Dead Island 2 has been in the works for some now. One of those new games in 2023 that genuinely can’t be overlooked is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Techland’s zombie-bashing slaughter-fest. Developer Dambuster Studios and publisher Deep Silver have finally put this bloody sequel back on track after years of derailed plans and restarts.
We’re already impressed by what we’ve seen and experienced thus far. Read more about our firsthand experiences in our preview of Dead Island 2 and chat with the game’s director. Dambuster said that the game would be delayed to April to give it one last polish before its original February 2023 release date alongside some of the future PS5 and Xbox Series X games.
Hey, what will a couple of extra weeks hurt after 12 years of waiting? Fortunately, we have plenty to go on as we wait for the gore-gorgeous shores of post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, including an exciting gameplay trailer. All the information you need about Dead Island 2, including release information.
Dead Island 2 Release Date
Dead Island 2 was scheduled to debut in February 2023, Dambuster Studios and Deep Silver later declared that the launch date had been moved by 11 weeks to April 21, 2023. According to Dambuster, who was speaking about the most recent Dead Island 2 delay, “The irony of delaying Dead Island 2 is not lost on us, and we are as disappointed as you undoubtedly are.”
“The delay is just 12 short weeks and development is on the final straight now; we’re going to take the time to make sure we can launch a game we’re proud to launch. For those of you who’ve been waiting for years, thank you for hanging in there with us.”
Aside from the now-iconic E3 2014 zombie transformation cinematic, shown below, things on the Dead Island 2 trailer front were quiet for a while. Then Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios surprised us with a fresh reveal video and some brand-new, contemporary in-game footage at Gamescom 2022.
Dead Island 2 co-op sounds fantastic, and while one person can play the zombie slash-em-up, it sounds like a lot of fun to play with two friends in teams of three. Deep Silver thinks that this will “guarantee replayability” as couples discover Dead Island 2’s “thrilling” pulp story and talk to its strange cast of characters in its “twisted” world.
At this point, we don’t know how co-op will work in Dead Island 2. We don’t know if it will be available right away or if it will be built into the story mode like in Dying Light 2.
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If you can believe it, Dead Island 2 is still in development and will eventually be released. If you’ve been keeping up with the ups and downs of this title, you know that this is a tale over a decade in the making.
Dead Island 2 has been announced as early as 2014, however the project has since died and been brought back to life again, each time with a different development team. The general public may have thought the game was cancelled long ago, but those who kept believing are now rewarded.
Dead Island 2’s major re-reveal at Gamescom 2022 was marred by leaks, but the game still looks promising despite the series’ troubled past.
Since the entire gaming industry has evolved during development, many gamers may be confused as to the point of this zombie game’s hype. Prepare to shatter some zombie skulls with a blunt tool as we run down all we know about Dead Island 2.
Dead Island 2 Release Date
Dead Island 2 is finally coming out on April 21, 2023, after a long sequence of delays (it was supposed to come out in February 2023). The eleven week delay was unfortunately needed according to the creators, Dambuster Studios and Deep Silver.
“The delay is just 12 short weeks and development is on the final straight now; we’re going to take the time we need to make sure we can launch a game we’re proud to launch. For those of you who’ve been waiting for years, thank you for hanging in there with us,” they said via Twitter.
Dead Island 2 was not content to return with only a cinematic trailer; instead, a full gameplay trailer was released during Gamescom to demonstrate the game’s existence.
We start by seeing the game’s stunning but desolate environments, such as crumbled streets and graffiti-covered tunnels, before switching to the first-person perspective to see a man get his head busted through a boarded-up window.
Following a few jarring transitions that seem to mark story beats, we are treated to a montage of various methods of killing zombies, including but not limited to: ramming things into their heads; punching; kicking; stabbing; and slicing. Traditional weaponry and hand-to-hand fighting are there, alongside environmental hazards like electric boxes and gas tankers.
