Dead Island 2 is a sequel to Dead Island, carrying the similar theme of zombie outbreak in a fancy area. This time, you're in Los Angeles, playing as either one out of 6 plague-immune survivors, known as Slayers, each with different strengths and weaknesses. You'll travel fancy areas such as celebrities' housing complex, a film studio, and the iconic Santa Monica pier, among others. One thing I like is that the zombies' outfit differs by location, and they have a very detailed, dynamic gore system.

Gameplay is similar to the previous entry, where you find and modify weapons to kill zombies and repair when broken. There's an interesting new feature, where you can rescale your weapons' level to match your current level. So that powerful unique weapon you found early? It'll still be useful late-game. There are plenty sidequests, the usual helping people kind, as well as treasure hunts and finding missing persons. There are some memorable recurring side characters too, each with their own sidequest chain and storyline, like one where you help an influencer film viral zombie-killing clips. There are even new sidequests after the main story's ending.

Compared to the first game, Dead Island 2 is a step up in many ways, aside from the gorgeous graphics it has more engaging gameplay and storyline, as well as more memorable characters. Even Sam B returns, sadly his voice actor changed. You can play this game solo or in co-op, and there's a co-op exclusive mode named Neighbourhood Watch where you play as another group of survivors you encountered in the main story's sidequests. I recommend buying the Ultimate Edition, as it adds many unique weapons, costumes for each Slayer, and 2 story DLCs.

Dead Island 2 is a sequel to Dead Island, carrying the similar theme of zombie outbreak in a fancy area. This time, you're in Los Angeles, playing as either one out of 6 plague-immune survivors, known as Slayers, each with different strengths and weaknesses. You'll travel fancy areas such as celebrities' housing complex, a film studio, and the iconic Santa Monica pier, among others. One thing I like is that the zombies' outfit differs by location, and they have a very detailed, dynamic gore system. Gameplay is similar to the previous entry, where you find and modify weapons to kill zombies and repair when broken. There's an interesting new feature, where you can rescale your weapons' level to match your current level. So that powerful unique weapon you found early? It'll still be useful late-game. There are plenty sidequests, the usual helping people kind, as well as treasure hunts and finding missing persons. There are some memorable recurring side characters too, each with their own sidequest chain and storyline, like one where you help an influencer film viral zombie-killing clips. There are even new sidequests after the main story's ending. Compared to the first game, Dead Island 2 is a step up in many ways, aside from the gorgeous graphics it has more engaging gameplay and storyline, as well as more memorable characters. Even Sam B returns, sadly his voice actor changed. You can play this game solo or in co-op, and there's a co-op exclusive mode named Neighbourhood Watch where you play as another group of survivors you encountered in the main story's sidequests. I recommend buying the Ultimate Edition, as it adds many unique weapons, costumes for each Slayer, and 2 story DLCs.