It’s somewhat of a miracle that Dead Island 2 has come out of its tumultuous development cycle with something playable, let alone something good. But somehow, Dambuster Studios (who developed another title that did the rounds and one of my guilty pleasures in Homefront: The Revolution) has pulled it off. Well, at least that’s what my hands-on time with the game tells me.
If you’ve somehow missed the news that Dead Island 2 has resurfaced after a long time of “Has it been cancelled?” Well, Dead Island 2 is back and looking better than ever. Set in LA, or HELL-A as the developer is calling it, the story of Dead Island 2 sees your character, who’s bitten and infected but managing not to turn into a flesh-eating zombie, trying to survive alongside a group of five other survivors.
The demo that I was able to try out showcased a mission from around the middle of the game which dropped me onto Venice Beach around Santa Monica Pier, with my task to retrieve a laptop containing a Blood Drive. Sounds simple enough. The only problem is that the laptop is located somewhere inside an amusement park that is swarming with zombies, so it’s lucky I had an arsenal of weaponry to slice, hack and shoot whatever tried to eat me.
The first thing I noticed is just how beautiful the game is, although it’s worth adding that it was running on a rig that would make Joe Manganiello put his shirt back on. Regardless, the level of detail and visual fidelity in the locations and zombie models was quite impressive.
Despite the developer changes, don’t expect massive changes to the formula; this is still very much a pulpy horror game that is all about having fun slaying hordes of zombies in gory and creative ways. Given I only had a limited amount of time with the game, I wanted to play with as many of the toys as possible. Opening my weapon wheel, I started licking my lips at the assortment of zombie killing tools at my disposal; an axe that deals additional fire damage on impact, a samurai sword that would do Samanosuke proud, Wolverine-esque claws that are charged with electricity, and guns were just some of the weapons on offer.
I make my way along the beach and up to the pier, taking out any stragglers and instantly the combat feels satisfying. Guns are very much an afterthought for now, as chopping up zombies is deliciously visceral thanks to Dambuster’s F.L.E.S.H. (Fully Locational Evisceration Simulator for Humanoids) gore system that will dismember enemies based on what weapon the players use and where they hit them.
As part of my search for the laptop, I entered an arcade that was littered with Homefront: The Revolution machines. Naturally, the electric door I needed to go through had no power and I had to fix it before I could go carry on my merry way. It was here I got my first real taste of the challenge that Dead Island 2 will throw at players, with a horde of zombies descending on my location. I’ll be honest, these types of games make me feel combat cocky, and I often find myself biting off more than I can chew – I mean how hard can a bunch of braindead zombies be? Turns out, they can be quite hard. Especially when one has the ability to emit electricity and chain it through other zombies. As expected, I got ahead of myself and died. Shoutouts.
My next attempt ends in success but ultimately served as an entree to what I was about to encounter. Heading towards the Ferris wheel I can see that it’s lacking electrical juice and I’ll need to get that big wheel moving again if I want to proceed. But there’s just one issue, a decent-sized wave of zombies is hellbent on having me for dinner, and this time there’s a really big boy, who’d clearly been hitting the gym before turning among the ranks. While I was able to mix up gunplay with the game’s visceral melee combat, as well as use throwable weapons such as a Molotov cocktail, once again I was overwhelmed and my true games journalist ability was on show.
During my third attempt at the demo I realised I had medkits, and not just one but five. Sadly, as I was about to power up the Ferris wheel my time had come to an end. Maybe if I had actually read the control scheme properly I wouldn’t have perished so easily. Unlikely though.
It’s easy to make comparisons to Dying Light 2, given the two games share very similar DNA, and anyone who enjoyed Techland’s open-world zombie romp will likely find enjoyment here. You’ll also be able to play through the game with two other mates, with the game supporting three-player co-op, and it’s certainly a game that will be fun to play with others. But while Dead Island 2 is looking like more of the same first-person over-the-top zombie action we’ve seen before, Dambuster has seemingly crafted a sandbox full of fun and visceral ways to tackle the zombie outbreak, and I’m keen to dive back in come February 3, 2023.
Dead Island 2 releases on February 3, 2023, on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC (via Epic Games Store).
