Deep Silver joins the MOBA frenzy with Dead Island: Epidemic

At first thought, it seems like an odd fit. Dead Island, a zombie-survival first-person shooter, becoming a MOBA? How the heck will it work?

I have no clue, but Deep Silver plans to debut Dead Island: Epidemic, a new ZOMBA (Zombie Online Multiplayer Battle Arena), at Gamescom where we assume they'll provide more details and hopefully show off some gameplay — because I'm intrigued as to how they will pull this off.

The publisher did briefly touch on the game, explaining Epidemic will "pit three teams of players against each other in a desperate fight for survival." It will also feature all of the trademark elements that are part of the Dead Island experience. So… zombies…

Given the popularity of MOBAs like League of Legends and DOTA 2, it's no surprise that Deep Silver wants to get in on the action. But does the Dead Island universe lend itself to the team-based battle arena gameplay? I personally don't see how it will work, but I'm definitely anxious to see more. And if you're skeptical, it might please you to know that Epidemic will be free-to-play on PC.

Again, more details will be announced at Gamescom 2013 later this month, so until then we'll just have to sit tight and speculate as to how this will play out. You can also check out the game's website, though there's not much to see right now.