10 Rare Video Games That Survived Development Hell
8. Dead Island 2 - 9 Years
Although delays aren't necessarily a bad sign, it didn't fill gamers with confidence to see Dead Island 2 being tossed around like a hot potato. When Techland abandoned the zombie title's production to work on Dying Light, Deep Silver had them replaced with Yager. Gameplay footage for the undead splatterfest was revealed at Gamescon in 2014, giving the impression Dead Island 2 had a smooth road ahead of it.
However, the two companies' ideas kept conflicting, resulting in Yager's departure in 2015, which was the same month they filed for insolvency. Hot off the success of Hitman, Sumo Digital was hired to take over.
By 2019, the publisher realised things weren't working out and let Sumo Digital go. By this point, Deep Silver went, "Screw it! We'll make it ourselves!" and handed Dead Island 2 to their own team, Dambuster Studios.
Ironically, Dambuster succeeded where everyone else failed, delivering a bonkers zombie title filled with sensational level design, compelling characters, top-notch voice acting, diverse weapon variety, and a slew of creative methods to kill the infected. Dead Island 2 isn't perfect, but turned out far better than expected.