My short review of Dead Island 2 (with Haus and SoLA dlcs)

[Cartof]

Well.. i waited for a year (and supported dambuster studio by buying the base game and the expansion pass on epic in 2023) to play the last dlc and see the story come full circle and.. i am dissapointed. The cliffhanger ending from the base game IS NOT sorted in the SoLA dlc !
So i don't know what's with these devs.. will they add more quests to sort the main story later? i don't think so.. will they offer us the complete ending in a surprise 3rd dlc ? don't think so.. maybe a Dead Island 3 in 10-15 years..

So for you steam guys that are interested in this game,

The Good:
- awesome combat, nice fps mechanics, many many skills/cards, weapon upgrades, many weapons, beautiful gore, one of the best sandbox zombie killing experience.
- the graphics are top, sharp textures, beautiful locations and quite open diverse levels ! the sound design is very good and there are some pretty cool music tracks.
- technically the base game (and Haus dlc) is flawless, no bugs, very good optimization.

The Bad:
- the base game end is not really the end..
- Haus dlc is only 2-3 hours long and only brings a little neat side info to the story.
- SoLA dlc should have been in the base game and IT DOES NOT OFFER a proper END. Almost 6 hours of running around, looting stuff, shooting two annoying new zombie types and having two badly designed boss fights.
Also it is very poorly balanced, the fights are VERY VERY HARD (even for a level 28/30 player) and the optimization is quite bad for the many open areas.

For a zombie horror fps fan i guess is a definately buy even at full price if you don't mind not having a proper ending. The questing is pretty cool and will keep you for a week or so entertained.

For a regular fps player maybe it's worth 20-30€ with all dlcs. You might like it. But beware of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ending (not being there..).

Have fun guys !

[Dios]

It's obviously a cliffhanger for a reason where you will have to wait some time to be put into game in brand new sequel.

NPC's even ♥♥♥♥ post in-game about Dead Island setting. I think we might see another city in US or brand new exotic location in the Middle East - United Arab Emirates or Qatar where the franchise climaxes.

[Cartof]

Originally posted by Dios:

It's obviously a cliffhanger for a reason where you will have to wait some time to be put into game in brand new sequel.

I don't think we'll ever going to see more Dead Island 2 content or even a DI3. It's obvious to me they missed a GREAT opportunity for a fine rounded story finished with the two DLCs. Instead they chopped two areas from the main game and milked us for some extra content.

The last cinematic from Haus dlc with the godly android-like white blood when in the bathtub says everything about the missed opportunity.

The innuendos about aliens, gods and multidimensional existance from SoLA that remain just sparse hints going nowhere ... missed opportunities..

SO SAD.

[Cartof]

Originally posted by Dios:

I think we might see another city in US or brand new exotic location in the Middle East - United Arab Emirates or Qatar where the franchise climaxes.

We already have Dyling Light 1 with that

[Dios]

Originally posted by Cartof:

Originally posted by Dios:

It's obviously a cliffhanger for a reason where you will have to wait some time to be put into game in brand new sequel.

I don't think we'll ever going to see more Dead Island 2 content or even a DI3. It's obvious to me they missed a GREAT opportunity for a fine rounded story finished with the two DLCs. Instead they chopped two areas from the main game and milked us for some extra content.

The last cinematic from Haus dlc with the godly android-like white blood when in the bathtub says everything about the missed opportunity.

The innuendos about aliens, gods and multidimensional existance from SoLA that remain just sparse hints going nowhere ... missed opportunities..

SO SAD.

What I'm talking is a fully-ledged sequel. DLC'S are clearly called "expansions" for a reason.

There might be third DLC even, how big comeback Dead Island franchise made.

[Dios]

Originally posted by Cartof:

Originally posted by Dios:

I think we might see another city in US or brand new exotic location in the Middle East - United Arab Emirates or Qatar where the franchise climaxes.

We already have Dyling Light 1 with that :happyfrog:

Nope.

[Mike]

I believe the entire game is worth the full price if the person likes slaying zombies as its one of the best modern zombie games that gets the first person combat just right. While I agree the story cliffhanger was a draw back, the game itself is great and most of my enjoyment came from the side quests, exploring the levels, the combat,.....etc, so it was not a huge issue for me personally regarding the main story. I don't usually play zombie games for deep stories and even what was here was pretty entertaining.

I was actually surprised that the characters/writing in this game even got me invested because I was expecting Dead Island 1 levels of writing cringe writing, but the game NAILS that crazy cali flavor of a bunch of weird crazy people coming together to attempt to survive the apocalypse. Now there was some cringe writing, but overall I enjoy it enough to want to see how each character interacts with certain things throughout the story.

