Review of the game Dead Island 2. We have been waiting for this for 10 years?

The first part of Dead Island will excite the gaming community in 2011. the game has captured the eyes of millions of players with its style and gameplay.

After 3 years, the Techland studio, which worked on the original, announced a sequel and even released a trailer, which later became a meme. However, the plans of the company were not destined to come true. They soon decided to focus on a new IP – Dying Light – and aimed for the Dead Island franchise.

Since then, the project has gone through production hell. The game changed two studios in 2014, eventually taking over development at Dambuster Studios.

And now, finally, the game has reached the release. The first reviews were mixed, foreign reviews found many pluses, but also many minuses. We figure out what to expect from the novelty and why it is still worth playing in it.

Welcome to sunny California

The action of the game takes place this time in Los Angeles. Literally from the first seconds we are thrown into the thick of things.

The player is introduced to six very different characters. They are unique both in their characteristics and in the manner of communication.

The plot is simple: we swam among the survivors of the zombie apocalypse, get on an evacuation plane and fly away. But on suspicion it turns out to be infected, and the plane crashes in Los Angeles, densely populated by infected people.

we are contacting the post office to assist them in establishing vaccines. But everything turns out to be not so simple: intrigues, undercover games and more await us throughout the campaign.

Anyway, I can’t name the territory of open play. He as simple as it gets. The story does not pretend to be something cosmic, but it is too simple and sometimes stupid even for its genre. It can be seen that the authors decided not to bother too much.

And if in the first half of the collections there is something adequate, then in the second one begins the wildest absurdity and a pile of unnecessary layers that repeat the complication of a trivial story.

I do not want to talk about the plot with spoilers, and this is not required. If you have looked in your time about films about zombies, then you have a rough idea of ​​what to expect. A large number of different movie plots are mixed here: from Resident Evil to Welcome to Zombieland. And all with their genre clichés.

You will not leave the feeling that you have already played this game

The novelty has absorbed the rest of the elements from other games. This is good and bad at the same time.

On the one hand, we have encountered countless times (not only in terms of scenario, but also in terms of gameplay). On the other hand, it still has its own peculiarities.

Despite the fact that the story turned out to be a weak part of the game, it has something that sets you apart. There is just a ton of humor here – often not for everyone, but there are also quite a few good, discovered jokes. Here we also write down Easter eggs and references found, qualitatively scattered throughout LA

It is noteworthy that, apart from the main plot, we have to take a large number of additional quests. And they are often worked out better than the main story. They are fun to follow and follow.

I want to share exactly this. side NPC. They are bright and colorful, sometimes even crazy, they catch attention from the first meeting. For their sake, it is desirable to complete not only a trip, but also a third-party task – this is a rarity even in 2023.

Already in the first 3 hours you found a manic girl who needs to be released from the arrest with the detained dead. And it must be filmed the way she directed it in her head. You can’t deviate from the script.

There was a place for quests of the level give-bring, but they still cling to their delivery. For example, a drunk rocker who demands to take unreleased records from the producer, or a real junkie who demands to pick up weapons from the police station.

The essence is simple everywhere, but style and handouts are a completely different matter. This is exactly what makes you go through these tasks from beginning to end, from the proposal to the general history.

Gameplay is the best part of Dead Island 2

I’ll start with the main thing, namely with the FLESH system, which was actively promoted by Dambuster Studios. They clearly knew what to emphasize in the distributed materials.

This restore system damage, which makes smashing, slicing, slicing and shredding zombies a lot of fun. Detailed dismemberment of the dead here is brought to the absolute. You literally see every organ in the body of a former person. The well-known movement with an ax, a stick, a hammer, a katana, a knife and God is more than performance in appearance was found.

Here, each type of weapon represents characteristic damage in the hulls of enemies. You see slits from blades, dents from a sledgehammer, burns from Molotov cocktails, burnt holes from acids, and so on.

They develop eternal bloodlust, this is an incredible attraction of madness, seasoned with notes of mania. Scattered everywhere are objects that one way or another deal with the next walking corpse, they are found to make it even more pleasant and fun for you to kill them. The game world is literally overflowing with content like this, and it’s mesmerizing. A real feast during the plague.

But back to the main part of the gameplay. It’s an Action/RPG, which means you have to work through certain things.

players, as I said above, are given a choice of 6 heroes. They call dialogues and expect. However, nothing changes in the plot itself, the choice of the character does not appear on this.

Each of them has one of their own stats, which are brought to the maximum value. And here are other cases for the sake of balance. Yes, and you also need to somehow choose initially for whom to play. All features have their own characteristics, which are opened during the story.

The pumping here is presented in the form skill cards. Every serious illness or exceptional features. Yes, specific cards have only manifestations of personality that can be used.

For example, a perfect dodge or parry, a wallpaper of many very generous windows that make you invulnerable. For this, you restore a good piece of health.

However, a big improvement is tied specifically to melee weapons. Yes, there is also a firearm, but it looks like it was tied to the sandbox at the last moment. Pistols and machine guns are rare, and cartridges for them are not always issued. You have to dodge precisely at the expense of boosters, since you don’t feel so good with firearms themselves, and often in the nearest club with nails it will be more effective.

The flow of different skills is endless, the choice is playable, and everyone can customize the character for themselves. this will be relevant for cooperative gameexpected for three players.

However, there is also a stupid remark. A friend cannot be connected to you if he is in another device, and if he does not go through the border as much as you do. That is, one player cannot get ahead of another in passing.

The weapon itself is crafted here. The system is simple, but quite extensive. It is based on elemental effects, usually you equip a weapon. For example, you can make from simple skating electric with fire supplies – it will take into account all the changes, and the damage from upgrades will increase significantly.

Arsenal in the mandatory game, and this is just the presence of the drive. However, keep in mind that weapons break very quickly. It can only be repaired at a workbench. But personally, it was easier for me to throw it away and then find a new one. You may have different options.

Weapons have their own gradation in the best RPG traditions: from gray to purple. It differs not only in durability and appearance with damage, but also in the presence of cells for improvements. You can craft according to the found drawings, or you can just find one. The purple ones are best left for later playthroughs until they match what is significantly better.

The map here is not the smallest, but it’s not a full open world. It is divided into “regions”, between them you have to go through the doors and load. It is a pity that stability was not delivered. However, I am glad that the download takes no more than a second.

Optimization is great

I tested Dead Island 2 on two platforms: a PC with a GTX 1070 Ti and 16GB of RAM, and a PlayStation 5.

In case the game worked fine at 1080p, the output 60 fps on the best images. On PS5, lag is rare, as are bugs. Everything works like clockwork. And for that fat respect.

However, it is depressing that not only ray tracing, but also banal reflections were not added to the game of 2023. You will never see yourself or other objects in mirrors or in water unless they are drawn there. What is better to do is unknown.

What in the end. Should I play Dead Island 2 or not?

Overall, Dead Island 2 is a fast-paced game that rarely gets bored. And this is a merit in the first place of the gameplay.

The plot here is made, as if for show. It is simple and banal, it does not catch almost at all. But at the same time, there are quite interesting side quests, a lot of colorful manifestations and a general humorous atmosphere.

Dead Island 2 is available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S. It costs 60 dollars.