Nine years after its initial announcement, Dead Island 2’s reanimated corpse has burst forth from below the soil of a turbulent and multiple studio spanning game development cycle, its sights set on elevating the franchise to new and improved heights. Set against the backdrop of a recently quarantined Los Angeles amidst a mysterious zombie virus outbreak, the player is tasked with navigating their way from Bel-Air to Santa Monica in an effort to assist in the production of a vaccine after their apparent immunity is revealed.\

Along the way, you’ll encounter multiple groups of survivors, take in the incredible blood-stained sights and sounds of L.A, sift through piles of journal entries left behind by those who have long since fled or met their demise, and mow down hordes of the undead in breathtakingly brutal fashion.




Once the opening cutscene comes to an end, excellently setting the stage and placing the societal collapse into perspective, you’re able to pick from one of six slayers to serve as your playable character throughout your tour of mayhem. I took longer making my decision here than I’d like to admit, as every potential protagonist not only boasts their own visually striking design, but also carries a series of pros and cons in the stats department alongside two innate skills unique to that slayer. Settling on Dead Island 2’s poster boy and aspiring stuntman, Jacob, I escaped the wreckage of the evacuation plane I hitched a ride on during the introductory sequence and set forth on my zombie murder quest with the Californian sun’s glow fading in the background.

Due to the decidedly disastrous situation you find yourself in, your primary source of self-defence will mostly consist of grabbing anything that isn’t nailed down in order to get the job done.

Naturally, at the top of your zombie apocalypse survival list sits weaponry. If you’re going to stand any chance at making progress in your travels throughout Dead Island 2’s roughly 20-hour long main story, you’re going to need to get your hands on some serious armaments. Due to the decidedly disastrous situation you find yourself in, your primary source of self-defence will mostly consist of grabbing anything that isn’t nailed down in order to get the job done.



Sledgehammers, crowbars, pool cues, wrenches, machetes, and bits of timber are just some examples of the melee options available to you, strewn about each location or stored within supply crates. Throwables (or “curveballs”) like shuriken and meat bait used for distracting zombies are another good way to deal damage and enforce some crowd control while maintaining your distance.

Bash in enough decomposed skulls and you’ll have to repair your trusty damage dealer. This is accomplished at one of various workbenches dotted around each area, mostly situated in relatively safe and secluded points near a fast-travel map (unlocked later in the game) such as a survivor’s residence. In addition to fixing your damaged goods, you’re free to craft and equip various modifications (only on uncommon, rare, or superior weapons) that enhance the tool’s lethality.



Weapon mods can even add additional types of damage to the chosen item, including electrocution and incendiary properties. Perks add another layer of improvement and often carry a drawback as a trade-off for the increased power, like reducing durability in exchange for more damage. New mods and perks can be unlocked for crafting by picking up blueprints. You’ll likely naturally encounter these through game progression, often resting atop or beside any new workbenches you run across, or via completion of certain quests.

Perks add another layer of improvement and often carry a drawback as a trade-off for the increased power, like reducing durability in exchange for more damage.

Without going into too much story and spoiler-y details, guns do eventually get added to your offensive line-up. While they tend to pick off foes with greater ease in comparison to your more conventional melee alternatives, the lack of an abundance of ammunition coupled with just how immensely satisfying the feeling of clobbering three zombies at once with a scaffolding pole is, means you’re better off conserving them for emergency use or as a last resort.



Another heavily plot-centric ability known as fury mode is unlocked at around the halfway point in the game, allowing you to channel pure undead-fuelled rage to tear surrounding zombies to shreds with your bare hands. That’s all I’ll say on that topic for the sake of preserving some surprises for when you actually get your hands on the game.

Combat in Dead Island 2 is visceral, hard-hitting, and not once felt repetitive. Every up close and personal encounter almost has a rhythm to it. A zombie will lunge for your throat and, if you dodge at just the right time, you’re offered a chance at a special counterattack, including a head stomp for those undead who end up on the ground. This back and forth works well in small groups; larger crowds will require more care and use of environmental factors like luring the throng towards exposed wiring in puddles of water or igniting nearby explosive barrels. There’s a healthy variety of enemies to contend with, an in-game Zompedia cataloguing the weaknesses and resistances of every type out there.



Some zombies are nimbler than others and will repeatedly throw their entire body at you. Others will lob balls of gunk your way or explode after taking enough damage. The dev team’s much-touted procedural flesh destruction is a sight to behold, severed limbs and halved torsos flying through the air with each katana slice. Thanks to how fun getting into fights feels, even though you could theoretically run past a lot of the wandering dead along the roads between destinations, chances are you’ll choose violence every time. There appears to be absolutely zero consequences for dying outside of some scripted story events, so go nuts.

