Dead Island 2's uncompromising nature to merely exist is a story unto itself. Throughout its symphony of spectacular undead slaughter there's little to do outside of comic melee combat and semi-rewarding exploration. And really, that's okay.
Dead Island 2 is a bit of a nostalgia bomb for me.
At perhaps my last or second-to-last E3 I sat in a room and watched an early demo of the game. Like many, I had been wowed by that stellar trailer for the original Dead Island but disappointed the game didn’t deliver any similar gut punches.
Dead Island: Riptide was one of the first cooperative games I played with a group of fellow writers and reviewers before it was fully release. It too did little to truly wow me. Being set in Los Angeles, I couldn’t help but reminisce the few years I lived out in sunny California (though LA was kind of a nightmare to navigate).
The fact that Dead Island 2 exists today as a game that was stuck in development hell, changed developers, but ultimately released is quite remarkable. Few games get second winds, let alone third and fourth ones.
It should come as no surprise that, despite what was likely a mechanical and/or narrative reboot here and there, Dead Island 2 does show its age as a game that has been gestating for nearly a decade. Thankfully, it does not shamble out into the spotlight like one its thousands of undead fodder. And judging where expectations should align with this game is quite the task. Should we applaud the mere fact that it came out as a product that players could buy? Do we tear it asunder for not implementing ideas found in games from the past decade?
Dead Island 2, often, is merely just a sequel to Dead Island, a game I, probably like many others, barely remember. Certainly this is not a storied franchise that has burned itself into the zeitgeist. But despite all this time, I think Dead Island 2 deserves recognition. Regardless of the semi-ancient sheen, Dead Island 2 embraces the core concept that has made similar games worthwhile and attempted any number of feats to varying degrees of success. And even after hundreds and thousands of zombies clobbered to death, it still feels good mutilating the hell out of them.
“Hell-A” (which I only just now realized is also “hella” as I typed this) has been hit with the zombie plague. Though not an island as ourselves or geographers would understand, Los Angeles is definitely a world unto itself. The flashy luxury of Hollywood, the million-dollar homes of Bel Air, the sandy beach of Venice, and any number of other sights and sounds have made Los Angeles one of the marquee locales for games, especially open world ones.
As one of six optional characters, players are on a flight out of the damned city until, guess what, a passenger turns out to be infected and the military shoots the plane out of the sky. The narrative kicks off by saving the life of Emma Jaunt, a high-profile celebrity, and then getting bit in the process only to find out you’re immune.
The golden path has players ping-ponging between multiple parts of the city searching for important survivors, rubbing elbows with notable characters, discovering the nature of the zombie outbreak, hunting for a cure, and a few other tropes. It’s passable as far as narrative thrusts go. A few primary characters will stand out more than others and a handful of setpiece moments attempt to dazzle.
Yet Dead Island 2 never astounded me with its storytelling. But surprisingly, I was sometimes let down that the game didn’t provide punchier commentary on California and Hollywood culture. Sure, we mock plastic surgeries and the vapidity of celebrity but only a few beats are on the level of something like Grand Theft Auto. While the game does have some great discoverable lore and notes (alongside extremely detailed environments that tell their own stories), I really wanted a better main story for these characters, or at least one that felt a bit less dated.
Social commentary is here. There’s an early side mission that has players slaughtering zombies so the last surviving member of a streamer house can record the mayhem for her followers, despite the fact that the world has other concerns, along with the internet being down. I certainly laughed and chuckled my way through the game. But what surprised me the most were the playable characters and their written dialog.
For my main survivor, I chose Dani, an Irish woman who competed in roller derbies. For a brief time I played as Bruno, a guy who was supposedly an expert thief but looked like a juggalo who would stick out like a sore thumb. From what I could tell, all of these six survivors have unique dialog that isn’t just a simple variation where a few words are exchanged. These people have personalities meant to shine through and allow the player to really soak up their view on the world and what’s going on. I loved hearing Dani’s slang come through and how she seemed to be open to partying despite everything falling apart. It provides a decent incentive to try out other characters on subsequent playthroughs or when engaging in co-op.
Interestingly, Dead Island 2 approaches its world map by breaking up large areas through a loading screen. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this “not so open” world but then realized it helped give each locale the space and room to breathe. While some of these sections can feel a bit samey, like the couple that are literally just suburbs with big houses and wide streets, each does have its own unique flavor.
Players are incentivized to explore every nook and cranny but, somewhat frustratingly, not every area can be completed on the first pass. Locked doors and secret pathways are seemingly inaccessible until the story progresses or players happen upon a specific zombie that holds a specific key. Patience is eventually rewarded with a unique item that hopefully isn’t immediately trumped by something currently in the player’s inventory.
Though I couldn’t tell if these sectioned-off parts of the world were leftover from the game’s former lives, I didn’t often find its implementation to be dated. Load times on the PlayStation 5 only lasted a few seconds. And no place is overly confusing to navigate because more often than not, broken-down cars or high hedges and fences will block any hopes of parkouring over a barricade.