There are many handguns, SMGs, and assault rifles present. Here, there appears to be a far greater variety of melee weapons at play, however distinguishing between individual examples can be difficult due to the speed with which they are swung and the number of zombie skulls they manage to puncture.
According to Deep Silver, Dead Island 2 is “the most intense, visceral, and gory first-person experience possible,” and that certainly shows in the trailer, where every bloody detail is on display.
Dead Island 2 offers players a choice of six playable characters, up from four in the original game. Each character, just as in the original game, has their own set of talents, abilities, voice lines, and personalities. As of now, we know nothing about the characters or what sets them apart.
Dead Island 2 Trailers
Have you seen the Dead Island 2 extended gameplay trailer yet?
We won’t be discussing the 2014 reveal video because, in addition to being nothing more than a cinematic, it was created for a game that was being developed by an entirely other group of people. It is the trailer shown during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live 2022 that truly piques our interest.
First, we see some generated images of a poolside living room that has been thoroughly wrecked. The floor is covered with empty wine and beer bottles, smashed cans, and discarded cigarettes.
A man on the couch opens his eyes when someone reaches out to him. He looks around, gets something to drink, and examines his reflection. His bloodshot eyes could be a sign of illness or exhaustion.
As he exits, the man picks a revolver from near the door, turns around to survey a scene of gory bodies we hadn’t seen before, and then exits. Zombies are drawn to him like a magnet, and he quickly dispatches the first one by breaking his whisky bottle over its brain, then using his club and bayonet to dispatch the rest.
As he battles off more zombies, the setting shifts from the beach to the city, where he sets a group on fire by flicking his cigarette into a pool of spilled gas.
Dead Island 2 Release Date
The next scenario takes place in a convenience store, where we buy some food, medicine, and booze. A zombie with no legs tries to attack, but our “hero” merely crushes it under a shelf, turning it into a squished, bloody mess.
Our hero returns to the original room and settles back onto the couch, only to be greeted by the lumbering presence of a solitary zombie. He sighs and pats his pocket, searching for anything. He loads his weapon with a single round and fires.
A conventional gunshot wouldn’t cause the zombie to explode like this. The man unwillingly gets up to go for another run, this time stopping by the closet to get a katana after realising the remote has no batteries.
Before the title card appears, he is shown greeting two other survivors on the street with a kind wave. So far, all we know about the plot is the bare bones.
The setting of Dead Island 2 is the city of Los Angeles (insert joke here about the city of Los Angeles not being an island), where the same zombie virus that decimated the world in the original game has spread to most of the inhabitants.
After failing to eradicate the disease, the military has decided to quarantine the entire city. Yet, your character is infected as well, though for some reason you are not bitten and turned into a zombie.
The goal of the game is to stay alive while also investigating the source of the epidemic, your immunity, and potential solutions. The gameplay is really basic and unimaginative for a zombie game, but perhaps the story improves.
Dead Island 2 Platforms
Dead Island 2 will be available on as many systems as possible. This game is scheduled for release next year for the PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and personal computers.
Dead Island 2: Multiplayer
These days, co-op play is expected in nearly every genre of zombie game. Dead Island 2 appears to be dialling back the online co-op from the first game’s maximum of four players to a more manageable three. Being mostly an RPG at its core, with a tonne of missions, loot, and just plain exploring to do, having buddies along will undoubtedly be the major motivation to play. Many critical questions, however, remain unanswered.
We don’t know if this game will follow Dead Island’s lead and make players play the first several hours alone before unlocking co-op play. There was a co-op mode in the original game where players shared the roles of the main protagonists. Yet, the most pressing concerns concern interplay and development. We don’t know if cross-platform play will be possible, or if and how co-op progress will transfer to the single-player experience.
Dead Island 2 Pre-order
Dead Island 2’s three different editions are all available for pre-order on the game’s official website now. Digital versions come in Standard, Deluxe, and Gold tiers, while physical copies include Day One, Pulp, and Hell-A Editions, each with their own set of exclusive extras.
