying to shake things up with a day/night cycle that alters how zombies behave. Hanging out with zombies during the day time isn’t a picnic, but the horde supposedly gets downright vicious once the sun goes down.

The trailer’s completely CG, so we don’t exactly know what gameplay looks like. WB Games says it's hoping to have Dying Light out sometime next year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of Techland’s latest next week during E3. We’ll keep you posted when we know more.

"Developer known for zombie games making a new zombie game" isn't terribly shocking news, but what if I told you they were going to twist it up with a day-night cycle and a dash of Mirror's Edge? Dying Light is Techland's current project, a zombie-infested horror game that encourages fleeing across an open-world tropical town's unexpectedly parkour-friendly rooftops. Check out the first screenshots of your flailing feet, as well as zombies wearing an awkward amount of face paint.

Dying Light features a weapons-crafting system, so you'll be able to make electrified axes and the like to hack into zombieflesh with. Come night, however, the zombies grow a lot more aggressive, and that's when you run. The screenshots were revealed on the newly minted Facebook page, and incredibly, preorders are already available. Warner Bros. is hopeful for a 2014 release date. No further details yet, but we can expect an onslaught of zombie photos this burgeoning E3 season.

Last week, Techland announced its new game, Hellraid, with a few screenshots and some promises. This week, though, they’ve got a teaser trailer full of gameplay that backs up some of those promises, and it’s looking pretty interesting.

There’s a distinct taste of Skyrim in the visuals, but the melee combat in The Elder Scrolls has never had this much gravitas without extensive modding. Enemies counter and duck your sword, and parrying has an impact you can feel.



Watch for the trademarked front kick familiar from Techland’s last game, Dead Island, at about the 0:20 mark.

Hellraid will feature up to four person co-op, and I’m betting that it will follow the same drop-in-drop-out connection formula that worked pretty well (mostly) in Dead Island. Four classes are announced so far; the warrior and the mage get a lot of screen time in the trailer. It’s just a teaser, of course, but so far we haven’t seen any sign of the other two classes, the paladin and the rogue.

The other mystery involves the Game Master, the overseeing AI that will tweak, balance and randomize parts of the game like loot and spawn points. Like the director in Left 4 Dead, having a part of the game that is playing you can be an interesting experience.

Hellraid should be released later this year.

It isn't often we see the words "Origin" and "sale" next to each other, but this week is the exception: EA is running a week-long Player Appreciation Sale which discounts some pretty hefty games in the publisher's lineup—titans such as Mass Effect 3, Crysis 3, and Battlefield 3.

Here's the full list of games on sale and their prices:

Battlefield 3 Premium—$25
Battlefield 3—$12
Battlefield 3 Premium Edition—$30
Crysis 3—$30
Crysis 3 Digital Deluxe Edition—$40
Crysis 3 Digital Deluxe Upgrade—$10
The Sims 3 Seasons—$20
The Sims 3 University Life—$28
The Sims 3 Supernatural—$15
Dead Space—$6
Dead Space 2—$6
Dead Space 3—$30
Resident Evil 5—$10
Mass Effect 3—$10
The Walking Dead—$10
Batman: Arkham City GOTY Edition—$12
FIFA Soccer 13—$20
Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection—$15
Hitman: Absolution—$15
Saints Row: The Third Full Package—$25
Assassin's Creed 3—$35
Assassin's Creed 3 Deluxe Edition—$56
Darksiders 2—$18
Dead Island GOTY Edition—$10
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City—$25


Normal and special editions on sale? And they're big games? I don't want to spoil this rare opportunity to enjoy a good Origin sale with cynicism, but it's hard not to chortle lightly at the convenient devaluing of nearly half the games EA offered SimCity players for free earlier this week.

The first Dead Island had four classic playable characters, so we understand if Techland don't want to upset the balance. There was that rapper guy, thingy with the high heels, the one who's good at chucking, and what's-her-name who was a dab hand with guns. Now *drum roll* we can welcome Good At Punching Things into their esteemed company, the man also known as John Morgan (ex Navy SEAL), and therefore also known as Steven Seagal in Under Siege.

Techland were inspired by hand-to-hand mods for the original Dead Island, particularly, as Joystiq point out, the brilliant Fist of the North Star mod we've included below. John, of course, is a "master" of hand-to-hand combat. "His career in the US Navy has not taken off as he originally had envisioned," Techland explain via press release, "so he spends his time as a cook on a military ship. Little does he know that soon he will have to bring his skills into practice when the ship nears the island of Palanai..."

Palanai, by the way, is Dead Island: Riptide's new setting, another rock in the deadly Banoi archipelago. It's where the original cast members - and Scrappy Doo John - will wash up for the expansion (though at least they won't have to share weapons with their new chum).

Finally, as promised, here is that video:

Dead Island: Riptide will stumble groaning into the sunlight on April 23 next year in the US and Canada, and April 26 everywhere else. Hopefully a copy will wash up on Banoi island. The survivors could do with a little bit of genre awareness after the first adventure, which saw them traipsing right into the middle of a massive town swarming with undead sorts. But why bother with the outskirts when you've got an electric katana?

The sequel will move the action away from the island, onto a boat, which I'm sure will remain a completely safe place for the duration of the game. A new character, new vehicles, more weapon proficiencies and "hub defense game mechanics" will all feature. You can pre-order Riptide now from the Dead Island site. You'll find the CGI teaser trailer for Riptide below, but is it as good as the original Dead Island trailer that got everyone excited back in 2011?

