Learn more about Dead Island 2, including the release date
Want to know the Dead Island 2 release date?It has been almost a decade since the originalDead Island 2reveal, and it suffered countless delays during that time. The troubled development, during which it swapped developers multiple times, left many of us wondering what to expect from Dead Island 2 and if it would ever release.
In this guide, we’ll explain everything we know about Dead Island 2, including the release date, platforms, a look at various trailers, and details about the gameplay, combat, and story. We’ll also provide our hands-on thoughts from two previews, which were done eight years apart.
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Dead Island 2 release date and platforms
It shows plenty of ways to kill the zombies in Dead Island 2, interspersed with a mix of gameplay clips and cutscenes showing glimpses of the world, with this sequel taking place in LA, and the characters we’ll meet. It quickly focuses back on the killing, though, and we get a good look at the weapon blueprint system that’ll return from the original. Electrified blades, hammers with little flames coming out of the side, you know the deal.
You’ll need those extra-powerful melee weapons when you’re attacked by Dead Island 2’s range of special infected, which we also see towards the end. It has the explode-y ones, muscly ones, and scream-y ones, as you’d probably expect.
One features a guy obliviously running past zombs, and the other a guy clearly exhausted while killing countless zombs. They have very different work ethics, that’s for sure, but the vibes are very similar.
For those who didn’t play the original, Dead Island 2 is a hack-and-slashaction gameset during a zombie apocalypse. You complete missions across the world, which is comprised of LA and San Francisco, and earn rewards such as money, crafting materials, and blueprints. You can then buy or craft new weapons, which are usually quite extravagant in nature thanks to mods that you can attach. As you can see in the trailers above, you can expect to wield electrified machetes and flaming hammers. To fans of the original, this should all sound familiar.
Unlike its predecessor, Dead Island 2 features a new skill card system. As you explore, you’ll find cards that you can equip to gain new skills and abilities. These might give you a dodge mechanic, or grant extra health whenever you set a zombie on fire - that sort of thing. They’re small, yet significant tweaks that you can use to create the perfect build for your playstyle.
Players will also get access to a RAGE mechanic, allowing you to temporarily reach new levels of power thanks to an unfortunate bite that’s left undead power surging through your body.
During his visit to Gamescom, Ed also found that Dead Island 2 may not be an open-world game, with the developers referring to it as more of a “traditional guided tour that’ll take us through iconic slices of LA”. The original had large open areas that you could explore, but they were split by loading screens. You couldn’t, for example, wander from the resort to the city. They were separate world spaces, but you could otherwise still roam around freely. For now, the extent of Dead Island 2’s exploration remains to be seen.
Regardless, Dead Island 2 certainly retains the creative and outlandish ways to kill zombies that made the original so popular. While that wacky tone didn’t always match with the original’s more serious premise, Dead Island 2 is leaning away from the dark, brooding vibes of its predecessor. The trailers paint it as a silly romp with delightfully violent combat and an endless stream of jokey one-liners (which may or may not actually be funny).
The gameplay breakdown above should give you an insight into what combat looks like, but Dead Island 2 expands on the original in one very specific way. It features a new FLESH system, which is all about eye-grabbing levels of gore. Zombies explode in showers of blood, sure, but that’s just the start.
They’ll stumble around with torn-open, flappy faces, chunks of missing flesh revealing the bones underneath. When you move in to attack, each swing is incredibly destructive, allowing you to chop zombies up and send their limbs flying in all directions. Kill moves are also filled with fantastically ridiculous levels of guts and gore.
In the gameplay trailer above, for example, you can watch the player plunge their fist deep into a zombie’s face, unleashing a shower of blood as their skull caves in. You aren’t just swinging around at big chunks of undead flesh - you’ll carve that flesh into lots of tiny little bits, and it looks glorious.
Dead Island 2 takes place in what the developers have dubbed “Hell-A”. I hate that a lot, so let’s just refer to it as LA. You’ll explore iconic locales in the City of Angels, while also diving into San Francisco on your blood-soaked tour of the West Coast.
The plot remains a mystery for now, but one thing is clear. As was the case in the original, your survivor will get bit by a zombie early on in the game. Fortunately, you are seemingly immune to the virus, and can even use it to temporarily unleash some devastating punches via the RAGE mechanic mentioned above. The game’s official website refers to it as a “thrilling pulp story”, so we can confidently expect plenty of over-the-top action throughout.
Yes, Dead Island 2 will have multiplayer.Up to three players can team up on their journey through LA, but it isn’t clear whether this includes cross-platform capabilities. We’d expect more precise details on how multiplayer will function in the run-up to launch, so we’ll update this page with more info in the coming months.
For what it’s worth, Graham came away from his original preview with similar sentiments, stating that combat became “more frenetic and exciting the more undead are thrown at you”. Combat is the name of the game for theDead Islandfranchise, and it seems that Dead Island 2 will indeed make it better, bloodier, and far more brutal.
That wraps up everything we currently know about Dead Island 2. Make sure to check back regularly for more on the upcoming zombie-slashing sequel over the coming months.