I thought the DLCs were strange in a good way, and while they could have been bigger they still added a decent 3-5 hours per DLC to the game so it was still plenty to keep you busy. I would have preferred a HUGE expansion like the Dying light 1 expansion that released with that game, but I will take what I can get.

Anyone looking at Dead island 2 should realize what they are buying and its not some deep introspective story telling like a last of Us or something like that. This game is about putting the player in fun situations to kill more zombies with crazy weapons and it does this better then most games.

The game imo is way better and much much more polished then the original 2 games (1 and riptide) and only a few things I wish it had (skill trees over cards, and NG+). The game is one of the more polished AAA releases in a long time, with little to no bugs (none in my entire 66hrs), excellent visuals, great animations, the best first person zombie combat on the market, good PC performance, and many many more things.

If you like dead island I see no reason why anyone would dislike this gmae unless they are a purist on only wanted Dead island 1 with better visuals.

Lastly I disagree with OP regarding the future of the franchise is the game sold great on release (one of deep silvers best launches), so the devs should know they have a formula that can bring in more money if they make another game but better and more expanded. Am I saying a Dead island 3 will come out in a few years? Of course not but this game souls well enough to for the devs/pubisher to know they can make money off it, so I'm confident we will get more in the series at a later date.

[GSPOTxJESUS]

So what if the ending sucks if I want a story I would watch movies, it's really not necessary in video games. I beat this game 5x and I have no idea what the story is about but the gameplay is fun enuff that it doesn't matter. They really could just remove every dialogue and cinematic from the game and it would not take away anything.

[Cartof]

Originally posted by GSPOTxJESUS:

They really could just remove every dialogue and cinematic from the game and it would not take away anything.

That is a exageration. The cinematics are very high quality and add quite a lot. Also there are tons of proximity dialogues when you spent some time near npcs. Most of them add a lot !

[Lil C]-[ew C]-[ew is ☂д☂]

Question about Sola arena. Is it medium size arena or is it like the resort map size found in the original Dead Island?
Or is it like the ''vespucci'' beach map size found in the main base game?

[Mike]

Originally posted by Lil C-ew C-ew is ☂д☂:

Question about Sola arena. Is it medium size arena or is it like the resort map size found in the original Dead Island?
Or is it like the ''vespucci'' beach map size found in the main base game?

The SoLA DLC is closer to a single zone you have in Dead Island 2 but maybe more open (like the beach map like you pointed out). No map in DI2 is a big as the first game because vehicles and traveling long distance is not really a thing. I enjoyed the DLC but I also got the gold edition that came with the expansion, so I don't know it I would buy the DLC separate for 12-14 bucks (maybe closer to 8-10).

[Lil C]-[ew C]-[ew is ☂д☂]

Well as long it keep me distracted and may be transited between places like in the original DI then I'll might get or wait for discounts.
In original DI, every chapter and level map even extra arenas could be transited through fast travel gateways scattered around the world map or through a map board.
If in DI2 becomes the same, then it will be certainly distracting. Most of time I like taking the long path just to roam around. Only when I'm in a deadline or about to sleep then I fast the pace and use fast travel entries.

[djcarey]

Hell in Dead Island 1 it's still a level 28/30 player has a hard time.

[Cartof]

Guys, be aware of one important thing: if you buy later the two dlcs (or the expansion pass) it will be harder to play them after you finish the game or get to a high level with the last types of zombies.
Haus and SoLA dlcs are truly meant to be played as soon as you can go to their areas ! It sucks that "devs" did not included them in the base game but they are really meant to be played integrated and not really after the "main game".
I experienced a pretty cool cinematic after going to Haus at level 8 or 9 and doing the quests i could and then being denied to go forward towards the Ark because i did not have a certain ability from the main story

[Dios]

Travelling via vehicle was exclusively a Techland feature, it was nice that Dambuster acknowledged it and set it as not that important in developing the world areas. If you ask me, the areas in Dead Island 2 are genius, how else would you want to include so many landmarks and places, from ocean to hills. I would definitely not want any LA mini-version like Ubisoft likes to do in their games.

[Where'sMySupersuit!!]

Originally posted by Dios:

I would definitely not want any LA mini-version like Ubisoft likes to do in their games.

If were talking Far Cry Ubi then sure but the people that work on Assassins Creed and more or less the Watchdogs games are really good imo.