Dead Island: Epidemic, the zombie themed hack and slash arena action game, has now officially entered open beta, meaning any of you are now free to go and check it out and see what a zombie take on MOBAs is like. You can check out the game on Steam, and it will be free to play for everyone.

With the entering of the game into open beta, it also gets a major content update, that entails an all new PvE mode called Crossroads, an overhaul of the progression system with global character level instead of individual character levels, an overhaul of crafting, an introduction of passive skills, and a full reworking of the loot system.

The game’s official launch is some time next year, exclusively on PC. Meanwhile, Dead Island 2 is also in development for a release next year for next generation consoles, while Xbox 360 and PS3 get Escape Dead Island.

While Deep Silver and Yager impressed us with Dead Island 2 at E3 2014, Dead Island: Epidemic is still in closed beta phase as teams tear each other (and the undead) apart in an multiplayer online battle arena. Deep Silver has released a new gameplay video showcasing just what Dead Island: Epidemic is. Check out the free to play massacre above.

In Dead Island: Epidemic, you team up with three other survivors to either fight off the zombies or war with other players in a Battle Royale-esque mode to garner supplies, capture points and – what else? – murder zombies. You’ll be able to craft your own weapons by winning parts and gathering blueprints. Melee and long range weapons can be found and there are currently 3 different Early Access starter packs for those interested in the beta.

Even if you’re not a fan of MOBAs (or ZOMBAs), Dead Island: Epidemic promises a cleaner style that offers more control to players via WASD key navigation. Thoughts? Let us know below.

Dead Island: Epidemic, the new MOBA being developed by in the Dead Island series of co-op zombie games, is entering Steam Early Access today, starting at $16.99. It will launch with with three different Early Access starter packs to choose from. Deep Silver will also introduce iconic Dead Island hero Sam B as a playable character.

All Early Access options contain exclusive weapons, upgrades and in-game currency that can be used straightaway or during the upcoming Open Beta phase and at the launch of the final game.

There will be three options available to anyone who wants to opt in to Early Access- the Patient Zero Pack, the Deadicated Pack (yes, that’s how they spell it; no, I am not sure if they are being ironic), and finally, the Contagion Pack. The first one is priced at $16.99, and the last one is priced at $44.99, and it offers everything that is in the other two packs.

Whichever team fills up their entire supply bar to full manages to escape and win the game. Scavenger mode is truly unique, because not only did you had to deal with two other enemy teams, but your team also had to worry about the zombies that roam the island. This kind of a twist hasn’t been done in a MOBA game before, so it’s nice to see developers try to mix things up.

"There is also another version of Horde Mode called Heroic Horde Mode. Heroic Horde Mode is set at a higher difficulty level, has more zombies to fight and is harder to survive. If you have a team of talented friends and you feel like you want to be challenged, then this will be your best bet."

Once the match ended you are rewarded with experience, and currency that allows you to boost weapons of your choice. You can also buy this experience with real money, however, that feature was unavailable in the closed beta and we were not able to test it. Another game mode that the closed beta provided was Horde Mode. The Horde Mode is self-explanatory for the most part. You’re put into a map and must go through it in a linear fashion with your team. You kill zombies and complete objectives on your way until you get the end boss. You will also be timed during the entirety of the match. The map has checkpoints that you reach by capturing flag points that activate a zombie attack. Once activated you must defeat a specific amount of waves, once all of the waves have been cleared your team is allowed to proceed further down the map.

At the end of the level you will face a zombie boss and the team has to play smart, quick and tactical if they want to defeat it in the fastest time possible. The faster you kill the zombie, the better medal your team will earn at the end of the match, the higher the medal the more rewards you will get for your account. Both modes were fun and it’s nice that the game offers both PvP competition and PvE in one package. If you enjoy PvE more than PvP then Horde Mode should be right up your alley.

There is also another version of Horde Mode called Heroic Horde Mode. Heroic Horde Mode is set at a higher difficulty level, has more zombies to fight and is harder to survive. If you have a team of talented friends and you feel like you want to be challenged, then this will be your best bet. Overall, both Scavanger and Horde modes were fun and unique in their own and it’s also nice that the game offers both style of play.

