The second Dead Island is somewhat more lighthearted than the first, but apparently not every developer liked that direction. Hence, Fatshark is going a more psychological route with Escape Dead Island. You can tell because they use the carpet pattern from The Shining.
Joking aside, you play Cliff Caylow, a filmmaker who gets stuck on Banoi when the undead rise. Where most of the survivors of Banoi tackle things from a more aggressive first-person perspective, Fatshark apparently believes they can tell a more interesting story in the third-person, as Cliff slowly loses his mind. It’s also apparently a more tactical game; stealth and sneaking around are the order of the day.
OK, so it looks just a little cheesy, and the fact that it’s strictly for last-gen consoles is mostly a mark of a fill-in title for those who can’t play the second one. On the other hand, at least it’s something different from the usual “guns blazing” approach and it’s hard to argue with a survival horror game, which are all too rare these days. We’ll find out this fall if it’s a hidden gem or should be stranded in Banoi.