Dead Island 2
Dead Island 2 is a 2023 action role-playing survival horror game developed by Dambuster Studios and published by Deep Silver. It is a sequel to Dead Island and the third major installment in the series. Set about 15 years after the events of the original game and Dead Island: Riptide, the game follows six playable characters as they attempt to escape a full quarantine restricted zone in Los Angeles in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Instead of a large open world like its predecessor, Los Angeles is split into 10 different open zones, which players can freely explore. Players can use a variety of melee weapons, firearms and explosives to dispatch enemies. The game also introduces a procedurally generated dismemberment system, which can create weapon-appropriate wounds on zombies.
Announced in 2014, Dead Island 2 endured a lengthy development and saw several changes in the studios attached to the project. The developer of the original game, Techland, started the project in 2012, though Deep Silver disagreed with its creative vision and instead tasked Yager Development, the developer of Spec Ops: The Line to develop the sequel. The size of the project and its focus on online multiplayer proved to be challenging for a small team. Yager was removed in 2015 and replaced the following year by Sumo Digital, which was then replaced by Dambuster, an internal studio of Deep Silver, in 2018. Despite not being an island, Los Angeles was chosen to be the game's setting due to its diverse locations and culture, which fit with the overall motif of the franchise.
Announced in August 2022, the final iteration of Dead Island 2 was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in April 2023, and macOS in July 2025. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, which praised the game's visuals, setting and gameplay, though its story and combat received criticisms. It was a commercial success for the studio, selling more than 3 million units by May 2024, surpassing Deep Silver's expectations and became its fastest-selling game. It was nominated for Best Action Game at The Game Awards 2023. Dambuster Studios released two downloadable content packs for the game. A sequel titled Dead Island 3 is set to be released in 2028.
Gameplay
Like its predecessor, Dead Island 2 is an action role-playing game played from a first-person perspective. While players can play the game solo, it also supports three-player cooperative multiplayer. Dead Island 2 takes place in Los Angeles in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. At the beginning of the game, players select from one of six playable characters as their player avatar, called a Slayer, each with their own unique skills and abilities. They have to choose from one of two defensive abilities, either learning to block or dodge hostile attacks; a well-timed dodge or block can open up opportunities for counterattack. The game's world is divided into 10 different zones. While the player can freely explore each zone, they must travel between different zones through Zone Exits. As the player progresses in the game, they will unlock fast travel points, allowing them to travel to different locations quickly. Each location also has their own side quests and unique zombie types.Players can pick up both ranged and melee weapons to defeat enemies. Both types of weapons are divided into four different categories, each having their own combat focus and facilitating a certain playstyle. For instance, headhunting weapons deal devastating damage to an enemy's head, while maiming weapons can effectively tear their limbs. Each weapon also has their own attributes; for example, Force dictates how much the player character's stamina will be drained while using it, while Speed determines how frequent the player can swing the weapon consecutively. Weapons can be further customized with mods, which add elemental effects, and perks, which can alter the player's stats. Players can equip any two throwable weapons at a time, each with a short cooldown after use. The game features a system named "FLESH", a procedurally generated dismemberment system which can create weapon-appropriate wounds on zombies, allowing players to break their skin, bones and internal organs. Weapons are divided into different tiers of rarity, with Rare and Superior weapons being generally more powerful. Players can also use the environment to their advantage; for instance, an electric weapon can be thrown into a puddle, electrocuting all enemies standing on it. Weapons will gradually degrade and eventually break, though players can repair them at workbenches. The workbenches can also be used to upgrade and scrap weapons, as well as crafting ammunition and medkits using materials and blueprints found in the game's world.
