The day we all thought would never come has arrived. Originally announced all the way back in 2014, Dead Island 2, by publisher Deep Silver, has been in and out of different developers for the past 9 years, finally landing in the hands of Dambuster Studios.

So what is Dead Island 2 for those unaware of the series? It’s very much like the original Dead Island but with the gore and combat turned up to 11. Dead Island 2 is set in a post-zombie-apocalypse torn version of Los Angeles, or HELL-A. You start off the game by choosing one of six characters; Dani, Jacob, Ryan, Amy, Bruno, and Carla, with each of them coming equipped with their own stats and special abilities.

After surviving a plane crash, you soon start to realise that your character is immune to the zombie outbreak and find yourself on the path to solving the mystery of how the virus came about while trying and work out if there is a cure or not. Along the way, you’ll come across other survivors such as actors, influencers, and gym junkies, all with some pretty wacky missions tied to them that all seamlessly have a part to play on your journey.

While the game does come across as an open-world style game, it’s really not that open. With Dead Island 2 being based in Los Angeles, you’ll visit many locations such as Beverly Hills, Hollywood Boulevard, and of course, the Santa Monica Pier from the original trailers. Each of these is set in its own area, and you can fast-travel between them at any time after you’ve unlocked them.

Outside of the story missions, each area has its fair share of side missions to stumble across, with some sending you between locations to complete. Once completed, you are rewarded with items like blueprints for weapon modifications, so it’s worth doing these if you want to collect them all.

As mentioned earlier, the game’s gore has been cranked right up in Dead Island 2 thanks to its new procedural gore system. Repeated blows on your enemies break through their skin, muscle, and bone, layer by layer, eventually dismembering limbs. Jaws will begin to dangle, and eyeballs will hang out of their sockets the more you hit them. It all looks and acts very realistic.

When you aren’t trying to find out how the zombie virus has overtaken HELL-A or helping an influencer get that perfect viral social media post, you’ll be slaying down zombies with anything you can get your hands on.

Combat is pretty straightforward and what you’d expect from a Dead Island game. Melee weapons found laying around the game will be your primary weapon of choice, and there are a lot of them, with guns being accessible later in the game, and all vary in rarity. The rarer the weapon you find is, the more customization via mods you’re allowed to add to enhance its properties, such as weapon damage, durability, swing speed, and more.

These also come with pros and cons. While something might have a heavier hit, it might be less durable. Perks can also be added to weapons such as fire, caustic acid, and electricity, or add a bleed effect to enemies on damage. There is a lot to choose from, allowing you to create the perfect setup that best suits how you want to play the game.

Other tools at your disposal are “Curveball” items which are a range of throwable style weapons such as pipe bombs, throwing stars, or Molotov cocktails, just to name a few. Curveballs come in handy if you find yourself a little overrun by a ton of zombies and need to create a bit of space for yourself.

As for the zombies, they come in all different shapes, sizes, and resistances to certain types of attacks, such as a zombie covered in fire won’t be fazed by your fire-modified weapon, so you’ll need to switch it out for something else in order to deal damage. Making its return from the original game is “Fury Mode” which can be built up by fighting zombies or consuming energy drinks. Fury Modes allows your survivor to go into a zombie-raged state, tearing enemies apart with your bare hands for a limited time.

What really changes the combat up is the game’s card-based skill system, of which there are four main categories – Abilities, Survivor, Slayer, and Numen. As you play and make your way through HELL-A, you find skill cards laying around to collect.

Each skill card offers a specific perk or buff to your character, such as gaining more health anytime you performed a perfect dodge or block. Cards are added to your deck and you can have 15 total active at any one time. As you collect more cards you are able to go in and edit your deck at any time, turning yourself into the perfect zombie-killing machine.

Weapons aren’t the only thing at your disposal to take down the undead. Throughout HELL-A, you’ll come across all kinds of hazards within the environment, such as electrical wires, petrol spills, and water hazards that can all be used to set traps or aid you in your survival. They’re all pretty easy to spot and there is usually something around the area to help you make use of these environmental hazards.

Finally, Dead Island 2 can also be played in co-op, allowing 2 other friends to join your campaign. The only real limitation in regards to progression is if your friend is a lot further ahead of you, you won’t be able to join their game until you’ve reached the same point as them.

After all these years, Dambuster Studios have built on what made the original Dead Island game so fun and have managed to deliver the ultimate zombie-slashing playground. Dead Island 2 is your perfect dose of zombie-slaying fun.

Written by: MKAU Gaming