Dead Island 2

Last updated

Dead Island 2
Dead Island 2 cover art.jpg
Developer(s) Dambuster Studios [lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s) Deep Silver
Director(s)
  • David Stenton
  • James Worrall
Designer(s) Adam Duckett
Artist(s) Adam Olsson
Writer(s) Ayesha Khan
Composer(s) Ryan Williams
Series Dead Island
Engine Unreal Engine 4 [1]
Platform(s)
ReleaseApril 21, 2023
Genre(s) Action role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Dead Island 2 is a 2023 action role-playing game developed by Dambuster Studios and published by Deep Silver. It is a sequel to the 2011 video game Dead Island and the third major installment in the Dead Island series. Set about 15 years after the events of Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide , Dead Island 2 differentiates itself from its predecessors by taking place in the city of Los Angeles, which has been quarantined due to a zombie outbreak.

Contents

Announced in 2014, Dead Island 2 spent more than eight years in development hell [2] due to multiple changes with the studios working on it. Yager Development was originally hired to develop the game in 2012, but was removed from the project in 2015 and replaced by Sumo Digital the following year. Sumo Digital was subsequently removed, with Dambuster, an internal studio of Deep Silver, taking over in 2019. [3]

Dead Island 2 was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 21 April 2023. The game received generally positive reviews from critics and had sold 3 million units by May 2024.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, it is an action role-playing game played from a first-person perspective. Dead Island 2 takes place in Los Angeles in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. At the beginning of the game, players have to select from one of six playable characters as their player avatar called a slayer. Each of them has their own unique skills and abilities. [4] They also have to choose from one of two defensive abilities, either learning to block hostile attacks, or dodge them. [5] The game's world is divided into 10 different zones. While the player can freely explore each zone, they must travel between different zones through Zone Exits. As the player progresses in the game, they will also unlock fast travel points, allowing them to travel to different locations quickly. [6]

Players can pick up both ranged and melee weapons. Each weapon can be further customized with mods, which add elemental effects, and perks, which can alter the player's stat. [7] The game features a system named "FLESH", which stands for "Fully Locational Evisceration System for Humanoids". It is a procedurally generated dismemberment system which can create weapon-appropriate wounds on zombies, allowing players to break their skin, bones and internal organs. [8] Weapons are divided into different rarity, with Rare and Superior weapons being generally more powerful. [5] In addition, players can use the environment to their advantage. For instance, an electric weapon can be thrown into a puddle, electrocuting all enemies standing on it. [9] Weapons will gradually degrade and eventually break, though players can repair them at workbenches found in the game's world. [10]

Unlike previous games in the series, Dead Island 2 does not have a skill tree. Instead, it uses a deck-building system which allows players to alter their character's strengths and weaknesses. The Skill Deck sorts cards into four different categories: Abilities, Survivor, Slayer, and Numen. Abilities cards unlock new active abilities for players, some of which can be used during the Fury mode, which allows players to unleash devastating attacks on enemies for a brief period of time; Survival cards boost the player's health and stamina; Slayer cards grant players passive perks that enhance their combat abilities; Numen cards unlock special abilities that have a large damage output. Players can also equip "Autophage" cards. While these cards will provide perks to the player, they will also debuff them, making them weaker. Cards can be earned through completing quests, levelling up, and killing special enemies. [11]

Plot

About 15 years after the events of "Dead Island", [12] the US military are forced to put Los Angeles under a full quarantine restricted zone due to a new and stronger zombie outbreak.

As Los Angeles is being quarantined, six individuals (dubbed "Slayers") board one of the last evacuation flights out of the city: hustler Bruno, mechanic Carla, retail worker Dani, firefighter-themed stripper Ryan, athlete Amy, and stuntman Jacob.

