Dead Island 2 Review (PS5) | Push Square
Nine years ago, Dead Island 2 entered the public zeitgeist with a vibrant and funny reveal trailer. It teased a new, colourful setting in L.A. whilst doubling down on that irreverent tone of the original game. However, as the years passed on, the rumour mill began to churn out tales of internal struggles, with the project switching development hands and being delayed time and time again. When the review code eventually landed in our inbox — a mere eight years after its proposed 2015 release window — we couldn't help but feel sceptical. Thankfully, our pessimism was met with utter surprise, as Dead Island 2 isn't just a cohesive zombie-slayer — it's a pretty good one.
Dead Island 2 is an open-levelled RPG, set within the zombie-infested streets of Los Angeles, and right away we're touching on one of our favourite aspects of this sequel. 'Hell-A', as it's coined, isn't an enormous open world filled with an overwhelming number of icons. It's actually made up of 10 carefully curated open levels, ranging from the millionaire mansions of Bel-Air to the labyrinthine sound stages of Monarch Studios. It's totally refreshing to be given manageable spaces to explore that feel purposeful and unique in their own ways. There aren't repetitive areas, we aren't left running for miles on end to get to our destination, and even the levels themselves range in both size and linearity. There are still side-quests and other content to work your way through, but these serve more as ways to study the environment a little closer, give you cooler weapons, and ultimately make you feel like a badass as you slay countless undead opponents.
It all means that each time we reached a new area, we were rubbing our hands together, looking forward to
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