"One thing that's different with characters in Dead Island: Epidemic compared to other MOBA games is that they don't use mana to activate their skills. Instead, the skills are cooldown based and majority of them are skill-shots."

The closed beta provided three different character classes that each have unique abilities. The first class was a tank/dps melee hybrid who was able to heal his team, taunt zombies and deal damage. The Second class acted as a range damage dealer and had debuff capabilities whereas the third one had support abilities and was able to heal the entire party.

One thing that’s different with characters in Dead Island: Epidemic compared to other MOBA games is that they don’t use mana to activate their skills. Instead, the skills are cooldown based and majority of them are skill-shots. For example, the melee character Berg can use his healing shout skill that heals nearby allies if they’re in the range of the healing circle/skill trajectory.

The combat itself is also different compared to other games in the genre. You’re left mouse click acts as a normal auto-attack that generates fury and you’re right click consumes the generated fury to deal more damage. What you can do is, fight a couple of zombies to generate rage, run up to an enemy player and finish him of with a strong attack. It’s a good mechanic and makes the combat a little bit more in-depth. Players can also press Spacebar to do a quick roll forward to dodge abilities and zombie attacks. You cannot spam you’re dodge roll, you can only use it once the cooldown goes away after a few seconds.

"Overall, Dead Island: Epidemic closed beta was a good surprise for me. I honestly didn't think the game was going to be impressive in any shape or form. The game has high-quality production values, especially for a free-to-play game."

Every character is also able to use melee/range weapons and can switch between the two on the fly. Dead Island: Epidemic is quite unique when it comes to arsenal selection. Players can craft their own weapons by using materials that they gain as a reward after a match ends and use them on the workbench in the main menu. They’re also able to level them up and make them stronger by earning experience and boosting them with another currency if they wish for quicker leveling. There are all kinds of wacky weapons in Dead Island: Epidemic such as barbed boxing gloves, driller mittens, meat hooks and many more.

The art in the game is a-lot more cartoony as opposed to the original Dead Island games, but the developers still managed to keep its essence despite making it more of a colorful and vivid game. Just by looking at the character designs and weapons you can easily tell the game has a distinct art-look to it that makes it stand out. I was also pleasantly surprised at how well the game performed during the closed beta stage. I didn’t encounter any weird graphical glitches/bugs or crashes at all during my experience.

The soundtrack in Dead Island: Epidemic is fantastic. Sometimes I just felt like sitting in the main menu just to listen to it. The game has an interesting mix of music that makes you feel like you’re on the beach just relaxing. It would change up and pump adrenaline into your blood during a team-fight or zombie killing. It’s hard to describe the style of the music in Dead Island: Epidemic, so it’s one of those things that just needs to be heard on your own to understand.

Overall, Dead Island: Epidemic closed beta was a good surprise for me. I honestly didn’t think the game was going to be impressive in any shape or form. The game has high-quality production values, especially for a free-to-play game. However, my biggest concern is how the micro-transaction systems will pan out at release. As of right now the game looks and feels promising but we will only be able deliver our final verdict once the game launches globally later this year.

There are two epidemics sweeping the video gaming industry, one new and one as old as gaming itself: zombies, and the genre of video games known as MOBAs.

Zombie video games have been around for a long, long while, and their popularity continues even now unabated; MOBAs have been all the rage since the breakout success of League of Legends, causing most developers, including major ones like Valve, to either develop new entries in the new, lucrative genre, or to retool existing games in development to fit the genre.

Add another entrant in the genre as Deep Silver announced today that its popular (albeit critically middling) zombie franchise Dead Island will now go MOBA as well.

Dead Island: Epidemic will feature three teams pitted against each other in a battle for survival using MOBA mechanics; in spite of the change in genre, developer Deep Silver has promised the game will retain all the trademark elements of the Dead Island franchise, which honestly may be a good thing or a bad thing.

More information for this game has been promised at Gamescon, so stay tuned to GamingBolt for further coverage.