This article originally appeared in issue 232 of PC Gamer UK.

A hidden menace lurks behind the horror of Dead Island’s undead invasion. The dreadful spectre of vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy would not be high on my list of worries in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, but who am I to argue? I’m just a high-heeled lady with a cleaver and resistance to zombification.

The real leader here is head survivor NPC John Sinamoi. He knows what he’s doing. Probably. But when he asks me to go out into the zombie-infested wilderness for orange juice, it’s hard to take him seriously. Partly because my co-op partner Tom Hatfield has wedged himself between me and John and is squatting up and down like a loon, but mostly because what the hell?

It’s OK. We’re pros. Tom H has got a big stick. We can do it. Where’s the juice? “Up in the hills.” Oh, you mean the incredibly dangerous hills we were told never to visit because we would need an armoured car to survive? Right.

We take a pickup truck instead and power our way uphill, swerving into roadside zombies at every opportunity. The objective marker is far beyond the beachfronts we’ve explored before. It leads us to an abandoned convenience store, where we crash through the zombie hordes shambling in front and dive out, weapons ready.

The undead are everywhere. Outside the store there’s a huge pool of sparking, electrified water. A hideous “Uuuuuuuugh!” comes from within. It’s a Thug, one of Dead Island’s toughest creatures.

We slash through the hordes, fighting our way inside with a barrage of flying kicks. It is dark. We proceed carefully, weapons at the ready. A drinks machine hums quietly. The place seems deserted. Perhaps there isn’t anything in here after- “Uuuuuuuugh!”

Oh God it’s behind me. SMACK. I’m sent flying across the room.

“I’m coming!” shouts Hatfield. He charges the eight-foot creature and whacks it uselessly with his plank. “It’s not working!” he cries. As I stand up, I spot four boxes of juice. I start lugging one towards the door. The Thug throws Hatfield across the room as I waddle slowly past with my prize.

Outside, I dump it in the truck. “I’ve got the juice!” I say. “I’m dying!” screams Hatfield.

There comes a time in every zombie apocalypse when a man must choose between orange juice and his friends. I linger beside the driver’s seat of the truck for a moment. Could I just... drive away?

No! I quick-select my finest cleaver and charge back into the darkness, to finish the Thug once and for all. I see it towering over Hatfield, slowly moving in for the kill. I dive at it, activating a high-powered backstab right into its spine. The monster doesn’t even react.

Time for plan B: desperate random screaming and slashing. The Thug slowly turns around, enormous arm pulled back for a savage swing. Hatfield limps away from the distracted creature. I dodge around it and we both back out of the doorway into the light.

“Get in the truck! Get in the truck!” shouts Hatfield. We’re barely outpacing the monster behind us. It emerges into the sun and roars. We dive into the front seats. I gun the engine and throw the vehicle into reverse, flattening the Thug with a dull whump. Everything is quiet. The floor is slick with giblets. The electrified water fizzes quietly. We’ve done it.

“Uuuuuuuugh!”

How is it not dead? “We’ve got the juice, just go!” I oblige. We skid out of the car park and bomb down the hill away from the convenience store. Our work here is done. Tonight, the living citizens of Banoi Island will drink Tequila Sunrises

Dead Island was a surprising hit when it landed last year. It filled a satisfying survival sim shaped hole that DayZ has recently been catering to. There's good news for fans of the first game. VG247 have news that a sequel called Dead Island: Riptide is on the way. For now there's no information a beyond that name, but Riptide does have a watery feel to it. I'm going to resolutely hope for zombie sharks until more information is released this summer. What would you like to see from the sequel?

"Riptide" will be the name of the next helping of downloadable action for Techland's open world zombie survival title, Dead Island. VG247 have the news, but for now there's no information as to what it'll contain yet. Riptide does have a watery feel to it, though, so I'm going to resolutely hope for zombie sharks until more information is released this summer. If I'm wrong I will withdraw my predictions with a tinge of zombie disappointment. Hopefully it'll be something a bit more substantial than the challenge map collections that have made up the bulk of Dead Island's DLC so far.

You there! Do you enjoy slaying the undead? Of course you do, so why not enter our latest competition and win the chance to kill more zombies than ever before? We're giving away five copies of Dead Island's new Bloodbath Arena DLC, which adds a new survival mode. Better yet, as these prizes are digital, anyone can enter! What are you waiting for?

Check inside for details of how to win.

Bloodbath Arena puts you under siege by infinite waves of zombies, by lasting as long as you can you'll level up and get loot that you can then use in Dead Island's single player campaign. It also adds the new 'brain wave bomb' which exactly as deadly as it sounds.

Right lads, here's how it is. We at PC Gamer are totally prepared for a zombie apocalypse, we'll just use Owen as a decoy while we beat them to death with left over competition entries, but we're concerned about you guys. So we want you to:

Tell us your personal plan for surviving a zombie apocalypse.

The five most practical, least practical, cleverest, stupidest and honestly-just-whichever-ones-I-like-the-look-of will win a copy of Bloodbath Arena.

Important Note: If you pre-ordered Dead Island, you should already have this for free, so let someone else enter.

Now here's the fine print: If you win, you'll get a private message and your name will appear in this week's winners, once you let us know you're still alive we'll send you your code. If you don't respond after three weeks we'll give your code to someone else.