Image: PLAION
Dead Island 2 has proven to be worth the wait with gorgeous visuals, punchy combat and a fun story that refuses to take itself seriously.
After a long 11 years spent in development hell across three different game studios, it’s hard to believe that Dead Island 2 is an actual game that finally exists. Few projects can come out of such a troubled development cycle alive, let alone in good shape - but this zombie-infested action RPG can count itself among those few. I spent the last week exploring this game’s post-apocalyptic rendition of Los Angeles, doing all the touristy things one expects to do in the City of Angels: visiting movie sets, bumping into vapid celebrities and reaping the benefits of poor gun control on hapless zombified citizens.
My expectations were admittedly low following this sequel’s troubled development and Saints Row-like tone in its marketing, but it exceeded them anyway with a playfully satirical story, unapologetically gory combat and beautiful visuals. Even in death, Los Angeles shines bright. And there’s less traffic to deal with too!
The City of Zombified Angels
Dead Island 2's introduction is much like the first game; with a cinematic that introduces players to each of the game’s playable Slayers. You can’t reverse your pick of the bunch halfway through the story and their appearance isn’t customisable, so this is an important choice if you care about how you’re going to look and speak for the rest of the game. I went with Carla, a jacked motorcycle stunt rider who enters the apocalypse with an infectiously baffling level of enthusiasm. She’s also voiced by Carolina Ravassa (Sombra in Overwatch 2 and Raze in VALORANT), a fact which may have swayed my choice some.
Once you’ve picked your Slayer, the story hits the ground running. The zombie infection has spread beyond the first game’s fictional setting of Banoi into Los Angeles, California, which has unfortunate consequences on a flight your Slayer happens to be on. Fortunately, you quickly figure out that you're resistant to the pathogen that’s turning L.A.’s inhabitants into the growling and snarling undead, and so embark on a journey across a city on fire to save humanity. So far, so Dying Light 2.
Where Dying Light 2 took its main campaign far too seriously, however, Dead Island 2 is delightfully goofy. Almost everyone and everything you encounter throughout the story lampoons L.A. culture, from the rich celebrities living in opulent mansions to the massive canisters of protein powder that litter indoor gyms, kitchens and, inexplicably, RVs. This extends to the bratty Survivors you bump into pretty early on, before setting up a hub area in a nearby mansion to operate out of. As you progress through the story, you’ll see the mansion become more populated not only with people encountered through story quests but side missions as well. It’s a nice way of tying these sidequests back towards the main story and making you feel like they’re worth pursuing in the first place.
While these characters lack the depth or nuance necessary to become invested in their fates, there is a fun sense of levity to this game that makes it work. From the jump, the game is cracking jokes and throwing spoiled Hollywood elites at you, making it clear that while the zombie threat is serious, it has not created serious people. That being said, it’s a very low-stakes adventure at first - I would jump onto the next story mission not because I actually cared about what would happen next, but because I was curious to see what whacky adventure I was about to be pulled into.
Slice and dice to your heart's content
Even with everything on fire and streams of blood running down its roads, Dead Island 2’s version of L.A. is beautiful to look at. This is a very good-looking game on the PlayStation 5 (though its thin selection of visual settings left us wanting), exemplified by the water in its pools glistening under the sunlight, beautiful movie sets filled with easter eggs and rubble-filled collapsed hotel lots. The game divides its environments into multiple smaller open worlds, but they never feel overwhelming to explore when compared to checklist-filled titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. That being said, I noticed a confusing amount of copy-pasted interiors within these environments, to the point that I would enter a house or an RV and wonder if I had accidentally backtracked to a place I’d been to hours before.
Dead Island 2 has an otherwise keen eye for detail that becomes obvious whenever you’re swinging one of its melee weapons around. Combat in this game leans heavily towards melee weaponry, seeing as most zombies rush you in mobs, forcing you to fight at close range. There is a diverse range of weapons to pick from in this game, and you never feel locked into one thanks to the game’s forgiving weapon durability system. Everything breaks, but not so often and never irreparably as in games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Different weapons encourage different playstyles, to the point that it can be a joy to find something new and wonder what it could do to the poor undead soul next to you. Knives are incredibly satisfying and blazing fast, while maces practically pick zombies up and fling them into the skies above.
Combat is fun and satisfying, which is good because you’re going to be doing a whole lot of it by the time the campaign is complete. The game also leaves you plenty of room to tailor your own playstyle, or even switch between a few of them in quick succession: each Slayer comes with their own set of stats such as health and agility, swappable Skill Cards grant special abilities like dropkicks (so good!) and dodging, and all of your weapons can be customised at a workbench.
The game encourages you to mix different elements together when taking apart zombies in the form of gas barrels, pools of acid and exposed wiring. You can add water to electricity to electrocute zombies, light tar on fire to set them aflame or kick them into toxic green acid to melt them down. Unfortunately, after you’ve tossed a battery into a pool for the hundredth time, these interactions can feel very one-note. The main story offers much more fun ways to play with these elements, but you’ll never find those same opportunities during regular exploration. The same elemental effects can also be applied to your weapons via blueprints found in the open world(s), which does lead to a pretty fun power curve as the story progresses.
Part of what makes fighting zombies in this game such a joy is its fantastic gore system. Set zombies aflame, and they emerge from the fires as charred, shambling wrecks. Whack their heads with a baseball bat, and an eyeball will pop out and dangle by the fibres. When using sharp weapons like swords, you can cut off zombie limbs and leave Runners without the ability to rush at you, or the big Crushers without the earth-shaking ability to ground pound. There is so much bloody and visceral gore on display in every second of combat, and while jiggling intestines and peeling flesh might turn away many who are squeamish, I was simply left in awe. Awe, and the need to go on an Evil Dead binge.
Verdict
I have vivid memories of seeing Dead Island 2’s infamous E3 2014 trailer playing on a loop in game stores for months after its reveal, making this one of the longest marketing cycles I have ever been subjected to. Thankfully, it was worth the wait. Dead Island 2’s world is diverse and satisfying to explore, with a surprisingly fun campaign that has you visit movie lots and raid influencer incubators as you slice and dice your way across the burning City of Angels. The story and its main cast might not have been as compelling as I’d have liked, but the game’s meaty combat, lighthearted tone and fantastic gore kept me coming back for more.
With so much fun to be had, it’s difficult not to recommend Dead Island 2 as the entertaining turn-your-brain-off adventure that it is. Chop off a few limbs, dropkick some zombies and do it all either solo or in multiplayer co-op. What’s not to like?
Dead Island 2 launches on April 21, 2023, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.