Dead Island 2 Reviews
Dead Island 2 is hampered by dull design choices, repetitive combat, and a painfully weak story, with its only saving grace being its great performance on PC.
Dead Island 2 is a hilarious gore-fest and a competent zombie-slaying adventure, but lacks creativity outside of its great sense of humor.
A straightforwardly accomplished zombie action-RPG that doesn't quite make the most of its Californian setting.
Enjoying Dead Island 2 requires you to accept it's 95% hitting zombies with sticks – and the remaining 5% is choosing the stick
A surprisingly lean and mean sequel which amplifies the bloody thrills of the original through its impressive presentation and flexible mechanics.
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.
Dambuster Studios raises the dead in a vicious sequel long thought doomed.
There’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.
Through its skillful environmental design and indulgent combat, Dead Island 2 is one of the best, most disgusting playgrounds I’ve ever played in.
Solid and definitely has an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.
It 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 slaughtering zombies is as pleasant as it is spectacular.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dead Island 2 does a great job of reanimating this dormant zombie-battling series, with the gore-filled combat and excessive weaponry that goes well with the oversaturated LA setting. It's an enjoyable romp, but at the same time, ironically feels like it's playing it safe.
As the credits rolled I didn’t feel satisfied or accomplished at all, which is pretty messed up considering how much of a feat completing a 20-plus hour video game is for an adult these days.
Dambuster manages to improve on the formula with a zombie smasher who does everything very well.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dead 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 still satisfying, but 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.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Dead Island 2 is every bit the head-stomping blast that it promised to be. There are a few creases that Dambuster ought to iron out over the coming weeks, but if you’re hoping for mindless chaos and exceptional entertainment across the grindhouse slaughterhouse that is HELL-A, you’ve got it in spades right here.
While it suffers from some interesting glitches, Dead Island 2 puts some much-needed fun and mayhem back into the zombie apocalypse sandbox.
Practice 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.
I wish I could say that Dead Island 2 came out a big winner after such a long development cycle. But it’s not Game of the Year material. It’s not even what I would call a great zombie game — there are many that do story or even gameplay better. But Dead Island 2 is solid. It is competent, and it is fun. If you want some uncomplicated zombie-slaying antics in a beautiful setting, Dead Island 2 will scratch that itch. But I don’t expect anyone to still be talking about it this time next year.