- Publisher: Deep Silver
- Release Date: Apr 21, 2023
- Also On: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
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- Critic score
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- Unscored
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Apr 18, 2023Throwing out the dour and the drab, Dead Island 2 is all about killing in style. From the beautifully rendered wastelands of HELL-A, to the equally visceral limb destruction system, there’s endless fun to be had here. With enough to do solo or with friends/strangers, not to mention the upcoming expansions, Dambuster Studios have rewritten how to enjoy oneself in the face of Armageddon.
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Apr 18, 2023Practice your best one-liners because Dead Island 2 will have you run toward danger and swagger down the streets of Hell-A while egging the zombies on like your favorite pulp hero. The beautiful graphics, tight combat, eccentric cast of characters, and F.L.E.S.H. system prove why the long-anticipated sequel to the beloved franchise was worth the wait."
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is a first person slasher that focuses on gore and gore, and wins. The FLESH engine takes fractures and mutilations to a level never seen before, with an extremely realistic aesthetic that also impacts the zombies' ability to move. The not particularly large maps and the rigidity in following the story are functional to the continuous massacre, and I have never had so much the feeling of really hurting my victims. A B-Movie about zombies that will delight those who love ultra-violence, with old school gameplay enhanced by new technologies.
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Apr 18, 2023It is a pleasure to confirm that the ship has come to fruition by taking care of the true essence of the series: exploration, tinkering with weapons and massacring zombies is as pleasant as it is spectacular.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is a worthy successor to the zombie-slaying games that came before it and breathes new life into the franchise long-thought dead. DualShockers was provided with a copy of the game for review purposes.
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Apr 24, 2023Despite its rocky road of development, Dead Island 2 succeeds in bringing more of the same mindless, mind-bashing fun as its predecessor. While not flawless, Dead Island 2 leans into its gory silliness by bringing dark and well-timed humour into its cut scenes. Intricate details in the environment make exploring engaging and all aspects of the infected have been lovingly designed, including the weapons you use to destroy them with. If you are looking for some zombie-bashing goofiness, then Dead Island 2's gruesome tour of LA is worth a visit.
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Apr 20, 2023When a game is delayed for a long time, it usually doesn't bode well. But Dambuster Studios has delivered a strong zombie-slayer in Dead Island 2, with a lot of content, loads of weapons and anatomically correct zombies. It does have some technical issues, but that doesn't stand in the way of fun.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 improves on its illustrious predecessors in almost every way, while retaining strong points such as atmosphere, setting and gameplay loop. The fact that the game sees the light in this state after almost ten years of trouble-ridden pregnancy is only inferior in wonder to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
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Apr 18, 2023Though not without its flaws Dead Island 2 has succeeded in providing a fun and unique zombie slaying experience that will leave players highly satisfied.
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Apr 18, 2023Dambuster Studios has come in and created a highly entertaining cavalcade of carnage with Dead Island 2. It’s a game that takes great joy in the simple act of smashing, splatting, and slicing the undead into meaty chunks and I’m very much here for that.
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Apr 18, 2023While it suffers from some interesting glitches, Dead Island 2 puts some much-needed fun and mayhem back into the zombie apocalypse sandbox.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is a great sequel. This provides an easy choice when looking for reasons to play it. If you know what to expect, you will find plenty and more. Don’t ask for too much, and you will surely have a blast. A genuinely bloody blast indeed.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is gory and gruesome, with action that is ridiculously entertaining. It has just enough narrative and social satire to push the game along, and enough depth, systems and mechanics to make killing thousands of zombies engaging for its substantial run time. Dead Island 2 might not be the deepest swimming pool in Bel Air, but playing it was the most creative, scary fun I've had with a shooter in quite some time.
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Apr 24, 2023Dead Island 2 is one of the games I've had most fun with in a very long time. It really knows how to emphasize its very own strengths, offering hundreds of weapons in a very detailed Los Angeles city with multiple well-designed open areas that allow for proper exploration.
