This is not a review of the full Dead Island 2 game, just the first hour or so of gameplay, including cutscenes, the full review will be linked here as soon as it has been published.
Dead Island 2 has finally been released after almost ten years of waiting since the sequel was originally announced by Deep Silver back in 2014, and one thing that has been on every Dead Island fan’s mind – how does it compare to the original game, and most importantly, was it worth the wait?
When Dead Island: Riptide was first released, the second part of Dead Island, it managed to maintain the full element of the original game, minus a few additions, allowing fans to seamlessly load up the game and start slaying away with ease as if they were still just continuing through the first game’s storyline.
Judging by the first 1 to 3 hours of Dead Island 2 and despite the clear improvements in its visual design, it seems that Deep Silver has stayed true to the original game’s functionality and core values, and similar to Dead Island: Riptide, this long-awaited sequel has an almost identical feel, offering a familiar and now nostalgic experience for those who have played the original Dead Island games.
Although Dead Island 2 has that familiar feel to the original games, new players to the franchise will also be in for a treat, especially if you’re a fan of zombie-slaying storylines, gore, and games where you can customise your weapons, discover new collectables, and explore open worlds looking for quests to complete – whether you’re an old fan or new to the franchise, we highly recommend you give it a try.
When it comes to the new improvements that the Dead Island 2 teams have been hard at work bringing to life, the level of effort that has gone into the gory elements is going to be much appreciated by the typical zombie horror fan, with this new instalment even allowing players to hack away at a zombie’s body until nothing but bone is left. In fact, the general combat seems to have been massively improved upon, still offering a familiar combat style to the original, but providing more of a visual experience when slaying zombies down one by one, with more abilities to obtain than compared to the original, by the looks of it – not to mention the increase in playable characters this time round, with each character having unique personality traits, dialogue, and skills to collect, it’s safe to say that there is plenty to do in this new addition to the Dead Island game franchise.
It should also be noted that the cutscenes in Dead Island 2 are beyond impressive, with amazing and modern graphics, custom dialogue depending on which character you have chosen, plus the in-game cutscenes look incredibly clear compared to the original game – to be fair, however, the first Dead Island was released back in 2011 and was still considered to be rather impressive for that time. In-game cutscenes will flawlessly jump back into the game with no loading screens, just straight into the action, which is what any large-budget gaming fan would expect in 2023.
Expect our full Dead Island 2 review to be published soon and linked here once ready, happy gaming to those who have purchased Dead Island 2, and for those who have yet to order, you have our full recommendation to do so, especially if you’re a fan of open world RPG games and slaying zombies!
5 / 5 Stars.
Dead Island 2 is now out and available to purchase on platforms PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Microsoft Windows.