Over the course of Dead Island 2, players will find and unlock a number of skill cards that can be slotted to their character. Meant to provide passive boosts and active skills, these cards are the most diverse way of changing up a playstyle. Each survivor is permanently equipped with two skill cards unique to them. Dani would emit a burst of force with heavy attacks and regain health after killing multiple zombies in succession–a crucial passive bonus.
From there, four skill card trees have slots that unlock over time for cards to be applied to. One section focuses on ultimate attacks, the other on defensive moves like dodges and blocks, and the rest on more active boons. Considering how focused Dead Island 2 is on melee combat, I usually went with cards that made my character more agile and my swings faster or better at destroying limbs.
Dead Island 2 throws a lot of zombies at players. But it also shoves about as many melee weapons into their face as well. Whether a fire axe, a piece of rebar, a broadsword, a police baton, a pool cue, a knife, or whatever the imagination can think of, players can pick it up and swing it at a zombie.
Weapons are assigned to certain classes that inflict different kinds of damage. There’s maiming weapons that specialize in limb damage or bludgeoning weapons that sweep big and can knock back. Weapons hit fast and do less damage or go slow and do more damage. Each melee weapon has a durability that causes the weapon to eventually break the more times it connects with zombie flesh or is thrown or struck against the environment.
Where Dead Island 2 goes the extra mile is in its workbench customization of these weapons. Weapons have customization slots, where higher rarity items have more slots. Using the countless amounts of materials scavenged around the world, players can apply mods to weapons that add damage types like fire and electricity, cause the item to do more damage but lose durability, swing faster but have less force, and more.
Unmodded weapons can get the job done for small pockets of zombies. But as the game continues, new enemy types are introduced that really emphasize using multiple tactics to eliminate. In fact, Dead Island 2 prides itself on creating combat scenarios that emphasize mayhem.
Often, players will see puddles of gasoline or live electric lines around the world. Nearby is likely a jerry can containing water, or perhaps acid. See a pool full of undead? Throw your electric spear in there and watch them die in seconds. Hit the ground near gas and watch the fire fly. Zombies begin to carry around water jugs or are infused with specific elements making them immune to that damage type but perfect to set up as time bombs or moving environmental hazards.
What really makes the action of Dead Island 2 come alive, however, is the gruesome, gory destruction imparted upon these formerly living subjects. Not only is the sheer variety of character models on display with outfits, faces, and hairstyles, attention was placed on creating location-specific zombies that actually belong in specific areas.
And then you start swinging.
The first time I bashed a zombie across the head and watched part of its jaw separate from the skull and dangle loosely I was shocked. Then I shoved one in the face with a pool cue and watched its eye pop out and wobble around. Zombies take violent damage to all parts of their body and it is some of the most technically and mechanically gratifying shit I’ve ever dealt with.
As disgusting as it may seem, there’s something satisfying about watching a chunk of flesh fall off a zombie and see its innards pulse and throb. Knife slashes will streak across clothing, exposing bone. Arms will break and crumble, hanging care-free as the zombie is force to use its other arm as a weapon. Environmental destruction is one thing but this undead destruction is a whole other beast and allowed me to appreciate just how impressive this game is on a technical level–even when objects would get stuck in the environment and crash around until they eventually dissolved. When a zombie caught on fire only the parts of the body that were burned would be blackened to a crisp. After being showered with acid, that same burned zombie would have his skin melted away exposing skull as wet flesh oozed and warped.
The thing about Dead Island 2 is that it can be really fun. About a third into the game, guns are introduced and even those can be customized in wild ways. Shooting doesn’t feel great but it’s yet another tool in players’ belt. Throwable objects are introduced that can instantly create bizarre hazards for zombies. Skill decks can be customized to turn players into a raging death machine.
But, eventually, you’re going to get to the point where you realize that this game is primarily about hitting zombies over and over again with increasingly weirder and higher-level weapons. You might grow attached to one weapon and want to spend the cash to level it up and eventually stop because you know better stuff is coming. Maybe you will want to seek out fuses to get into locked caches but just prefer sticking towards story progression.
There comes a point in the game where everything gels into a competent, coherent experience. But also one that never truly breaks out of the mold. Bring some friends along and it will be less lonely but still likely a game where you will chat about your days and occasionally remark or chuckle about something that just happened on screen. Some moments will dazzle or impress, many won’t. But in the end, that basic joy is still there.
Dead Island 2 often is nothing more than a game where players use ridiculously customized weapons to ravage zombies in increasingly gruesome ways. It’s comically satisfying how good it feels to tear through hordes of the undead–and it looks absurdly vile. It may not be a diamond forged over time, yet it’s hard to deny the fun to be had tearing it up in Hell-A. But does the idea of doing that hour after hour with small amount of variety sound appealing? If not then, Dead Island 2 won’t lure you in.
