DEAD ISLAND 2 Review: Lost At Sea For Too Long?

PC Review Code Provided by Deep Silver

Deep Silver announced Dead Island 2 nearly 9 years ago at E3 2014 and it has had a troubled production ever since. With developer woes and countless delays, Dead Island 2 has fought hard to make it to our current-gen consoles and PCs. But has the long wait been worthwhile?

Story

The game throws 6 different individuals into the fray of a zombie apocalypse set in Los Angeles. These “slayers” are all immune to the virus, allowing them to head out to the dangerous streets of L.A. and helping others survive the undead madness. The story does not waste much time giving players the basis of the plot, which essentially is to meet up with an unknown voice over the radio that claims to need you for their vaccine program. A typical zombie apocalypse plotline that gives purpose to all of the zombie-killing action but not much else.

Comedy is definitely the focus of the title, keeping things very light-hearted which I did appreciate. Unfortunately, I did not care much for the story, I found it fairly generic which is not very surprising in an over-saturated market full of zombie titles. The game does not do a great job of character development and pretty much just gives reasons to change the scenery of the game. There is a bit of a plot twist but again, I would be lying if I said I did not see it coming. All-in-all, if you were expecting a deep and fully fleshed-out narrative then you may be disappointed with this one.

Gameplay

Dead Island 2’s melee combat is the highlight of the game. Building upon the first game that was released 12 years ago, the combat feels clean. Clearly, the developers put a lot of time in making sure that the melee combat felt just right. No matter what weapon you use in Dead Island 2 it feels exactly as it should. Blunt weapons smash with brute force, blades slice zombies' flesh with realistic collision, and the game’s physics are fantastic. Drop-kicking zombies into a pit of sizzling acid never gets old and slicing a zombie in half with a powerful modded axe is always satisfying. There is much fun to be had with combat especially when playing with friends. Feel free to experiment with different combinations of weapons and modifications to tweak the playstyle to your liking. Thankfully, there is a large number of weapons that you can carry on your character without having to constantly fiddle with your inventory, like most RPGs. Oh, that's right, Dead Island 2 has RPG elements in this first-person zombie title. Character progression, unlockable skill cards, and the ability to upgrade weapons are all part of the gameplay flow.

I really appreciated the fact that the skills can be changed willingly at any time during the game. For instance, instead of drop-kicking zombies, you can swap the skill to a flying kick, which does not do as much damage or kickback but it does not leave you vulnerable on the floor either. There are many cards that can be unlocked by leveling up your character or by completing challenges throughout your campaign.

The campaign is fully playable in co-op from start to finish with drop-in and drop-out functionality…kind of. You see, your friends can only join your game if you are both on the same main quest mission. This was a bit disappointing, considering that the only other option is to start a brand new slayer and dedicate it strictly to playing with your friend. Then, when your friend is offline, you’ll have to swap over to another slayer and likely replay those same main quests yet again on your solo profile. It is far from a perfect system and can lead to some frustration. Thankfully, you can join your friend who hasn’t advanced as far as you have, but still play through their main quests until they catch up with your progress. This allows you to still use the weapons you have found from your session.

The game really pushes you to try out all of the slayers to experiment and see which ones you prefer according to your playstyle. The problem is that the linear levels and constant restarting and backtracking (oh the backtracking!) will surely put a wear on returning players. Having 6 playable slayers is a nice touch, but the repetitive nature of the gameplay doesn't do it any justice. Not only that, but the slayers themselves unfortunately do not feel much different from one another. Special attacks and skills are underwhelming and that just leaves you with different skins and voice lines.

The levels in Dead Island 2 are not open-world but more like fairly-sized sandboxes. Some are larger than others but I was never blown away by the scale, in fact, I left many levels wishing there was more to explore. The good news is that these levels a very well polished and there is a lot packed into these smaller levels. Secret rooms, unlockable doors, tons of keys (keys are everywhere), and of course a multitude of zombies. The levels are also designed with combat in mind, just about around every corner you will find something to interact with to aid you in the zombie slaying.

My main complaint about the gameplay is that it does not feel unique or fresh. It is very well optimized and yes there is fun to be had, but Dead Island 2 doesn’t try to do anything new. It plays it safe and ends up offering a very similar experience to the first title that launched 12 years ago! Nowadays with the likes of countless zombie titles that have launched since the first Dead Island, there are a ton of options and many can offer a more unique experience than Dead Island 2. 

Audio and Visual

The performance is fantastic and runs impeccably. The game looks great on PC with solid frames so optimization seems to be well done. The minimum specs are not too demanding either to run the game at 1080p 60fps which was a smart decision. The zombies in this game are the best I have ever seen in any zombie title, they look realistic are gory. DI2’s dismemberment system is very impressive, creating some horrific and realistic dismemberment throughout the game. Jaws hanging on by a hinge, legs sliced off, and whole bodies split in half are the normal sights for the average zombie slayer. All of this in conjunction with the physics system makes the game look fantastic. Even the internal organs of the zombies bounce around within the corpse when you are bashing them to bits. A sadistic but oddly satisfying detail.

The game has an upbeat and comedic tone throughout the entirety, this includes its soundtrack, Zombies grunt and screech as they should, while the voice acting was mostly very well done. I personally really enjoyed Jacob's lines in the game and felt the acting was done flawlessly. Your slayer has a lot to say on their adventure to save the world and will typically make quips throughout the journey which helped with immersion.

Replayability

There are 6 different slayers to choose from that all have different stats and special abilities. The appeal would be to play the campaign 6 different times with each slayer, unlocking all skills and finding the ultimate zombie slaying weapon. This is a tough one because this sounds like the game is highly replayable but the campaign just feels too repetitive to endure 6 playthroughs. Honestly, I did not feel the need to complete the story multiple times just to experience all of the slayers. Maybe if the story changed drastically based on which slayer you play as there would be more appeal. But it's just more retrading through the same levels, over and over again.

What It Could Have Done Better

I respect the polish put into this game. It runs and feels superb. However, when it comes to gameplay and content, there isn’t much new here. If you are looking for a mindless hack-and-slash zombie title to play with your friends then you are in luck. But even so, the repetitive nature of the game design will eventually take its toll. I wish the game was more open and there were more random events to encounter, something that really ups the ante to provide that sense of unknown. Unfortunately, we are just left with a linear gameplay loop.

Verdict

Dead Island 2 sticks to its old gameplay structure from 2011. Level-based advancement as opposed to an open-world setting and it is structured on a very linear design. Sure, side quests can extend playtime and offer random rewards, but is it enough? The game would feel like a huge upgrade if it had been released shortly after the latest Dead Island back in 2013. But with so many similar titles released at this point, Dead Island 2 really missed the mark to become something unique and to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, its lighthearted humor and fun melee combat aren’t enough to keep me around for multiple playthroughs. It ends up just feeling like an old game with a fresh coat of modern graphics.

Dead Island 2 releases on April 21st for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via EGS.