Deep Silver Reanimates MOBA Genre With Dead Island: Epidemic

Deep Silver is taking its tropical paradise zombie series into a new genre. Dead Island: Epidemic will premiere at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany at the end of this month.

Deep Silver is calling the title a ZOMBA (Zombie Online Multiplayer Battle Arena). It will follow the MOBA genre's traditional free-to-play model, but offers up three-way combat instead of two teams.

We'll be seeing the title when we arrive in Europe, so keep a dangling eye out for our preview.

Our Take
The MOBA genre is one I've not successfully penetrated yet (except for Awesomenauts). I tried Guardians of Middle-earth, but extended match wait times turned me off. I've heard that new players have a rough go in the League of Legends and Dota communities, so even dipping my toe in the water isn't appealing.

All of that trepidation aside, I do like the Dead Island series. I'm also of the mind that zombies make many things better. I'm looking forward to giving this a try to find out of this is the MOBA… er… ZOMBA for me.