Stupidly good: the zombie game “Dead Island 2” in the test

Many years have passed since the debut and the developer studio has changed again and again and the release date has been postponed. But now “Dead Island 2” is finally here, sending us to sunny Los Angeles to rampage with a character of our choosing.

fall and indifference

After a plane crash, we choose one of six characters to start our survival journey with. For example, the characters differ in stamina, mobility or the ability to regenerate. At least that’s what it says on paper, but these differences aren’t really noticeable as the game progresses. Would I want to go hunting with a rockabilly lady or would I rather choose a too cool firefighter or even a stockbroker? The choice doesn’t really matter.

The story doesn’t matter either: a virus has turned the people of Los Angeles into bloodthirsty and very aggressive zombies, who are now very hungry as usual and on a manhunt. The city is cut off from its surroundings, the army has given up, withdrawn and left the fate to the few survivors without offering much help.

In addition, as a character you have been bitten yourself, but the virus does not break out and you have to somehow learn to live with it. What is happening in your own body now, what exactly happened before the outbreak and can it be stopped at all? These questions want to be answered.

Demarcated districts instead of an open game world

Our journey begins in a residential area, where we look for certain people who will ensure that the adventure can continue. Gradually, districts are unlocked and allowed to be visited again. However, an open game world with a huge scope is not to be expected.

This is how we fight, say carnage, from one restricted area to another, stopping in many illustrious areas of Los Angeles. The gameplay is almost always the same: we look for survivors to talk to, look for objects to open a locked door or gate, and the whole thing starts all over again.

And on the way from A to B a lot of zombies are waiting for us, which we can then face in the running game with many cutting and stabbing weapons. And we can tinker and put one or the other crazy weapon in our hands. This requires collecting many lying around objects to use for construction.

The weapon and role-playing problem

Weapons, by the way, suffer from limited durability. It is therefore highly recommended to always have several with you to quickly have an alternative at hand. If it is not there, you can also fight with fists and feet. But that’s a quick way to lose and it’s better to run.

Firearms are also available later in the game. Even if they have decent penetration power, every shot should be a hit. Because an infinite amount of ammunition should not be expected.

The game graces itself with the term first-person action RPG. But the role playing part is more discreet in the background. Sure, you can mess around and experiment a lot with the skill system, but the role-playing options are more of an illusion that you can indulge in, but not necessarily, to generate fun in the game.

The highlights: Los Angeles, zombies and lots of blood

The secret star of this video game is Los Angeles anyway, which invites you to visit the chic places from Beverly Hills to Venice Beach. The sunny, airy atmosphere is beautifully captured and the demarcated areas invite you to explore. But if you want stress-free sightseeing, you’ll first need to get rid of the zombies, who of course are running all over the place, eagerly hunting for fresh meat.

Which brings us to the next highlight. Yes, there are enough zombie games already and the wheel is not reinvented at all here. Zombie shredding stands out from the competition because the number of different undead is large, sometimes even huge. During the game, for example, I rarely felt like I had seen the drooling thing in front of me.

What also stands out are the excellent gore effects. We don’t want to list all the possible ways to dismantle the zombies and how gory and disgusting it can get, but who desires such effects and buys the game mainly to slaughter zombies en masse and can’t get enough of the high level of violence, he will certainly be served here.

By the way, “Dead Island 2” is anything but simple. If the opponents can still be beaten fairly quickly and easily in the first twenty hours of play, the difficulty level rises noticeably. Even simple zombies then become a challenge, while the game over screen soon appears with large mountains of flesh with no tactics and a suitable weapon.

A bloody feast for genre fans

Conclusion: At first I was not warm to “Dead Island 2”. Although I felt like playing a zombie game again after a long time and the Los Angeles setting lured me in, I didn’t enjoy this video game at first. It wasn’t until I turned off the story and focused on the essentials that the spark finally flew.

“Dead Island 2” can walk around with its fake role-playing chest telling me over and over that I can set and customize my character a lot in the menu, but the real crux of the game lies in the choice of weapons and how to use them used.

Or to put it another way: in this game, many different zombies just want to be literally taken apart so that the blood just flows and the limbs and entrails fly around spectacularly.

That and nothing more is “Dead Island 2”. If you’re looking for just that and want to engage in meaningless conversation, you’ll have a lot of fun.

“Dead Island 2” will be available April 21 for Playstation 5 (tested), Playstation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. Approved from 18 years.