In the confusion, an infected person ends up on board, and the military shoots the plane down. The Slayers narrowly survive the crash but are bitten trying to help some other survivors. They manage to make their way to the home of one of the crash survivors, actress Emma Jaunt, who reluctantly shelters them despite their infection. Sam B, Emma's ex-boyfriend, arrives at the mansion intending to get Emma out of the city, and, revealing he is immune to the infection, the Slayers realize they are also immune. With the Slayers still intent on escaping the city, they head to the nearest evacuation center at the Halperin Hotel, only to find it overrun with infected. They recover a radio and contact Dr. Reuben Reed, a CDC doctor who asks them to come to his safe haven in Santa Monica to use their immunity to synthesize a cure. Sam warns the Slayers not to trust Reed.

The Slayers head through the sewers to get to Santa Monica, discovering that the zombie corpses the military have been dumping into the sewers have melded together into a massive, tumor-like growth spreading underneath the city. They are stopped by another group of survivors led by Lola Konradt, who drops the Slayers into a pit full of zombies, temporarily triggering a bestial rage in them, which they use to kill all the zombies. The Slayers manage to reach Reed's haven at the Serling Hotel, where he informs them that the military will not extract them unless they provide proof of immunity, which means using Reed's testing equipment at the overrun CDC HQ. The Slayers recover the equipment and return to discover that Reed and Konradt are acquaintances. The Slayers are then sent to find Reed's missing daughter, Tisha, who is working with a team of hackers investigating mysterious encrypted data being exchanged by the CDC. Tisha gives the Slayers a way to contact Konradt directly in return for them giving her more time to investigate the CDC.

Konradt tips the Slayers off about a secret lab where Reed sent other immune subjects. While fighting an infected test subject, the Slayers succumb to their feral instincts and attack Tisha, who apparently kills them, only to be revived by Konradt. She explains that she, her followers, and the Slayers are a new species of humans dubbed "Numen," who can assimilate the infection, called the Autophage, while retaining their minds, gaining extraordinary abilities such as increased strength, speed, or the ability to enter into a rage of fury, and a telepathic hive mind with other Numen. Before leaving, she warns the Slayers that Reed is not actually searching for a cure. The Slayers return to the Serling Hotel to confront Reed, only to find that he has fled with Tisha to a lab on Hollywood Boulevard and that he was responsible for the city-wide Autophage outbreak.

Furious at constantly being lied to, the Slayers gather Emma, Sam, and helicopter pilot Patton, intending to steal Reed's helicopter and leave the city. They reach Hollywood Boulevard, where Sam starts succumbing to the Autophage, his immunity deteriorating. The Slayers go on ahead and confront Reed, who admits that he released the Autophage in the city in order to filter out Numen, explaining that the Autophage is not a plague but a "clock" fundamental to the human genome that is hard-coded to wipe them all out and turn them into zombies at a predetermined time, but also turn 1 in every million Humans into Numen. The Numen, who he considers either anomalies or "puppets" of the Autophage, and their "god blood" were his only way to find a method to neutralize it, which is why, according to his journals, he used a retro-virus carrier of the original Pathogen HK to spoof the zero-clock state on a smaller scale to create the outbreak and Numen. He gives the Slayers a single dose of Autophage cure and reveals that Tisha also carries the remedy in her body as he secretly injected her with Numen blood prior to birth to harvest the cure for the rest of her life. Reed succumbs to the Autophage, forcing the Slayers to kill him while Tisha flees.

The Slayers return to Sam, Emma, and Patton and administer the cure to the former, saving his life. The Slayers decide to stay behind to find Tisha and help the other survivors trapped in the city. As Emma, Sam, and Patton escape Los Angeles, Konradt and her followers watch over the Slayers as they fight another horde of zombies.

Development

Techland was originally set to develop Dead Island 2, but decided to work on Dying Light with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment instead. [13] Deep Silver went looking for a developer until Yager Development made a successful pitch to Deep Silver in Q3 2012. [14] Yager established a new division, Yager Productions GmbH, for development of the game. [15] As announced at Sony's E3 2014 media briefing, Dead Island 2 was to be more vibrant than its predecessors. [16] The game was originally scheduled for a Q2 2015 release. [17]

At Gamescom 2014, Deep Silver demonstrated gameplay footage from an early version of the game. According to the presented content, the game was to be set in California, including landmarks such as the Santa Monica Pier and Hollywood, as well as many locations in San Francisco. Furthermore, Deep Silver stated that the game was to feature four playable characters, [13] though only two were shown at the Gamescom Demo. It was originally planned to feature eight-player cooperative multiplayer. [18]

In July 2015, Deep Silver announced that Yager had been dropped and that development would be moved to another unnamed developer. [19] The managing director of Yager Development, Timo Ullmann, later stated that the company's departure from the project occurred because "Yager and Deep Silver's respective visions of the project fell out of alignment". [20] Yager Productions filed for insolvency in July 2015. [21]

In March 2016, UK-based studio Sumo Digital announced that it had taken over development. [22] In August 2017, Deep Silver reiterated that the game was still in development, making a similar statement again in July 2018. [23] [24] In August 2019, THQ Nordic announced that development of the game had changed hands to Dambuster Studios, an internal studio of Deep Silver. [25]

A playable version of the still-under-development game from 2015 was leaked in June 2020. [15]

The game was shown at Gamescom 2022, and was initially scheduled to release on February 3, 2023. In November 2022, it was announced that the game would be delayed until April 28, 2023, to allow additional development time. [26] In February 2023, the release date was moved up a week to April 21, 2023. [27] The German version is censored. The player cannot further maim fallen enemies. [28]

The game's first story expansion, titled Haus, was released on November 2, 2023. It introduced a new location (a large villa in Malibu, California), three weapons, and eight skill cards. [29] A second story expansion, titled SOLA Festival, was released on April 17, 2024. [30]

Release

Dead Island 2 was released on April 21, 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. On Windows, the game was released with a one-year exclusivity on the Epic Games Store. [31] The game released on Steam on April 22, 2024. [32]

Reception

Dead Island 2 received "generally favorable" reviews for the PC and Xbox Series X/S versions, while the PlayStation 5 version received "mixed or average reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. [33] [34] [35] The game was nominated for "Best Action Game" at The Game Awards 2023. [54]

Sales

Dead Island 2 sold 1 million units in 3 days since release. [55] By May 2023, the game had sold over 2 million units. [56] By May 2024, it had sold 3 million units. [57]

Notes

  1. Development duties originally handled by Yager Development (2012–2016) and Sumo Digital (2016–2019)

Related Research Articles

<i>The House of the Dead</i> (video game) 1996 video game

The House of the Dead is a 1996 horror-themed light gun shooter arcade game developed by Sega AM1 and released by Sega. It is the first game in the House of the Dead series. Players assume the role of agents Thomas Rogan and "G" as they combat an army of undead experiments created by Dr. Curien, a mad scientist.

<i>Resident Evil</i> (1996 video game) Survival horror game

Resident Evil is a 1996 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation. It is the first game in Capcom's Resident Evil franchise. Players control Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, members of the elite task force S.T.A.R.S., who must escape a mansion infested with zombies and other monsters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep Silver</span> Austrian video game publisher

Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion.

<i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds</i> 2003 video game

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds is an action beat 'em up video game developed by Eurocom Entertainment Software and published by Vivendi Universal Games. It is the fourth game in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise, and the only multiplatform game. It was the first to allow players to control characters other than Buffy Summers and feature a fully developed multiplayer mode.

<i>Yager</i> 2003 video game

Yager is a combat flight simulation video game developed by Yager Development and published by THQ, Kemco, and DreamCatcher Interactive. It was first released as an Xbox exclusive before later being ported to Microsoft Windows, both in 2003. The Xbox version was released in North America in later 2004, while the PC version was released in North America as Aerial Strike: Low Altitude - High Stakes: The Yager Missions in February 2005. In this game, gamers take on the role of Magnus Tide, a freelance pilot adventurer. Yager and Aerial Strike is set over 20 levels in which the player takes possession of various weapons and ships in an effort to accomplish each mission. The game, while well-received critically, was not a commercial success, largely in part due to a delayed North American release amidst a lack of advertising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Doak</span> Northern Irish video game designer born on 20 July 1967

David Doak is a Northern Irish video game designer. Originally from Belfast, he later moved to England, where he studied at Oxford University on biochemistry specialty and worked as a research scientist.

<i>Doom</i> (2016 video game) First-person shooter

Doom is a 2016 first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game is the first major installment in the Doom series since 2004's Doom 3 and was a reboot of the franchise. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in May 2016. A port for Nintendo Switch was co-developed with Panic Button and released in November 2017, and a version for Google Stadia was released in August 2020. Players take the role of an unnamed space marine, known as the "Doom Slayer", as he battles demonic forces within an energy-mining facility on Mars and in Hell.

<i>Dead Island</i> 2011 video game

Dead Island is a 2011 action role-playing game developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. Released for Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the game is centered on the challenge of surviving a zombie-infested open world with an important emphasis on melee combat. The plot focuses on four playable survivors trying to survive and escape off the fictional island of Banoi.

<i>Dead Rising 2</i> 2010 video game

Dead Rising 2 is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Blue Castle Games and published by Capcom. It was released between September and October 2010 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. It is a sequel to Dead Rising, and is the second entry in the series of the same name. The game features a number of new features and improvements to its predecessor, including multiplayer options.

<i>Call of Duty: World at War</i> 2008 video game

Call of Duty: World at War is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It is the fifth main installment of the Call of Duty series and is the fourth entry in the series to be set during World War II. The game was announced by Activision in June 2008 and was released in November 2008, for PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360, and Wii. Other games under the World at War title were published for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2, featuring different storylines and missions.

<i>Spec Ops: The Line</i> 2012 video game

Spec Ops: The Line is a 2012 third-person shooter video game developed by Yager Development and published by 2K. It is the tenth title, as well as a reboot, of the Spec Ops series. In the game, players can hide behind cover, vault over obstacles, and shoot enemies while utilizing a variety of gadgets. Included with the game is an online multiplayer mode, developed separately by Darkside Game Studios, allowing players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay. The player controls Captain Martin Walker, who is sent into a post-catastrophe Dubai with an elite Delta Force team on a recon mission. As the story progresses, Walker's sanity begins to deteriorate as he begins to experience hallucinations and slowly realize the horror of war.

<i>Dead Island: Riptide</i> 2013 video game

Dead Island: Riptide is a 2013 action role-playing game developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. Released in April 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, Riptide serves as a continuation of the story of 2011's Dead Island, with the original four survivors, plus a new survivor, arriving on another island in the Banoi archipelago, which has also been overrun by zombies.

<i>Dying Light</i> 2015 video game

Dying Light is a 2015 survival horror video game developed by Techland and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game's story follows an undercover agent named Kyle Crane who is sent to infiltrate a quarantine zone in a fictional Middle Eastern city called Harran. It features an enemy-infested, open-world city with a dynamic day–night cycle, in which zombies are slow and clumsy during daytime but become extremely aggressive at night. The gameplay is focused on weapons-based combat and parkour, allowing players to choose fight or flight when presented with dangers. The game also features an asymmetrical multiplayer mode, and a four-player co-operative multiplayer mode.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yager Development</span> German video game developer

Yager Development GmbH is a German video game developer based in Berlin.

<i>Dead Island</i> (series) Video game series

Dead Island is an action role-playing survival horror video game series published by Deep Silver for Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and mobile platforms iOS and Android. There are four installments in the series, with the latest one released on April 21, 2023. Dead Island is centered on the challenge of surviving a zombie-infested open world island with a major emphasis on melee combat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dambuster Studios</span> British video game developer

Deep Silver Dambuster Studios Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Nottingham, England. The studio was set up by Deep Silver on 30 July 2014 to take over the development of Homefront: The Revolution from Crytek UK, which was closed later that same day, transferring all of its employees to Dambuster Studios.

<i>Dead Island Reveal Trailer</i> Announcement trailer for the video game Dead Island

Dead Island Reveal Trailer is an announcement trailer for the video game Dead Island, which was developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. The story of the trailer follows a family who is attacked by a horde of zombies in a hotel. The trailer begins with the infected daughter, who has turned into a zombie, being thrown to her death from a hotel window. The trailer was produced by Glasgow-based Axis Animation, with music created by Giles Lamb.

<i>Dead Cells</i> 2018 video game

Dead Cells is a 2018 roguelike-Metroidvania game developed by Motion Twin and Evil Empire, and published by Motion Twin. The player takes the role of an amorphous creature called the Prisoner. As the Prisoner, the player must fight their way out of a diseased island in order to slay the island's King. The player gains weapons, treasure and other tools through exploration of the procedurally-generated levels. Dead Cells features a permadeath system, causing the player to lose all items and other abilities upon dying. A currency called Cells can be collected from defeated enemies, allowing the player to purchase permanent upgrades.

<i>Slay the Spire</i> 2019 roguelike deck-building game

Slay the Spire is a roguelike deck-building game developed by the American indie studio Mega Crit and published by Humble Bundle. The game was released in early access for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in late 2017, with an official release in January 2019. It was released for PlayStation 4 in May 2019, for Nintendo Switch in June 2019 and for Xbox One in August 2019. An iOS version was released in June 2020, with an Android version released in February 2021.

A roguelike deck-building game is a hybrid genre of video games that combines the nature of deck-building card games with procedural-generated randomness from roguelike games.

References

  1. Lemne, Bengt (August 21, 2014). "How Dead Island 2 pushed Unreal Engine 4 beyond its early limits". Game Reactor. Archived from the original on January 26, 2022. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
  2. Wood, Austin (April 24, 2023). "After 8 years in development hell, Dead Island 2 sells 1 million copies in its first weekend". Yahoo . Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  3. O'Connor, James (May 20, 2020). "New Saints Row And Dead Island 2 Are Not Planned Until After March 2021". GameSpot . Archived from the original on May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  4. Ross, Danielle (April 28, 2023). "Best Dead Island 2 characters guide – pick the top slayer". PCGamesN . Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Trans, Edmond (April 26, 2023). "Dead Island 2 Guide – 8 Essential Tips To Help You Survive". GamesHub. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  6. Wilson, Iain (April 26, 2023). "Is Dead Island 2 open world?". GamesRadar . Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  7. Hurley, Leon (April 28, 2023). "Dead Island 2 weapons, legendary and unique variants explained". GamesRadar . Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  8. Wolens, Joshua (February 2, 2023). "Dead Island 2 devs detail its gruesome procedural violence-modelling tech". PC Gamer . Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  9. Aitken, Lauren (April 21, 2023). "Dead Island 2: 10 tips for getting started in Hell-A". PC Gamer . Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  10. LeBlanc, Wesley (January 9, 2023). "Weapon Durability In Dead Island 2 Is A Useful 'Instrument' For Dambuster Studios". Game Informer . Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  11. Raynor, Kelsy (April 21, 2023). "Best cards in Dead Island 2's Skill Deck and how to use them". VG 247 . Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  12. 86 Rapid-Fire Questions About Dead Island 2. Game Informer. January 25, 2023. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2023 via YouTube.
  13. 1 2 Kollar, Phil (2014). "Dead Island 2 - New developer Yager reveals what it calls 'the smallest MMO in the world.'". Polygon . Archived from the original on June 19, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  14. Yin-Poole, Wesley (July 1, 2014). "California Dreamin': Dead Island 2 embraces the slaughter". Eurogamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  15. 1 2 Yin-Poole, Wesley (June 6, 2020). "People are playing a five-year-old build of Dead Island 2". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on June 6, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  16. "Dead Island 2- Official E3 Announce Trailer | PS4". YouTube . Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  17. Good, Owen (June 9, 2014). "Dead Island 2 announced, planned for Spring 2015". Polygon . Vox Media. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  18. Purchese, Robert (June 12, 2014). "Dead Island 2 has opt-out 8-player multiplayer". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  19. Futter, Mike (July 14, 2015). "Deep Silver Drops Yager As Developer Of Dead Island 2". Game Informer . Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  20. Matulef, Jeffery (July 15, 2015). "Dead Island 2 is no longer being made by Yager". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  21. Hurley, Leon (July 29, 2015). "Yager's fine. It's just the Dead Island 2 bit that's shut down". GamesRadar+ . Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  22. Calvin, Alex (March 10, 2016). "Sumo Digital takes over Dead Island 2 development". MCV/Develop . Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  23. Yin-Poole, Wesley (May 8, 2017). "Dead Island 2 is still alive, Deep Silver insists". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  24. Prescott, Shaun (July 6, 2018). "Dead Island 2 is still coming, says official Twitter account". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on July 6, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  25. Romano, Sal (August 14, 2019). "Deep Silver Dambuster Studios takes over Dead Island 2 development". Gematsu. Archived from the original on August 14, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  26. Romano, Sal (November 17, 2022). "Dead Island 2 delayed to April 28, 2023". Gematsu. Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  27. Yang, George (February 14, 2023). "Dead Island 2 Release Date Moved Forward by One Week". IGN . Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  28. Elsner, Philipp; Aschenbrenner, Vali (April 17, 2023). "Dead Island 2: Release mit USK-Freigabe in Deutschland, aber nicht uncut". GameStar (in German). Webedia. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  29. Dinsdale, Ryan (October 12, 2023). "Dead Island 2 Haus Story Expansion Arrives in November". IGN . Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  30. Yin-Poole, Wesley (October 12, 2023). "Dead Island 2 DLC Expansions Revealed Amid Parent Company Restructure". IGN . Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  31. Dead Island 2 - Official Launch Trailer - IGN, April 17, 2023, retrieved February 19, 2024
  32. "Dead Island 2 gets Steam release date, Dead Island Riptide is currently free". VGC. February 13, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  33. 1 2 "Dead Island 2 for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  34. 1 2 "Dead Island 2 for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  35. 1 2 "Dead Island 2 for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  36. Moyse, Chris (April 18, 2023). "Review: Dead Island 2". Destructoid . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  37. Colantonio, Giovanni (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 review: gory zombie sequel is all blood, no brains". Digital Trends . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  38. Bloodworth, Daniel (April 19, 2023). "Review: Dead Island 2". Easy Allies . Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  39. LeBlanc, Wesley (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 Review - A Good Weekend Getaway To LA". Game Informer . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  40. Delaney, Mark (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 Review - Eat The Rich". GameSpot . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  41. Hurley, Leon (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 review: "a one note thrill, but it's a note that absolutely sings"". GamesRadar+ . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  42. Shive, Chris (April 18, 2023). "Review: Dead Island 2". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  43. Northup, Travis (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 Review". IGN . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  44. McCarter, Reid (April 18, 2023). "'Dead Island 2' review: a shambling zombie game in need of sharper bite". NME . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  45. Parker, Lewis (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 review". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  46. Rose, Danielle (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 review – a slow bleed, but worth the pain". PCGamesN . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  47. Bayne, Aaron (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 Review (PS5)". Push Square . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  48. White, Lucas (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 review: Precedent Evil". Shacknews . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  49. Silver, Dan (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 review: much-delayed zombie slasher sequel is a gonzo, gore-soaked gaming guilty pleasure". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  50. Stuart, Keith (April 19, 2023). "Dead Island 2 review – rollicking zombie hack-n-slasher has missed its moment". The Guardian . Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  51. Middler, Jordan (April 18, 2023). "Review: Dead Island 2 is a sickeningly gruesome joy". Video Games Chronicle . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  52. Raynor, Kelsey (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 review: a HELL-A zany take on the co-op zombie shooter". VG247 . Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  53. James, Ford (April 18, 2023). "Dead Island 2 review – Hollywood undead". VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  54. Spangler, Todd (November 13, 2023). "The Game Awards 2023 Nominations: Alan Wake 2, Baldur's Gate 3 Lead the Pack With Eight Noms Each (Full List)". Variety . Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  55. "Dead Island 2 shifts 1m copies in its first weekend of release". Eurogamer.net. April 24, 2023. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  56. "Embracer Group publishes Interim Report Q4, January-March 2023: NET SALES INCREASED BY 79 % TO SEK 9,356 MILLION". Embracer Group. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  57. Editor-in-chief, James Batchelor (May 23, 2024). "Embracer Group full-year sales rise to $3.9bn, but $1.5bn debt remains". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved May 23, 2024.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)