Dead Island 2 is a sequel that has been in the making for over a decade, and just that thought alone means that the weight of expectations from gamers will be quite heavy. We got our first true hands-on experience with Deep Silver Dambuster Studios’ Dead Island 2, and not only is it really on the way this time, but it’s actually quite fun.
The City of (Un)Dead Angels
It’s no secret that Dead Island 2 has been in development hell for the last decade. I mean, how many games do you remember in recent years that have switched between the hands of not one, not two, not three, but FOUR developers? If there is one that comes to mind, then it’s probably Duke Nukem Forever, and we all know how that turned out. It’s a cautionary tale burned into the minds of gamers, one that Dead Island 2 has been following far too closely over the years.
Understandably, there isn’t much to instill confidence in Dead Island 2. It’s been through hell, literally, with multiple developer switches, delays, re-announcements, reboots, and so much more. Everything that has happened to the game up until this point has had the signs of things not being quite right.
So when MP1st was approached to preview Dead Island 2, I, like everyone else, had worries about what I was about to experience.
Yet despite the odds, despite everything to suggest otherwise, somehow, someway, Deep Silver Dambuster Studios has managed to surprise this gamer, and in a good way. To cut to the chase, Dead Island 2 looks, plays, and feels fantastic.
Before I slice into the meat (haha!) of things, I first want to talk about the state of the preview build we were given. To address everyone, the preview build provided was not the final release. An older build that didn’t have co-op (and other features) enabled, and per Dambuster, the final release (including review copies) will include significant updates. So do bear in mind that some of the things I say here may change (for better or worse) come release.
With that said, let’s start this preview by talking about the performance and visuals. Playing on PC, I’m happy to report that, as far as this build goes, the PC version of Dead Island 2 is in really good shape. Mind you; I was running the game on a PC sporting an RTX 4090 GPU paired with an AMD 7900X, so lower-spec builds may vary in this experience. However, with the onslaught of recent PC games being poorly optimized, Dead Island 2 is certainly impressive early on.
There was some minor stuttering due to shaders loading in and out of new areas, but we noticed those stutters were nearly eliminated with FSR 2.2 enabled. Unfortunately, we didn’t see DLSS or ray tracing support, nor do we know if there are any plans to add them at this time.
Despite the lack of the mentioned features, Dead Island 2 is jaw-droppingly stunning.
It’s visually impressive, not just in details and its photorealistic environments, but also in its variety and usage of coloring. There’s beauty in chaos in the world of Dead Island 2.
And while not an open world, Dead Island 2 certainly offers a variety of environments to make its world feel “alive.” The starting section saw us exploring the rich residential neighborhood of Bel Air. You’ll enter large mansions that are filled with expensive, exotic, and outlandish things. Outside, there are Lambos and other cool luxuries, like rooftop pools and even a private indoor gym with a view of the entire hill.
It’s surprisingly gorgeous, and clearly, the team has spent a considerable amount of time nailing down the very atmosphere of Bel Air and its other surrounding rich suburbs. Dead Island 2 may not be on an island like the last game, but Dambuster sure does a fine job at making us feel like we’ve been isolated from the world in this somewhat bizarre and over-the-top, yet believable version of LA, or as they call it, HELL-A. Of course, this being Dead Island 2, the location probably isn’t going to be what’s on the minds of most players. No, what you’ll likely be focusing on is the shambling and rotting corpses of the undead, who have grown a relentless appetite for the living. I’m talking, of course, about the zombies.
While we’ve had plenty, and I mean PLENTY, of zombie games since Dead Island (2011) was released, I don’t think we’ve ever had a zombie game quite like Dead Island 2.
Now to be blunt, there isn’t anything extraordinarily different about the zombies of Dead Island 2 when looking at them from a behavioral perspective. They’re as “zombie” as a zombie can be. They’re super sluggish, as if fighting their own weight so that they don’t collapse, all while hoping to catch prey to satisfy their never-ending hunger. And sure, there are runners, brutes, and other unique variants to keep the excitement going, but at its core, these are the everyday zombies you’d expect to see in a zombie-infested world.