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Apr 18, 2023A delightfully gory surprise, Dead Island 2 rises above its hellish development to deliver the sort of horror comedy romp that is rarely seen in the industry. It doesn't break the mould, but it does deliver pure blood-soaked campy joy from start to finish.
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Apr 19, 2023Despite the development chaos, Dead Island 2 offers exaggerated and satisfying zombie action with a lot of blood and guts.
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LEVEL (Czech Republic)Jan 23, 2024Many will argue that there aren't enough enemy types, or that the weapon upgrades that underpin it all seem as if they came out of a decades-old game. And they'd be right. This is a game that follows a simple template. But it does so in a confessed way, and in the end the authors didn't promise anything beyond mindless and fun zombie slaughter. [Issue#327]
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Jun 23, 2023We've had a pretty great time messing up some zombies in Hell-A. Dead Island 2 doesn't shoot for the stars, and therefore ends up neither overpromising nor under-delivering, so if you liked the first game you're pretty certain to have a fun time here.
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May 4, 2023Dead Island 2 is a fun filled games soaking up the rays in a zombie infested Hell-A.
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Apr 19, 2023On the surface, Dead Island 2 is certainly all about slicing up zombies without a lot of emotional stakes, but there’s a notable attention to depth and detail that’s evident throughout. The sense of impact as weapons crack bone and send bodies flying entices you to keep tinkering with abilities, to go back for side quests after the story’s done, and to consider giving it another run with friends. Zombies have splashed down in LA: grab a hammer and get to work.
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Apr 19, 2023Dead Island 2 never aims for unreachable heights and knows what it wants to be: A fun zombie slasher with brutal combat, beautiful levels, robust mechanics and a few jokes along the line. If that sounds like a great time to you, there's a good chance you are going to love Dead Island 2.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is the first game on steroids, with all the good and bad that implies. It's a sequel with no risks, which means that those who never fell in love with this kind of game probably won't fall in love with this one either. It doesn't change the formula. But it doesn't need to, either. In terms of zombie survival with RPG elements, multiplayer and non-stop action, there's no better game than this one.
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Apr 18, 2023While many games that are released after a long period of anticipation can be met with doubt, Dead Island 2 defies this trend with maintaining its franchise identity and core game design. However, certain aspect that are not user-friendly and the exhaustion from combat may prevent players from continuous gameplay.
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Apr 18, 2023Just like a zombie, Dead Island 2 was a project that was considered dead but was able to rise to its feet over and over again. Today, we finally have the ultimate Dead Island experience in our hands and it's a pretty decent action RPG with tons of first person melee combat.
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Apr 18, 2023Against all odds, Dead Island 2 is pretty much everything we wanted it to be. This is the ultimate zombie game, dropping you in a setting that’s an absolute joy to explore and spend time in while taking apart zombies in any way you please. Fans of Dead Island will be overjoyed at what’s been delivered here, taking the core concept of the original game and building upon it to make something that’s perhaps a little more linear, but better in all regards. It’s funny to think that we once considered this game dead, because developer Dambuster Studios has proved that there’s life in the series yet.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is a first-person action RPG that’s packed with as much dark humour as it is body parts.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 turned out to be a very good game, worth waiting 10 years for. It has some flaws, but at the same time it manages to provide a lot of fun. I sat there with a smile on my face, glued to the console until I cleared the map and finished every quest.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 does not revolutionize the saga or the survival game, but provides the essentials. Dambuster Studios offers fans of zombie survivalism a bloody and sunny journey to the heart of a red-painted City of Angels. Mutilating the emaciated has never been so brutal and the pleasure felt so visceral. This FPS is not perfect, far from it, and suffers from a certain repetitiveness that it tries to erase with undeniable generosity. The Dead Island franchise is well and truly back, a resounding return through the front door.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 manages to balance on the border of parody and on the edge between opulent beauty and brutal nastiness. And on top of that, he jovially juggles severed limbs. It probably won't rank among the most amazing titles this year, but it certainly doesn't belong at the bottom of the list in the genre of zombie games that don't take themselves seriously.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 does not fool you into thinking it's another deep virtual drama or an epic RPG. It's simply a great action comedy designed to make you relax, provided you like bloody hordes of zombies.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 isn't ground-breaking, but it's a lot of fun.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is an excellent sequel packed with brutal gore, an eccentric character roster, and a million ways to dismember a zombie.
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Apr 18, 2023By the end, it leaves you teetering on that precipice between wanting a little more and feeling satisfied enough. And that's a good place to be.
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Apr 18, 2023Choose your favorite slayer, pick up the closest bat, and start making aesthetic beautification of zombies that awaits you in HELL-A. The fun of killing zombies just got resurrected with Dead Island 2.
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Apr 18, 2023Dambuster manages to improve on the formula with a zombie smasher who does everything very well.
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Apr 18, 2023We had to wait far too long for Dead Island 2, but the wait will be rewarded. The game mostly does more of the same and that in a very pleasant setting. The Hell-A setting is successful and what gives the game its fun factor is the variety of weapons and ways in which you make the zombies suffer. Doing so with friends makes it even more fun, making Dead Island 2 a safe, but very successful sequel to some extent. However, you will have to be mindful of the new card system that is clumsily applied, as it interrupts the flow every time. Also, there is not much difference between the playable characters, but that does not matter much for the fun you will have.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 overcame years of development problems to deliver a fun zombie story with some personality. It doesn't try to go much beyond the basics, but it does it honestly and competently, with good hints of humor and a great co-op experience.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 proves itself to be a totally fleshed out, fully realized version of what Dead Island can be with modern mechanics and gameplay.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 should serve as a shining example for both games that make it out of development hell and sequels with a huge time gap. I’m sure some of my love for the original is down to nostalgia, and I could probably never return to it. But whenever I’ve thought back on the first game in my head over the last decade, Dead Island 2 is absolutely the game I have pictured. If only more sequels could be this expertly made.
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Apr 18, 2023The best games ask important questions. In the case of Dead Island 2, that question is: "Do you think it's funny to chop zombies into bits?" If the answer is yes, then Dead Island 2 is a joy.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is not a revolution of the genre but it is damn effective! The good gore based on very precise dismemberment, the good ideas related to the effects, the character progression and the variety of the zombies provide a nervous and effective gameplay. If the scenario is simple as hello it follows with joy thanks to a great atmosphere, rhythmic missions and well-written dialogues. The fun music that contrasts sharply with the apocalyptic context and some very crazy situations make it a really good game. It's perhaps a little too linear and it's still classic, but we're having a lot of fun with it and that's what we like in this kind of game.
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Apr 24, 2023Dead Island 2 is a traditional blood and guts slaughterfest, and if you haven't grown tired of zombie bashing by 2023, it's still worth a play. The experience is both heavenly and hellish, like the average genius who tries to entertain but can't always be sure if the next act is a hit or a miss.
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Apr 18, 2023This game won’t stay with me long, but I’m not sure it was meant to. With Dead Island 2, Dambuster Studios asks little of the player – only that you enjoy a good excuse to kill zombies in increasingly gory ways for a weekend or two – and in doing so, it delivers on the promise of what this series is all about.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is a classic zombie-themed action game that offers hours of fun in its amusing brutality, with thousands of undead to slay in the most creative ways and a collection of weapons suitable for every need. However, the lack of originality limits the potential of a gaming experience that doesn't shine in terms of story and mission variety. Fighting zombies from Beverly Hills to Santa Monica is always satisfying. Still, after almost ten years of waiting for Dead Island 2, we would have expected something more than an action game that does its duty and nothing more.
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May 25, 2023An essential revamp of the zombie gaming universe, Dead Island 2 packs blood, guts and powerful weapons into brutal gameplay. With many new mechanics and an inviting semi-open world, the game pleases for its fun, but fails to remain in the commonplace of cliches and catchphrases.
