Dead Island 2 Review (PS5)

Who said that the zombie apocalypse needs to be so serious, dark and depressing? Certainly not Dead Island 2, that tries to find a silver lining in the end of the world scenario. The game delivers us the bad news of the human population turning into mindless brain eaters, as nothing more than a nuisance in the colorful lives of the people inhabiting Beverly Hills or Bel-Air. But is the Hollywood razzle dazzle enough to produce a memorable experience?  

The answer is as complicated as the relationship of the walking dead with life itself. Or as the trajectory of the game itself, that was in development for around 10 years. But after the limbo that it went through, Dead Island 2 is finally here, and it’s fun. It is not set to be revolutionary or to push the limits of interactive dramatic storytelling, rather the developers focused on making stumping down zombie hoards as entertaining as possible.

There is not much of a main story to talk about, and the secondary missions are mostly just excuses to get out there and hack, kick, punch or smash the shamblers and the runners and other monstrosities until they no longer move. This is the main focus of the game: very brutal and visually explicit encounters with the zombies roaming around the game world.

After familiarizing yourself with the context of the events through the initial cutscene you get to choose your slayer. There is quite a selection of colorful characters, though the differences between them are not big enough so you can talk about different strategies for each of them. Your choice has also no effect whatsoever on how the story unfolds or the secondary missions. The only real differentiator are the skills and the one liners used for each character as response to the situations they will encounter.       

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The characters are just as plain and unidimensional as the main story arc. The secondary quests are mainly diversions involving more zombie slaying, yet Dead Island 2 somehow keeps you hooked in front of the screen. The secret to success is the atmosphere of the game, the brutal nature of the encounters and the promise of discovering new and better loot carefully tucked away behind simple puzzles or challenges.

From the tutorial part you realize that the developers did not dance around the topic of visual gore but chose to charge at full speed at delivering gruesome maiming action. You can hack your opponents’ limbs, you can cut off their heads, you can also impale them or even try to hurl your weapons at them. The last method is far less efficient than staying at close range, countering at the right moment and diving into an execution animation.

No matter what the preferred method or weapon you will see a lot of blood being spilled, arms and legs flying around, and heads being smashed in various ways. Dead Island 2 encourages you to get creative and use the abundance of weapons spread around that evolve from a makeshift arsenal including billiard cues, table legs, water pipes into legendary versions of axes or brass knuckles.

Until the final section of the game there is no point in getting attached to your lethal arsenal because you will replace them quite often. If despite their fragile nature you found a katana or pipe wrench you really enjoy swinging around, you will be able to upgrade them at crafting tables using the scraps you collect along the way. From improving the durability and damage to adding electric or fire effects there is quite a variety you can fabricate. Although it may seem complicated. It is actually quite simple: it comes down in finding the ones that complement best your playstyle and sticking them on more advanced weapons.  

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The idea of using a weapon and then ditching them in favor of a new gruesome toy is also emphasized by the fact that most weapons break quite easily when swung around carelessly. If they get completely worn out, you can pay money to fix them or you can disassemble them to get some scrap used to upgrade other weapons. But you can avoid parting with your favorite zombie mower by following the already described countering method that prolongs considerably the lifespan of your weapons.

As mentioned, there is no shortage of deadly instruments laying around, hidden in containers or purchasable from vendors. In the current state these traders’ role is mainly secondary since you will be using them mainly to buy various blueprints, sell them your unwanted inventory or acquire fuses necessary to access areas that promise outstanding loot. And you have no real reason to focus too much on lining your pockets by carrying weapons to vendors because you will find plenty of resources scattered around and having millions in your virtual pocket does not really help you in the end game.

Looking at the level of attention the developers paid to weapons and your maiming options, you can say that the main characters of the game are the confrontations rather than your chosen character. The environmental effects and traps are the best examples. They can be used to your advantage in order to electrocute or set your enemies on fire, but if you are careless, they can also send you on time out. Not that there is a real consequence for your demise. In co-op it can be averted by a teammate willing to bring you back to life, while in single player you will lose only the loot you did not manage to pick up, you are being respawned a couple of meters from where you had your last breath.

In the case of rare items there is a chance that you will not even lose them, you being able to recover them from your stash. Fair warning in the review version the system had major hiccups, but the developers promised to fix it with a day 0 patch, that should also address other major bugs such as being stuck in the environment, getting stuck in defensive positions or the weapon wheel taking over your screen. Being an open world game, you expect some issues, but Dead Island 2 definitely needs the promised day-0 patch in order to be completely enjoyable.

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Another aspect the developers directed their focus towards is the abilities of your characters, presented as unlockable cards. Most of them are common for all heroes, but there are some that are specific to one character and cannot be used by others. They can dramatically affect the difficulty of the game. With no difficulty levels you can choose in Dead Island 2, the cards that offer healing for hurting or killing zombies will be the ones that can turn the entire experience into a walk in the park. But there is enough variety to be able to develop different playstyles.   

The visual style of the game is very colorful and beyond the brutal encounters with the zombies, it is very optimistic. You will have the chance to explore luxury villas elegantly lined up on idyllic hillsides, movie sets and luxury hotels. You will see characters in colorful clothing, and even some of the zombies retain their luxury attires. There is also some sewage system spelunking, but even those scenes full of goo and toxic gases share the light atmosphere of the game.

Although their AI is almost nonexistent, and they threaten you only in large numbers, the fashion style of zombies is quite varying. You will have all body shapes and sizes, their wardrobe choice going from rags to gold chains, flashy tracksuits and even bathing suits.  

The graphic performance on the console remains pretty solid even when facing larger hoard, with no sudden framerate drops. On the other hand, the graphics feel lagging behind other contemporary AAA titles. The dialogues, soundtrack and voice acting are enjoyable, sometimes bordering cringe, but altogether nothing that you will remember after finishing the game.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion