Dead Island 2

1. Summary

People buy Dead Island 2 to hit zombies, and most of the reviews that talk about the hitting are happy with it. The FLESH gore system, which strips skin, melts flesh and splits bodies wherever a weapon lands, comes up in about one review in ten (11%), nearly always as praise. Reviewers also like the weight of the melee, the drop kick, the water-and-electricity combos, and a detailed, sunny Los Angeles that runs well even on a Steam Deck. Those who bring up co-op usually call it the best way to play, and some describe it as a simple game to switch your brain off to.

The complaints are about what surrounds the combat. The story ends just as it seems to be building to a final act, and the playable characters' running quips grate on some players while others enjoy the B-movie camp. Quests lean on hunting keys, fuses and circuit breakers to open doors, zombies respawn seconds after an area is cleared, and the map is a set of separate zones rather than the open island of the first game. On PC, the Epic Online Services connection left some buyers stuck on a loading message, and co-op disconnects, the three-player cap and the lack of crossplay hit the friend groups the game appeals to. Where players disagree is on how much the story and quest design should count against the combat.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

The FLESH gore and dismemberment systemHigh

11% of reviews mention the gore, dismemberment or the FLESH system by name, and they read almost entirely as praise, often in superlatives: "Most detailed gore I have ever seen in a zombie game" and "The gore system is completely unmatched. No other game even comes close." Players describe smashing a zombie down to the skeleton, watching acid melt the skin off, and carving away specific limbs depending on the swing. Negative reviews often make an exception for the gore, and several call it the only reason to play. A small number say the novelty wears off after the first few hours once the rest of the game fails to keep up.

Weighty melee combat, the drop kick and environmental killsHigh

Reviewers who talk about the combat mostly enjoy it. They praise the heft of sledgehammers and golf clubs, the curveball throwables, the finishers, and above all the drop kick, which dozens of short reviews give as a reason to buy. Pouring water and then adding electricity, or setting oil alight, makes for combos players like to set up on purpose. Weapon mods and perks that change how a weapon looks and behaves also get credit. A smaller group, mostly in negative reviews, dislikes the feel: they call swings floaty or "wet noodle", say zombies rarely stagger so you end up trading hits, and complain about unclear melee reach and the slow-motion kill moments. A few of them measure it against Dying Light's combat.

Graphics and a hand-built Los AngelesHigh

Players call the game beautiful, pointing to the detail in Bel-Air mansions, Venice Beach, Hollywood sets and hotels. One reviewer says it sometimes looks better than some Unreal Engine 5 titles, and the environmental storytelling in houses and side areas gets specific praise. People who otherwise dislike the game often still grant that it looks great.

Co-op with friendsHigh

12% of reviews bring up co-op, multiplayer or playing with friends, and the usual message is that the game is at its best that way. Players describe working through the campaign with a partner or two, and a few parents mention playing it with their kids. Several solo players add that it is perfectly fine alone. The technical problems with co-op (disconnects, the three-player cap, missing crossplay) are covered under frustrations.

Smooth performance, including Steam DeckMedium

Reviewers often note the game runs well: high frame rates on mid-range PCs, few performance issues, and good results on Steam Deck, Linux and Mac. A smaller group reports stutter, frame drops tied to certain effects, shader compilation at each launch, or the lack of DLSS (reviewers say only FSR is built in).

The soundtrack and menu songLow

A small group singles out the main menu song as a highlight, and one reviewer jokes that a good part of their playtime is just idling on the menu. A few praise the licensed soundtrack in general.

Where players are split

Tone, humor and the playable charactersHigh

One camp loves the self-aware B-movie tone and the Hollywood satire. As one put it, "Dead Island was Dawn of the Dead. Dead Island 2 is Shaun of the Dead," and fans of that approach enjoy characters like Jacob, Carla and Bruno. The other camp finds the writing cringeworthy: dated slang, influencer side quests, NPCs who make baffling choices, and a playable character who comments on everything. "Becomes a good game as soon as you turn the dialogue volume to 0 permanently," says one positive review, and a few others suggest muting the voices. Some reviews that find most of the cast annoying make an exception for Amy or Ryan. Players coming from the first game miss its more serious horror atmosphere.

How it compares with Dead Island 1, Riptide and Dying LightHigh

About one review in nine (11%) compares the game with the first Dead Island or Riptide, and a smaller number bring up Dying Light. Opinions run both ways. Some call it better than the originals in every way and a worthy return for the series. Others say it lost the open island, the vehicles, the skill trees and the four-player co-op of the earlier games and feels like a different series. Reviews that bring up Dying Light split between those who prefer Dead Island 2's combat and gore and those who miss Dying Light's parkour, open world and night-time tension.

Worth it at a discount, less so at full priceHigh

10% of reviews talk about the price, a sale or "full price", and the usual verdict is great value on a deep discount, too thin for full price given the length of the campaign. Players who picked it up for a few dollars call it a steal ("Best $7 I've spent on a game in a long time.").

Zoned maps instead of an open worldMedium

The game is split into separate hand-built areas joined by loading screens and fast travel. Some players like it: the maps are dense, full of secrets, and easy to play in short sessions. Others find the zones small and the paths linear, and miss the freedom to roam a single large map, especially those who bought it expecting an open world like the first game.

Difficulty and level scalingMedium

Players disagree on whether the game is too easy or too hard, and reviewers note there is no difficulty setting to settle it. Some found the first playthrough too easy; others say they "hit a wall" early ("Early on in the game I hit a wall and there is no way to lower difficulty."). Complaints center on skull-marked enemies far above your level, tanky Butchers and Mutators, and bosses that call in endless adds. Several players dislike that enemies and weapons scale with your level, which makes leveling feel pointless and forces constant weapon replacement ("Something is fundamentally wrong with a game when you dread levelling up."). Some solo players feel certain characters are much harder to play alone.

The skill card systemMedium

The deck of skill cards that replaces a traditional skill tree divides players. Fans like being able to swap builds at any time and stack effects on blocks, dodges and Fury mode. Critics say most cards are minor percentage boosts, that new cards are hard to spot in the menus, and that late-game cards push you toward the Autophage and Fury mechanics whether you want them or not.

The Haus and SoLA expansionsMedium

Opinions on the two story DLCs are mixed. Haus, the cult mansion expansion, is the better liked of the two for its unusual setting and for filling in story the base game skipped, though some found it too short for its price, and a few started it by accident and found themselves locked in. SoLA, the music festival expansion, is praised for its setting and new weapons but criticized for a chaotic final boss that is hard solo, and a few players report a crash after that boss that blocked completion. One player summed up the split: "Haus is better in solo, the main campaign is better in co-op."

New Game Plus and Neighborhood WatchLow

Reviewers describe a free update that added New Game Plus and the Neighborhood Watch horde mode, and reviews that mention it generally welcome the extra replay value. Reviews from late November 2024 talk about New Game Plus as newly added, and those weeks were the most positive in the slice. Some players found New Game Plus difficulty spikes frustrating, and a few say Neighborhood Watch suffers from peer-to-peer drops and no joining mid-session.

What frustrates players

A short story with an abrupt, cliffhanger endingHigh

Story comes up in 22% of reviews (story, plot or ending), more than gore, combat or co-op, and the main complaint is how it ends. Players are surprised when the credits roll just as the plot seems to pick up: "The story is HALF A STORY. They stopped the story RIGHT when it was actually interesting." Another wrote, "I literally thought I had a full third act I was about to enter and then the game ends." Some describe the plot as generic and forgettable even before the ending, and some say the DLCs don't resolve it. A minority enjoy the story as light, goofy fun and see the cliffhanger as setup for a sequel. Completionists describe plenty of side content beyond the campaign, so length complaints focus on the story itself.

Key hunts, fuse boxes and backtrackingMedium

Quest design is a recurring target. Players say too many main and side quests come down to finding a key, a fuse or a circuit breaker to open a door, then walking back: "The entire game is a sequence of 400 fetch quests, in which you must find keys for locked doors." One positive review calls it a "Key Finder Simulator." Players also complain that optional fuse boxes and safes reward loot that is outdated by the time you open them, and that some quest items only spawn if steps are done in a strict order.

Zombies that respawn behind youMedium

Reviewers who bring up respawning dislike how zombies reappear seconds after an area is cleared, spawn behind them, or materialize in plain view: "Clear a room, walk 2 ft and turn around, everything instantly respawned." They say it turns exploration into kiting enemies to the next objective and removes any sense of progress. Several mention screamers that summon more zombies and exploding pods as added irritants. Some positive reviews name respawning as their main gripe.

Epic Online Services on the Steam versionMedium

The Steam release requires Epic Online Services, which a number of players resent for a mostly single-player game. The practical problem is a "Connecting to Epic Online Services" message that never finishes, account-linking loops, or being kicked to the menu when the connection drops. Reviews share workarounds such as deleting the EOS folder or editing the game's .ini file (setting NoOperation to 1), and several players refunded after failing to get it running. The complaint turns up far more often in reviews from players with only an hour or two, and among people whose co-op sessions failed to connect.

Co-op connection problems, the three-player cap and no crossplayMedium

Co-op draws several recurring complaints, which matters for a game people often buy to play with friends. Players describe random disconnects (sometimes mid boss fight, forcing a restart), desync and lag for anyone who is not the host, error codes, and groups that had to change DNS settings or cap frame rates to stay connected ("Me and my friends all somehow had the same network issue that required us to edit our DNS to play together."). Groups of four were disappointed to learn that co-op tops out at three players, where reviewers say the first two games allowed four, some only after playing through the solo opening that comes before co-op: "My only complaint is that its only multiplayer up to three people." Players also report no crossplay with consoles and trouble joining friends on the Epic version.

A repetitive loopMedium

A steady group of reviews says the game is fun for a good while and then repeats itself: the same enemy types, similar weapons with new level numbers, and missions that follow the same pattern. Players who loved the combat tend not to mind; players who wanted more depth say the novelty fades once the gore stops surprising them.

Crashes, launch failures and lost progressLow

A minority report startup crashes (one fix shared in reviews: "The game crashes unless you disable Windows Audio Service."), freezes, crashes after the final SoLA boss, controllers not being detected, and lost play time or progress. Crash reports make up a small share of the reviews.

Weapon durability, repair costs and elemental immunityLow

Some players dislike weapons breaking during long boss fights, with durability carrying over into retries, and the cost of repairing or level-matching favorite weapons. Others object that zombies immune to an element take zero damage from it instead of reduced damage.

Bugged achievementsLow

Completionists report achievements that fail to unlock, particularly progress-based ones for co-op hosts, and some dislike that a few require multiplayer.

Missing PC optionsLow

A handful of reviews ask for hold-to-sprint and hold-to-crouch options, full key rebinding, a higher field of view cap, a way to reduce camera shake, slow motion and button mashing, DLSS support and a photo mode ("No photo mode in a game like this is criminal"). A couple of players note that mirrors show no reflection.

3. The player conversation

Most of the conversation is warm, and a lot of the positive reviews are a line or two ("fun with friends", "gore is amazing", "drop kick zombies"). The longer reviews, positive or negative, tend to weigh the same trade-off: excellent combat and visuals against a weak story, fetch-quest design and respawning enemies. Some recommendations come with conditions attached ("buy it on sale", "play it with friends", mute the voices), and some negative reviews still praise the gore and graphics. One reviewer's summary, "Dead Island 2 is the most 7/10 game of all time.", fits the reviews that recommend it with reservations.

Different players raise different problems. People who left negative reviews after an hour or two often mention Epic Online Services connection failures or crashes on launch, and some discovered the three-player co-op limit early on. Players who finished the game raise the ending, level scaling, difficulty spikes in New Game Plus, bugged achievements and the SoLA boss. Series veterans are the main source of comparisons with the first game and its tone.

Sentiment stayed in a fairly steady band from launch onward, with most weeks between 70% and 85% positive. In Steam launch week (April 2024) 75% of the reviews in the slice were positive. The best stretch came in late November 2024, when 94% of that week's 288 reviews were positive. The weekly share dipped as low as 60% in December 2025 (127 reviews in the week of December 15, 2025) before settling back in the mid 70s through January 2026, and a busy spell in spring 2026 sat around 71% to 72%.

4. What the developers could do

1. Fix the Epic Online Services connection on Steam, or let players skip it offline. Reviews written within the first hours describe an endless "Connecting to Epic Online Services" screen, account-linking loops and refunds, and players are sharing .ini edits to bypass it for single-player.
2. Stabilize co-op and add crossplay. Disconnects that wipe boss progress, desync for non-hosts and DNS workarounds hit the friend groups that co-op fans call the best way to play, and players also ask for console and Steam-to-Epic crossplay.
3. Raise the co-op cap to four players. Groups of four say they bought the game expecting the series' four-player co-op and were let down by the three-player limit.
4. Cut back on instant zombie respawns. Players in both positive and negative reviews say areas refill seconds after they are cleared, with zombies appearing behind them, which makes exploring feel pointless.
5. Continue and conclude the story. The main story complaint is a campaign that stops just as its final act seems to begin, and some players ask for a story expansion or sequel that picks up from the ending.
6. Add difficulty options and soften level scaling. Players are split between finding the game too easy and hitting walls against skull-marked enemies, with no setting to adjust, and several say scaling makes leveling up feel like a penalty.
7. Rework key and fuse quests and make their rewards worthwhile. Reviews call the quest design a chain of key hunts and backtracking, and say fuse boxes and safes give loot that is already outdated.
8. Fix the remaining bugs and add basic PC options. The SoLA final boss crash, broken co-op host achievements, hold-to-sprint and crouch toggles, DLSS, a higher FOV cap and a photo mode are all requested in the reviews.