WhenDead Island 2was re-revealed, I didn’t let myself get too excited. I was curious to find out how the long journey would end, but with a decade of restarted developments between different teams, I was worried that Dead Island 2 was going to end up as messy as a zombie on the receiving end of a sledgehammer.
Thankfully, after getting to play six hours of Dead Island 2, I was pleasantly surprised. Rather than reinventing the formula, Dead Island 2 smartly doubles down on the original’s weighty combat and layered weapon modding, while also being set in an infinitely more interesting location.
Related:Is It Bad That I’m Really Excited For Dead Island 2?
Updated July 03, 2025:We’ve updated this preview to include our very own video discussion on how Dead Island 2 is turning out. Check out George Foster and Eric Switzer’s thoughts on what this early footage means for the game and analyze some of its combat mechanics and environmental changes.
Combine that style and substance with some of the most impressive gore I’ve ever seen and my interest in Dead Island 2 has gone from morbid curiosity to being all aboard the hype train.
Before my time in Hell-A started, I was introduced to the game’s eight playable characters, ranging from a burly tank-like stripper to an athletic Paralympian. I ended up picking Bruno, partly because he was covered in tattoos that reminded me of better versions of my own, but mostly because he was focused more on agility and knives. My kind of guy.
After trying to unsuccessfully escape from LA on a plane that crashes straight back down, your survivor gets bitten and ends up discovering that they’re immune, which makes them two things - extremely valuable in a zombie apocalypse and everyone’s errand-runner. My preview took me from those opening moments and through a few of the game’s main missions, giving me a good glimpse of what Hell-A had to offer, though I still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.
From what I’ve seen so far, LA is easily one of Dead Island 2’s biggest strengths. Rather than a dark and dingy world overtaken by greenery, Dead Island 2 is vibrant, sunny, and full of interesting areas to explore, like mansions in Beverly Hills or glamorous yet decrepit hotels. Interestingly, it’s also not trying to ape other triple-A games by going with a large open world, with LA instead split up into distinct districts that don’t seamlessly link together, making for a more focused and less bloated experience.
Outside of the new LA setting, Dead Island 2 will feel familiar to anyone who played the original, with Dambuster instead opting to evolve the core mechanics and get rid of those that didn’t work, like driving. Combat, which was one of the original’s greatest strengths, returns with full force here and is just as weighty and wince-inducing as ever.
It’s seen some important tweaks, though. The most noticeable of these is that, unlike the original Dead Island, stamina is nowhere near as important and isn’t used up by basic swings or heavy attacks, instead only going down from special attacks and jump kicks. This may seem like a minor change, but being able to attack no matter what means you’re not sitting sucking your thumb while a meter recharges.
Another tweak comes with the modding and elemental systems, which have been beefed up significantly. Zombies can now be covered in water before being fried with electricity, doused in oil and lit on fire, and even have their flesh melted off from acid-induced weapons or from the spit of a special zombie.
Speaking of melting flesh, by far the most impressive thing about Dead Island 2 is its gore system. After hearing so many games likeDead Space and The Callisto Protocol brag about their capacity to make things look dead, I was rolling my eyes when Dambuster pushed this as being one of the most “realistic” gore systems in a game. Goddamn, I was wrong.
Fire burns flesh off, Katanas neatly slice limbs, nightsticks crack skulls and reveal jiggling brains, and golf clubs send jaws swinging like a raver in a nightclub. I spent a good ten minutes just kicking the shit out of a zombie to see how they can degrade, before taking another five minutes to look in the mirror and judge myself. If gore is Dead Island 2’s legacy, it’s a damn good one.
Dead Island 2 isn’t just about expanding upon the original’s combat, as it also has some new ideas. The biggest of these is the Skill Cards system. As you play, you’ll unlock Skill Cards from levelling up and exploring that each has its own unique effect. Some are more situational, like providing a health bonus for killing zombies quickly, while others give unique skills like being able to dash, block, or dropkick. I didn’t get to mess around with it too much during my time, but giving my Bruno a focus on agility and health recovery made him feel more unique, and felt like a nice change of pace from the typical skill tree.
I went into this preview pretty cynically and not expecting much, but came out with some high hopes. It’s not looking to reinvent the first-person zombie-killing wheel like Dying Light did, but it has improved on the original in every single way and even pushed the genre forward with its (literally) mind-blowing gore. In staying true to its roots, it’s a breath of fresh air. Ten years is an awful long time in the oven, but Dead Island 2 is looking like it was worth it.
