The Dead Island 2 release date is right around the corner, with the long-awaited zombie game from Dambuster hoping to revive the now decade-old Dead Island series with a detailed gore system, focus on customisation, and whole-new story. From what we’ve played so far, Dead Island 2 gameplay has a lot to offer, particularly in its beautifully realised world of ‘Hell-A’ and blend of laughs and scares. Now, the opening 11 minutes of DI2 are available for you to watch, showing off the first sections of Dambuster’s undead-infested city and some of that fastidiously designed zombie destruction system you’ve been hearing about.
In our Dead Island 2 preview, we were particularly impressed with ‘FLESH,’ Dambuster’s intricate, custom-made system that allows you to pick apart zombies piece by piece, and even dissolve them using buckets of acid. But gore can only get you so far – in the wake of Dying Light 2, which left some of us zombie sandbox game fans feeling a little cold, Dead Island 2 has the opportunity to swoop (or rather, shamble) in and save the genre, but it needs solid combat and some witty writing.
Pulling yourself out from a crashed jetliner, Dead Island 2 begins on a late, summery evening in Hell-A, as you attempt to rescue some fellow survivors from the descending zombie horde. You can check out the full opening sequence, complete with bloodshed, sledgehammers, and a couple of decent jump scares, courtesy of IGN, below:
Is this one of the Dead Island 2 slayers? It’s hard to tell. Potentially, this is just a cold opening that sets the mood and the tone of the game proper, or perhaps this brief and bloody vignette feeds into DI2 proper. It looks solid, though. Hell-A is vibrant and alive, there’s some entertaining back-and-forth between the cast, and, as you’d expect, some very squelchy blood-and-guts moments. Could this be the Dead Island game we’ve been waiting for? Let’s hope.
As we wait for DI2 to arrive, check out some of the other best co-op games available now. You can also get ahead of 2023 with all the best upcoming games, or maybe try some other great horror games on PC.