Unlike previous games in the series, Dead Island 2 does not have a skill tree. Instead, it uses a deck-building system which allows players to alter their character's strengths and weaknesses. The Skill Deck sorts cards into four different categories: Abilities, Survivor, Slayer, and Numen. Abilities cards unlock new active abilities for players, some of which can be used during the Fury mode, which allows players to unleash devastating attacks on enemies for a brief period of time; Survival cards boost the player's health and stamina; Slayer cards grant players passive perks that enhance their combat abilities; and Numen cards unlock special abilities that have a large damage output. Players can also equip "Autophage" cards, which provide perks to the player but also debuff them, making them weaker. Cards can be earned through completing quests, levelling up, and killing special enemies. As players progress, they will also complete combat challenges, in which they can earn additional rewards, such as an increase in health or additional bonuses to critical damage.
Plot
About 15 years after the events of Dead Island, the US military is forced to put Los Angeles under a full quarantine restricted zone due to a new and stronger zombie outbreak. As Los Angeles is being quarantined, six individuals board one of the last evacuation flights out of the city, but an infected person ends up on board, and the military shoots the plane down. The Slayers narrowly survive the crash but are bitten trying to help other survivors. They manage to make their way to the home of one of the crash survivors, actress Emma Jaunt, who reluctantly shelters them despite their infection. Sam B, Emma's ex-boyfriend, arrives at the mansion intending to get Emma out of the city, and, revealing he is immune to the infection, the Slayers realize they are also immune. With the Slayers still intent on escaping the city, they head to the nearest evacuation center, to find it overrun by the infected. They recover a radio and contact Dr. Reuben Reed, a CDC doctor who asks them to come to his safe haven in Santa Monica to use their immunity to synthesize a cure.The Slayers head through the sewers to get to Santa Monica, discovering that the zombie corpses the military have been dumping into the sewers have melded together into a massive, tumor-like growth spreading underneath the city. They are stopped by another group of survivors led by Lola Konradt, who drops the Slayers into a pit full of zombies, temporarily triggering a bestial rage in them, which they use to kill all the zombies. The Slayers manage to reach Reed's haven at a hotel, where he informs them that the military will not extract them unless they provide proof of immunity. The Slayers recover the equipment from the overrun CDC headquarters and return to discover that Reed and Konradt are acquaintances. The Slayers are then sent to find Reed's missing daughter, Tisha, who gives the Slayers a way to contact Konradt directly.
Konradt tips the Slayers off about a secret lab where Reed sent other immune subjects. While fighting an infected test subject, the Slayers succumb to their feral instincts and attack Tisha, who apparently kills them, only to be revived by Konradt. Konradt explains that she, her followers, and the Slayers are a new species of humans, dubbed "Numen", who can assimilate the infection, named the "Autophage". Numen retain their mental fortitude, share a telepathic hive mind, and gain extraordinary abilities such as increased strength, speed, or the ability to enter into a rage of fury. Before leaving, she warns the Slayers that Reed is not actually searching for a cure. The Slayers return to confront Reed, only to find that he has fled with Tisha to a lab on Hollywood Boulevard and that he was responsible for the city-wide outbreak.
Furious at constantly being lied to, the Slayers gather Emma, Sam, and helicopter pilot Patton, intending to steal Reed's helicopter and leave the city. They reach Hollywood Boulevard, where Sam starts succumbing to the Autophage, his immunity deteriorating. The Slayers confront Reed, who admits that he released the Autophage in the city to filter out Numen, explaining that the Autophage is not a plague but a "clock" fundamental to the human genome that is hard-coded to wipe them all out and turn them into zombies at a predetermined time, but also turn one in every million humans into Numen. The Numen, who he considers anomalies, and their "god blood" were his only way to find a method to neutralize it. He gives the Slayers a single dose of Autophage cure and reveals that Tisha also carries the remedy in her body, as he had secretly injected her with Numen blood prior to birth to harvest the cure for the rest of her life. Reed succumbs to the Autophage, forcing the Slayers to kill him while Tisha flees.
The Slayers return to Sam, Emma, and Patton and administer the cure to the former, saving his life. The Slayers decide to stay behind to find Tisha and help the other survivors trapped in the city. As Emma, Sam, and Patton escape Los Angeles, Konradt and her followers watch over the Slayers as they fight another horde of zombies.