Think about that last sentence for a second. If the world of today suddenly ended due to a zombie apocalypse, do you think you’d expect to see the same carbon copy zombie over and over, or do you think every single zombie you encounter would, in some ways, look different? Be that their size, weight, and clothing? You’d have a hard time finding a pair of people looking the same in real life, let alone dozens that look identical. In a video game, not so much, but Dambuster looks to be changing that.
Now I’m not saying that Dead Island 2 manages to make every single zombie different from one another like it would be, but it does an amazing job at creating the illusion of it. That’s because zombies are generated based on the location they’re in rather than being fetched randomly from a large spawn pool.
When you think of Bel Air, you probably imagine the rich and powerful, living glamorous lifestyles. Zombies will dress that part, as you’ll encounter them wearing suits, and party dresses, as if they just attended a fancy dinner. Going around the neighborhood, you’ll encounter other zombies wearing different clothes that are entirely based on the location. Maybe the neighbors were having a pool party the night of the outbreak? Expects to see zombies wearing bikinis and trunks. What about the neighbor across from there, maybe they were shooting some hoops or using that indoor gym. Well, they’ll be wearing their gym clothing cause who has time to change during an outbreak?
You’ll encounter a lot of these different-looking zombies, and although, at the end of the day, they’re still zombies, I couldn’t help but, dare I say, feel bad for killing them. I mean, I still hacked away, but there was some added weight that came with it.
Like this zombie wearing construction worker clothing was alive at some point. Maybe they were just leaving work and got bit on their way home? Or perhaps they were trying to help, directing people to safety, and ended up mistaking a zombie for a still-living person? What about these two zombies out here alone, staring at the sunset? Were they a couple? Maybe old-time friends playing catch up? Who knows, but seeing zombies wear all these different types of attire, there’s a sense of believability that they were alive at some point.
But that feeling fades quickly as they stumble towards me, jaw twitching with violent snaps. What else can I do other than bash their brains in? Don’t tell me because, frankly, I don’t care. Bashing zombie brains in Dead Island 2 is one of the most satisfying experiences I’ve ever had in a zombie game. Why? Because of an in-house system built specifically for Dead Island 2. The FLESH system.
Get Ready to Rot, and Roll
FLESH is the name of the gore and disembodiment system, which procedurally breaks skin and bones. That means that every time you face off against a zombie and tear it into them, it’ll always look different than the last zombie you killed. I’ll confidently say this, even without playing the final retail release, FLESH is the most advanced gore system we’ve ever seen in a video game. I’m sure I won’t be the only person saying this.
There’s a lot, and I mean A LOT, with this system that players can do.
Blades, for example, slice through zombies, cutting limbs and leaving large gashes. Depending on where you slash, the cuts may be more severe than others. So cutting a zombie near the abdomen may end up spilling its guts (yes, there are individual internal organs, and they have physics tied to them), or cutting near the rib cage may cause it to burst open.
Tons of different tendons can be seen being pulled and ripped apart. If you had the stomach for it, you could skin and gut everything out of a zombie, leaving it as a bloody skeleton. It’s all real-time, and what I like is the damage doesn’t just pop up as you make it as you can see the path of the slices being carved out.
I’ve cut a few arms off, and every time, I’m left surprised because sometimes it’ll break the bone, cut entirely through, or cut through the bone completely, but a tiny slither of skin is still intact, leaving the arm dangling around as the zombie moves.
Hitting a zombie’s skull with a blunt weapon will sometimes cause it to cave in or crack wide open. You can expose the brain and chip away small pieces of it.
The one that got me, though, is that I struck a zombie so hard with a wooden board that its eyes popped out of its socket, still connected by the veins. It was a massive holy shit moment.
It’s fucking disgusting, and I love it.