Thanks to how fun getting into fights feels, even though you could theoretically run past a lot of the wandering dead along the roads between destinations, chances are you’ll choose violence every time.

Complementing the various combat approaches at your disposal, a limited number of skill cards allowing for buffs or powerful attacks can be equipped to your slayer. These cards come in different flavours: ability cards are acquired through main storyline progression and fill the role of your basic generic combat techniques, slayer cards focus on actions revolving around zombie kills, and survivor cards deal with keeping you alive for as long as possible. Extra cards, like blueprints, can also be found just by digging around as you complete quests. Your slayer’s combat style and behaviour is thus totally shaped by your specific card combination.



It really is in your best interest to take your time to explore every inch of a room before moving on. The same can be said for the larger area as a whole. L.A.’s landscapes are sliced up into multiple districts, each separated by a loading screen instead of existing within one giant, seamless open world. These zones are just the right size, in my opinion, and brimming with small environmental details. Whether you’re digging around back alleys covered in garbage, streets lined with abandoned vehicles and burst fire hydrants, or stumbling upon the remains of a YouTube apology video recording session (complete with whiteboard containing sympathy cues) the attention to detail exhibited within both indoor and outdoor locations is truly impressive.

The team at Dambuster Studios really made an effort in giving the world that distinct feeling of having been full of life leading up to the whole zombie virus issue crashing the party. There’s a real sense of exploration encouragement and, despite how linear each area may appear when viewed from up above through the in-game map screen, every location’s layout feels completely believable and naturally arranged when exploring on foot. There are plenty of minor detours and side areas to pore through, a hefty amount of which are hidden behind sealed doors requiring the insertion of a fuse to enter. From what I can tell, these are only purchasable from the multiple vendors around Los Angeles and cannot be found in the world. If they can be looted, I haven’t found one yet.



Bringing up your map also fills you in on any available side quests or lost and found missions you may have missed. I highly advise completing these and not forgetting about them, as the rewards (at least from the tasks I performed) were usually well worth the time and effort. Plus, it never hurts to spend more time getting to know areas of the map you may not have seen simply following the main story prompts, or getting familiar with more roaming and stranded survivors. Side missions are pretty much exactly what you’d expect: completing non-plot related errands for NPCs. Lost and found challenges see you following a series of clues with the eventual goal being the procurement of a valuable item, usually a weapon of some sort.

My main issue lies with just how inconsistent the quality of writing can be.

There is a surprising amount of dialogue within Dead Island 2, and is simultaneously a positive and a massive negative. My main issue lies with just how inconsistent the quality of writing can be. It feels like once the initial script was completed, an entirely separate team was hired with the sole purpose of injecting as much comedy into every sentence as humanly possible, whether it worked or not. That’s not to say it’s all bad.



When the jokes landed, they left me with a goofy smile on my face or made me chuckle in amusement. Hearing your chosen slayer musing to themselves when faced with near insurmountable odds and finding out more about their personality through their self-directed commentary makes you feel closer to them in a weird way. I just wish the game didn’t try so damn hard to desperately clutch at comedic straws at every opportunity.

All of the carnage and adventure explained above can be experienced by yourself, or with a maximum of two additional co-op buddies – once you’ve all completed the first handful of story missions, of course. Much to my (and everyone else’s) dismay, cross-platform multiplayer is not implemented. Cross-gen play is a thing, however. This means that all PS4 and PS5 players can hang out together, and Xbox One and Series X/S users are able to do the same.



Dead Island 2 ran surprisingly well on PS5. I experienced exactly zero major bugs or crashes, the only notable technical hiccups being a subtle micro-drop in frames during extended periods of sprinting from one end of the map to the other, as well as very rare instances of misbehaving physics and missing sound effects. I’m also not entirely sure if this is an intended feature, but it seems that all lootable crafting supplies and med-kits reappear when leaving an area and returning.

I had one hell of a time making my way through zombie-infested Los Angeles in Dead Island 2, and I found myself craving more whenever the controller wasn’t in my hands. The addictive blend of over-the-top action, intense combat, beautiful and diverse surroundings, and the need to satisfy my curiosity in experiencing everything Hell-A had to offer kept me well entertained. No matter how many heads I sent rolling, I came back for more. With plans for additional content lurking not too far off on the horizon, I’ve already booked my first-class seats for a return flight.



*PS5 Review code provided by Deep Silver | Reviewed by Ryan Pretorius