Dead Island 2 was announced just a few years after its 2011 predecessor, but the sequel has taken nearly a decade to come to life. Developer Dambuster Studios is the third studio working on the game, taking this opportunity to develop their own Dead Island 2 from the ground up. While conjectures can be made about a game that’s been in development for so long and jumped by multiple teams, the final game is a worthwhile sequel, especially for fans of the original. Like its predecessor, Dead Island 2 doesn’t break new ground in terms of narrative, but a good hook takes you through the different neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The star of the show are the zombies and the gory and customizable action that happens because of them. During my time on Dead Island 2, over 2000 zombies were maimed, maimed, electrocuted, burned and wiped out. I just wish the rest of the game was this adorable.
Dead Island 2 doesn’t take long to get into the action. After a short cutscene setting up this idealized version of Los Angeles and how it has become a kind of dead island, I chose Amy, one of six Slayers that you can play as in the game’s story. She is a Paralympian and an agile, speed-based character. While each of the six hunters has a different personality and backstory alongside two exclusive innate abilities, I finished Dead Island 2 feeling that whoever I play matters little narratively. Amy occasionally commented on having to leave Los Angeles to make it to her next running competition, but otherwise her barks and lines felt so general that I wasn’t worried about missing part of the larger Dead Island 2 -Narrative by not beating the game as every survivor.
Unlockable skill cards provide more of the variance I wanted. With 15 upgradable slots, I’ve set Amy up to play similar to the zombies I’ve fought, using their pounds, screams, punches and more against them. While some cards offer abilities that can be used against the undead, others are best described as perks that activate in combat, like my favorite which restored a bit of health every time I performed a perfect dodge or block . This card, coupled with ones that let me use moves I’d learned from nearby zombies, allowed my Amy to play to her strength: Agility. I was less focused on hitting hard and more on hitting a lot, but I could see how different maps would lead to different approaches to combat. The cards are easy to understand and fun to collect, which encourages me to try others often. It is with this system and weapons that players will find the greatest contrast between playthroughs.
Dead Island 2’s story takes Amy through many of the places you would love to visit in Los Angeles, from Beverly Hills to film studios to the Santa Monica Pier and of course Hollywood Boulevard. It’s not a compelling story and quickly fades into the background to explore the world and slay zombies, but it’s serviceable, sprinkled with the kind of characters you’d expect to find in post-apocalyptic LA like a Hollywood A-lister or washed up rock star. It also has a good pacing, rarely exceeding its welcome and letting me jump right back into the action when I start to miss it. But ultimately it’s not a story that will stay with me for long, even as the team continues to create adventures with this cast.
I was amazed by each place when I visited a new one. They’re lovingly designed, almost as if you’re getting the greatest hits of each location, perfect for the Los Angeles tourist romp that Dead Island 2 is at the end of the day.
Dead Island 2’s visual design made each location even more memorable – the game’s art is breathtaking at times. The landscape is bright and saturated, and so much of this world is steeped in blood, gore, and end-of-the-world storytelling. Zombies, dead and alive, paint the walls of celebrity mansions, corrosive guts simmer in the hallways of famous hotels, and my hacks and slashes only paint the streets redder. The extreme blood remained shocking throughout my nearly 20 hours. Heads literally rolled, arms were ripped off and guts spilled from abdomens as I watched my guns shred flesh. I would have liked this action to arrive a few hours sooner, but when it did, it continued to escalate to the end.
I loved how I could customize different weapons to do more damage to the undead. Weapons, of which there are a ton, vary in rarity, and rarer weapons allow for more customization with mods and upgrades. Perks allow you to increase weapon damage, change speed, increase durability, and more, and I liked that some offered pros and cons, which made me think more about what I got out of a gun wanted. The addition of fire, electricity, caustic acid, bleeding, and other enhancements to my weapons lent themselves well to the immersive, sim-like nature present throughout much of Dead Island 2’s world, as did throwable “curveballs” like chemical bombs and zombie bait.
All over Los Angeles, I found water fountains, electrical wires, gas spills, and other environmental evidence contributing to the destruction. And they are easy to read too. My electric wolverine claws could electrify water and the zombies within it, giving them the permanently damaging Electrified status effect. The same applies to fire and gasoline and other combinations. When the game introduced shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, and submachine guns into the mix, I had even more range in combat, both literally and by being able to interact with Dead Island 2’s immersive sim elements in new ways.
Dambuster Studios uses these elements to create short and sweet puzzles to reach loot and collectibles, and most of my post-campaign joy came from these. Side quests are okay, with some of the better ones leaning heavily on the caricatured version of Los Angeles. I imagine that most people who don’t live there, like me, have a big impact on the city and its people. I loved killing zombies on top of a cringe hype house on camera so an influencer could show her followers what was happening here, and using pyrotechnics from one film set to destroy hordes of zombies in another. These side quests, much like the main quests, shone when moving at a brisk pace. But sometimes areas become wave-based arenas where killing zombies gets exhausting, especially in the final third of the game.
Combat is most fun in short bursts when you’re taking out a handful of zombies. But some set pieces in the game throw dozens of zombies at you, and the thrill of combat can become a chore. Immersive sim elements and ability card abilities help spice up these sequences, but ultimately killing waves of zombies in the same arena quickly becomes tedious. This issue is particularly prominent and often cut short by the more interesting open-area combat that takes place throughout much of the game, especially outside of the main story quests.
With Dead Island 2 behind me, I’m thrilled that Dambuster Studios was able to successfully bring something we first learned about in 2014 to the finish line with their own take on the series’ vision. Dead Island 2 plays, looks and sounds like a 1990s B-movie horror comedy, and the team leans towards that full bore with their systems. The core of this game is zombie destruction, and Dead Island 2 offers both plenty of systems to engage in and plenty of zombies to destroy.” Its serviceable story is just enough to lure hunters beyond the Postcard locations of Los Angeles move at a brisk pace, and I appreciate how much side content is available within it to keep each visit entertaining.This game won’t stick with me for long, but I’m not sure if it was intended that way.With Dead Island 2, Dambuster Studios, asks little of the player – just that you have a good excuse to slay zombies in increasingly bloody ways for a weekend or two – while delivering on the promise of what this series is about.