FLESH is a game changer, and after experiencing it firsthand, I think it’s a system that every game developer should look to whenever thinking about adding any kind of gore to their games. It’s that good.
The weapons also play into the procedurally generated physics of the FLESH system. As I’ve talked about, blades and blunt weapons deal different damage from each other, and so do different weapons fitting those two categories. But it’s not just the gore, as zombies will react differently based on the weapon you use.
Hit a zombie with a baseball bat in a certain spot, and they’ll have a knee-jerk-like reaction, shifting their entire body in the direction of the force produced from the hit. It’s not anything new in a game, mind you, but it goes without saying that it helps make the combat feel authentic, adding another layer that overall is fun and satisfying.
Weapon handling feels realistic in the sense that if you expect a weapon to do or behave in a certain way, chances are it will. That’s not to say that Dambusters have opted for complete realism, as the team told us in an interview that while they aimed high for weapon authenticity, they’re leaning towards the “cool” side of things. So there’s a bit of an over-the-top element to certain aspects of the combat and how the gore is produced. Almost like a classic ’80s action movie; you know it’s not realistic, but it looks cool as hell.
Weapons can also be modded with special effects, as well as an increase in their durability. Yes, durability is back in Dead Island 2. I know some weren’t a fan of it, but I will say that it didn’t come off as annoying, as the likelihood of you finding another weapon, and the exact same one, was high. For modded weapons, which are likely to become your favorites, you can repair them at workbenches, as well as upgrade them and slot new mods.
I crafted a number of electric blades that seemingly cause zombies to catch on fire. A pair of brass knuckles I found I crafted into tiger claws.
There are also character skills that you can unlock, though these come in the form of skill cards rather than a skill tree. Some skills are shared between the six selectable Slayers, while others are exclusive. One thing I liked is that you could change between cards at any time, even during a fight. It’s not the most seamless method, as it requires you to navigate into the character menu, but it’s nice that you can, nonetheless.
Whether this system is better than the skill tree offered in the past Dead Island games, I’ll need to play the final release to decide on that.
As for the story itself, I’ll need to experience it more to form a better opinion. It had some great setpieces, but I’d like to see where it goes before giving a more detailed thought. I do like that each Slayer has their own personality, but again, the preview didn’t offer enough to form a definite opinion on it.
The side missions, from what was there, all felt unique from one another, and nothing screamed like cookie-cutter fetch quests. That may be due to the linearity of this portion of the game, but it did seem to open up a bit more later in the preview.
Sadly we didn’t get to try out any co-op, as the mode wasn’t included (as previously noted) in the build. I’m curious how the game will play with additional players on the map, as the early sections were relatively linear and close-quarters focused. There’s definitely space in the more open areas, but there are a lot of interiors you go through that are pretty small, even for one person. Replay value is also something I question on the co-op side. I don’t know if there will be much for players to want to play with one another in terms of rewards outside of just playing with a friend. With a big focus on weapons and character builds, the coop dynamic does have us curious.
Last Flight to HELL-A
If there’s a reason for players to want to coop, it’ll probably be because Dead Island 2 offers no difficulty options. I liked it and died a lot because areas seemed to scale to offer a high challenge. It’s not so much that the zombies are bullet sponges but more that it seems that the game is adapting.
I always laugh at how someone can get surrounded by zombies in a movie or show because they’re crazy slow. Well, Dead Island 2 shows me exactly how that can be because I found myself surrounded by them plenty of times. There’s definitely a challenge, so having an extra friend probably isn’t a bad idea.
There’s a lot more I want to talk about, but I’ll save all that once I’ve gotten my hands on the final release. For now, Dambuster has convinced me that Dead Island 2 may indeed be well worth the wait. Unless they pull a bait-and-switch, I think the public is going to be surprised by what the team has managed to pull off. I know I was, but let’s just hope the rest of the game ends up being as impressive as what I experienced here.
MP1st attended a digital preview event for Dead Island 2, with a preview build provided by the publisher and played on PC. Dead Island 2 launches on April 21 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC.