Synopsis: A deadly virus is spreading across Los Angeles, turning inhabitants into zombies. Bitten, infected, but more than just immune, uncover the truth behind the outbreak and discover who — or what — you are.
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Also available for: PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC
Developer: Dambuster Studios
Publisher: Deep Silver
Cast: Jennifer Armour, Skye Bennett, Kick Wingert, Carolina Ravassa, Michelle Fox, Ronan Summers, Derek Siow, Okezie Morrow
The blood-soaked combat and zombie-slaying carnage in Dead Island 2 was everything I needed it to be. Having not played the first game, I only had a few expectations for this game, but it’s precisely what you’d expect based on all the game’s marketing. The narrative is thin, but the violence is thick, and the game’s biome design over a fully fledged open world had me nodding approvingly.
There’s no messing about with the opening cutscene for Dead Island 2, introducing the game’s six playable characters and how they all get aboard a plane attempting to leave Los Angeles. Of course, a zombie on board soon sends the plane spiralling back to the ground, and you’ll have a chance to pick out of the six whomever you want to play as for the campaign. Each character has two unique passive skills, pushing them towards certain weapons or playstyles and slight changes in their stats. I completed the game as Dani, a rockabilly punk with a massive boost in her endurance over other characters but one of the lowest health regeneration rates out of the six. Other characters include Amy, an athlete; Ryan, an erotic dancer; and Jacob, the game’s cover star, who is featured with a katana most of the time.
Whichever character you pick, the other five seem to die in the crash as you never meet or see them again, but this does encourage doing multiple playthroughs or at least playing with a different character when doing co-op with friends. You can start up to six additional save files, allowing you to do this, and quickly switching between the characters from the main menu is easy. Whoever you choose to play as, the game goes down the same story path, although whoever you’re playing changes their attitude towards each scenario and how they talk to other characters. What you’ll be doing doesn’t change, however, and that is lots and lots of zombie killing. Especially after you get past the first thirty-odd minutes of Dead Island 2 and it’s revealed you’re immune to zombie bites. This doesn’t make your character invincible or unkillable, but it does make them able to risk their life on the streets of California much easier than the other characters you’ll be talking to in the game.
For most of the game, you’ll only have access to melee weapons, but these can be upgraded and used in tandem with Skill Cards for your character to achieve even deadlier combos. A simple pole can become heavier and strung up with an electric prod, which will shock enemies that it not only hits but can be used to throw into puddles and pools to shock all the zombies standing within it. Earning different Skill Cards as you play will allow you to do things like drop-kick a zombie off a cliff Sparta-style and change up your block button to be a block/counter or a dashing manoeuvre. The Skill Card system, over the use of a typical skill point system, can feel a little gimmicky in execution, but changing up several of your Skill Cards at any point to take on different types of foes makes it more customizable. There’s little to how you attack enemies, with an attack or power attack being your options outside of throwing a weapon. That is — until you unlock a gun in the latter half of the game, which becomes a last option to shred the more powerful foes.
Although combat can feel simple, the execution is gorgeously grotesque thanks to Dead Island 2‘s ‘F.L.E.S.H’ system (Fully Locational Evisceration System for Humanoids). If you attack a zombie’s leg with a katana, it’ll slice realistically; if you come down hard over their head with a hammer, it’ll pop it like a watermelon, and if you run out of weapons to use, your fists will work the zombies’ flesh down until their eyeball is hanging from a socket. Dead Island 2 is by far the most brutal zombie game I’ve played. Still, even with the F.L.E.S.H system shredding enemies’ body parts from their bones in an almost medical fashion, the game doesn’t feel gross to play, as Dead Island 2 is never trying to scare you or tell a dark narrative. You’ll laugh and gain pleasure in the violence because it’s both ridiculous and well put together.
Combat can become somewhat repetitive, but I found consistent joy in slicing zombie foes. Weapons will wear down and break after being used, but you can repair them at workbenches, so you’ll always retain your favourite weapons. If you find something that has a specific skill or elemental damage you like, you can pay to keep upgrading the level of that weapon up to your current level and increase its overall stats. You’ll want to keep at least a couple of weapons with different elemental abilities on you at all points, however, as some enemies, like Fireman zombies, are resistant to fire damage, and Labcoat zombies will resist poison damage. This does help with the blind slashing and button mashing that can often occur amid a big zombie battle. That said, when guns are finally introduced, it makes for a big moment, as it wasn’t until about eight hours into my sixteen-hour playthrough. You’ll have limited ammo, which you can craft or purchase from NPCs, but when you’re in the middle of a mission, there’s a risk of using your ammo too early on weaker zombies and not having it as a trump card against some of the more potent types that can show up unannounced.
In Dead Island 2, you’ll explore the backstreets of the rich and famous in Hollywood, seek help in Beverly Hills, sink your knees in sewerage, and go beneath the streets to San Francisco. Unlike the other popular first-person zombie game, Dying Light 2, the traversal and world of Dead Island 2 are both slower-paced and simpler. There’s no parkour system, no fancy wall-running, and you can’t even jump into any of the cars parked in the suburbs. But with the restricted ways around exploring California also comes one of my favourite things about Dead Island 2, which is the smaller biomes of each location rather than an overly bloated open world. With this comes a feeling of getting to know each of the locations, like the Beverly Hills location, like the back of your hand, and as you complete either story missions or side quests, unlocking shortcuts that’ll get you around the area faster. I wish the characters could have a double-tap sprint to move faster, especially once you’ve beaten the game and want to move quickly around an area completing side quests. Still, none of these places feels big enough that you wish you had a car or other vehicle to get around. When you unlock fast travel, it’s at the mid-to-late-game point too, and even then, you have to be on a map to travel to another one in a different location.
I managed to jump into another player’s game quickly in the review period to test co-op, and everything works just as you’d expect. However, it is a different game with more players and the “me against the world” feeling that comes when playing the game solo is lost. I’d love to spend more time completing side quests with other players in their own finished story save files, but if you’re planning on jumping into Dead Island 2 yourself, I do think the solo experience is the best way to start playing the game and then decide for yourself if you’d prefer to see the story missions through alone, or invite someone else along for the journey.
Some wild narrative threads come up in the second half of Dead Island 2, leaving the game open for a bunch of expansions or a sequel. But considering how long it took for Dead Island 2 to release, I hope it’s the DLC plan. With that said, most of the time, Dead Island 2 is happy to play a less-serious note than Dying Light 2, and the tone is much more tongue-in-cheek with in-world jokes around big tech companies, America and the obsession with guns and more. The humour might not hit for everyone, but I chuckled at least a few times. The game managed to ride a thin line between being too silly and just silly enough.
Dead Island 2 knows exactly what it wants to be, and it goes for the jugular with extreme melee combat and dismembering slow-motion finishing moves. There’s plenty to love here if you can accept some of the repetitive nature that comes hand-in-hand with the game’s commitment to bat-beating zombies to death — quite literally. If you want a faster-paced zombie game, or something with a more substantial story, there will be a better game for you.
(Dead Island 2 code provided for review)