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Apr 30, 2023Dead Island 2 may not be the next great thing you were waiting for, but it has enough on offer to convince you and a group of friends to spend over 20 hours blowing zombies apart.
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Apr 26, 2023Dead Island 2 is not doing too badly, especially for a development that started more than 10 years ago. But we obviously cannot ignore all the archaism of its game design. Whether it's the overall structure of the game (several small, very down-to-earth open areas, without any possibility of verticality), its basic and repetitive gameplay, Dead Island 2 can put off some players. Despite these major flaws, the title of Deep Silver still manages to appeal to our primary instincts, namely to slaughter zombies with such graphic violence that it becomes enjoyable.
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Apr 19, 2023Dead Island 2 is a poster boy for mindless fun. It is a gore fest that does not take itself seriously or the topic of zombie apocalypse. It’s mainly a relaxing stroll down the sunny streets of Beverly Hills littered with undead corpses. It has no ambition to revolutionize the genre or to be memorable. It’s safe to say that this is a game that you’ll enjoy for 10-15 hours, and, just like a good popcorn movie, you will probably forget soon after. If the developers respect their promise of fixing the most annoying bugs with the day-0 patch. Without it the game remains a playable, but very messy experience.
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Apr 19, 2023Dead Island 2 often is nothing more than a game where players use ridiculously customized weapons to ravage zombies in increasingly gruesome ways. It’s comically satisfying how good it feels to tear through hordes of the undead–and it looks absurdly vile. It may not be a diamond forged over time, yet it’s hard to deny the fun to be had tearing it up in Hell-A. But does the idea of doing that hour after hour with small amount of variety sound appealing? If not then, Dead Island 2 won’t lure you in.
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Apr 18, 2023Dead Island 2 is a fun, simple, and entertaining title. There are various enemies to face and modifications to make our weapons deadlier. However, sometimes it becomes repetitive and contains multiple technical errors, affecting the entire experience.
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Apr 18, 2023And yet, with Dead Island 2, Dambuster Studios has delivered a sequel that hugely improves upon the maligned original.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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May 28, 2023Dead Island 2 is smarter than it looks, that knows how to narrate with its environment and use it to take down zombies in creative ways while building a solid level design. [Recommended]
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Apr 18, 2023If you've somehow yet to play an undead-themed action-RPG or you have an appropriately on-brand mindless hunger for the subgenre, Dead Island 2 might be worth your while. It's certainly got the zombie disassembly part down pat. If you are neither of those things, all the sturdy design and flying organs in the world can't hide the shortage of lingering excitement here. Dead Island 2 isn't a bad game, but it does feel superfluous, which is a sad thing to conclude about a project that's been in development for almost a decade. Still, at least they spared us the zombie booby merchandise this time.
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Apr 18, 2023Through its skillful environmental design and indulgent combat, Dead Island 2 is one of the best, most disgusting playgrounds I’ve ever played in.
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Apr 18, 2023There’s an overwhelming fakeness and irony to Dead Island 2 that, without any oppositional hope or sincerity, can eventually make the experience of playing it feel like kind of a downer, similar to the feeling you get after eating a load of junk food. My partner turned to me during one of my sessions late into the game and said it looked like I was on autopilot. Instead of meaningfully engaging with its systems, I was mindlessly pushing through the hordes in search of more complexity, or a satisfying narrative crescendo that never came. Dead Island 2’s nostalgic charms can transport you back to a simpler time, but there’s often a reason why you don’t see old friends anymore.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 236 out of 341
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Mixed: 53 out of 341
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Negative: 52 out of 341
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Apr 22, 2023dead island 2 best game and very very nice game dead island 2 better than dying light 2 action style is very very best
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Apr 24, 2023
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Apr 25, 2023Generic zombie hack and slash, gets boring after 1st hour as you tediously go from point A to point B, boss fights are easy and tedious, not worth $70