Dead Island 2 is back after eight years of silence with two new trailers and a release date
Get ready for a trip to Los Angeles you’ll never forget.
Rising from the ashes of 2014 comes word of Dead Island 2 coming to consoles, PC and Stadia in February 2023.
Per publisher Deep Silver and developer Dambuster Studios, you can pick up the long-in-development title on February 3, so mark your calendars.
Check out the CGI trailer below, starring Jacob, one of the playable characters.
In it, he wakes up in a swank Beverly Hills villa and steps outside to find the remnants of a bloody zombie outbreak - all to the beat of Kool and the Gang.
Revealed alongside the CGI trailer is the first official gameplay trailer showing actual in-game footage that not only sets the scene but introduces you to various locations in zombified Los Angeles.
Dead Island 2 takes place a few months after the events of Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide. In it, a deadly virus is spreading across Los Angeles, turning its inhabitants into zombies. The city is under quarantine, and the military has retreated.
Bitten, infected, and more than immune, you will learn how to harness your tainted zombie powers alongside others resistant to the pathogen. All of you hold the future of Los Angeles and humanity in your hands, so don't screw it up.
To help you along the way, there will be plenty of weapons and tactical options to take out the zombie horde. You can choose from six characters with unique personality traits and dialogue. You can fully customize the abilities of each Slayer with a skill system that allows you to re-spec instantly
The first-person action RPG also features an advanced dismemberment system providing rather distinct ways to take out zombies. There will be several types of zombies, each with personal mutations, attacks, and hundreds of visual variants.
You can also expect plenty of quests, a crazy cast of characters, and a story full of dark comedy with plenty of re-playability. It also includes a co-op mode for up to three players.
And that's not all. Unique to players in North America will be Alexa Game Control, a feature that allows you to use your voice to interact with zombies, change weapons, navigate the world, and more.
“We are excited to debut Alexa Game Control in Dead Island 2,” said Steve Bernstein, director of Alexa Games. “Gamers will enjoy a more immersive gaming experience by using their voice to goad zombies, ask for help, activate special abilities during combat, and more, without having to say “Alexa,” use an Echo device, or purchase any special hardware.”
“We are committed to building immersive games that people can play wherever and however they want to play them,” said Klemens Kundratitz, CEO at Playion Group, developer and global publisher of Dead Island 2. “This means that people should be able to play games however they want. With physical media, digital editions, controllers, and now voice.”
Dead Island 2 was first announced back in 2014, and had been in development for at least two years before its announcement. Publisher Deep Silver would go on to confirm the game was still in development as of 2017. Things went relatively quiet after that, but in 2019, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors confirmed twice that it was still in development.
In development with Homefront: The Revolution studio Dambuster, the team took over from Sumo Digital, who had taken over development from the title's original developer Yager. Techland was the developer of the first Dead Island game.
Dead Island 2 is now available for pre-order on the Epic Games Store, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.