(AfroGamers.com) I was a year late to Dead Island 2 and recently, it was made available on PlayStation Plus. It’s an open-world game with crafting and loot on PS Plus—of course I’m going to install and play it a bit. Who knows, I might just finish it!
Dead Island 2 Slams
So, getting into Dead Island 2, I had seen streams and was interested. I’d played Dead Island, Riptide, and Dying Light—same developer, same theme, same approach, different gameplay—and enjoy Techland’s work with zombie apocalypse stuff.
The studio found the perfect blend of over the top fun and action with difficulty and danger. The first two Dead Island games feature some base protection—an important part of zombie survival—but Dead Island 2 is more about exploration and action.
Most puzzles can be solved by exploring and finding a key item. There’s little parkour-level climbing as is the case with Dying Light. We’re talking simple mantling, putting stuff in stuff, unlocking doors, and killing zombies.
Simple and straightforward.
Of Course the Chosen Survivor is an Errand Runner
As with any open-world action or action RPG, your character—one who is immune to zombie bites, a walking killing machine—is often sent out to retrieve something or save someone. Unless you’ve got a buddy to play with, it’s all on you with no AI partners for the most part.
There are some situations or areas where humans might fight the zombies but for most of the game, living humans are either huddled together safely somewhere or zombie meal. Because there aren’t that many people willing to brave Hell-A, you’re left to run everyone’s errand and find their loved ones.
It’s honestly no different from Fallout and everyone giving the Lone Survivor work—and mostly mediocre pay. Well, in Dead Island 2, the pay is often some decent weapon for your level but those mission tend to be very involved.
That’s Called “Incentive”
That’s a large part of the fun of Dead Island games: using judgment, being patient and improving your arsenal and abilities. For the time that they come out, the games feature big enough game worlds for you to find something to do and level up.
Normally, I take a “I’ll do it when I do it” approach to achievements and challenges but in games like DI2 and Borderlands—ehh, I put in the effort. I’m actually learning the controls to where I’m better than good with timed dodges and blocking.
Now, that’s a big improvement for me because I build every character in every game like a rogue or assassin: damage and criticals. In this game, I’m actually trying to master moves since effectiveness in combat allows you to beat a challenge and get some bonus.
That’s what challenges should do and you notice more games doing it. This stretches out the game a bit as it encourages exploration and discourages blitzing through it—and Dead Island 2 like the original isn’t a game to blitz through.
Similar to Farcry. Combat makes up a huge part of both games with Farcry featuring a focus on territory claiming but rewarding exploration is a large part as well. Both franchises work within large worlds, after all.
How Can We Not Focus on Crafting?
Crafting is something I will sink minutes into whether it’s to boost the armoring/blacksmithing/crafting skill, to produce gear for adventuring, or to engage in enterprise. It’s a feature that tends to feed into other features in a game such as an economy, exploring or raiding for resources, or even lockpicking and stealing.
Personally, I feel that crafting is the straw that stirs the drink in a game. It keeps players engaged to make the perfect weapon for them or for this build. In DI2, crafting will have you looting anything with a white outline, wondering where the next workbench is—never mind that map—and trying to juice up your weapons with damage and status upgrades.
I dig that, I’ve gotten into a preferred combat style with faster weapons using Jacob and I’m having a blast discovering new mods. It’s making me more conscious of my resources for crafting and consider selling over scrapping.
Overall, this was a great release for 2023 and I’d say that the single player campaign is still worth playing now. All the involved gameplay mechanics work within sync for this fun zombie-slaying experience.
What were your thoughts on Dead Island 2? Let us know in the comments!
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.