Dead Island 2 Reviews Point to a Divisive Sequel (as Expected)
Dead Island 2 has finally been released after over nine years since its announcement trailer in 2014. With this being one of the most delayed games of this generation, expectations were certainly high- despite the lukewarm reception of the original. The 2011 game split a lot of players due to its more comedic and light-hearted zombie tone when compared to the iconic slow-motion trailer revealed months before release that showed a dark, grounded take on the oversaturated zombie genre. This divisiveness appears to have carried through to its sequel- with the game currently sitting at a 74 critic score and 7.6 user score.
Critics and the masses rarely agree- especially on Metacritic where review bombing has become strangely common. This points to Dead Island 2 being exactly what you'd expect from a 2011 zombie game. With outdated references and characters, wacky weapons to use against the undead hordes, and some basic mission design, this feels like a time capsule from a decade ago with a few more touch-ups to bring it into the modern generation.
Depending on what you're looking for, you could love or hate this sequel. VGC sums up the general consensus of critics with the following:
Users had similar thoughts on this sequel- when you ignore the typical 10/10 and 0/10 reviews that most Metacritic scores are made up of. User Purplebunny echoed the sentiments of critics with their 8/10 score
“Dead Island 2 is just dumb fun…my favourite thing is the melee combat. It's nothing special necessarily, but it's fun”
If you're looking for something a bit more than surface level, however, Dead Island 2 is likely to disappoint. User Kazuma-Kirya were less than impressed, which they expressed in their 4/10 review:
"Generic zombie hack and slash, gets boring after 1st hour as you tediously go from point A to point B, boss fights are easy and tedious”
With the consensus being 'dumb fun', this game certainly won't be a revolutionary masterclass for the genre, but it will be entertaining if you have a craving for bashing some zombie skulls. If you're willing to bite the bullet of a full priced game for something with surface level zombie horde killing, this may be worth the buy but it may be worth waiting for a sale if you're not overly desperate for this kind of experience.
