Dead Island 2 release date, gameplay, story, and everything we know so far

Dead Island 2 was resurrected at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2022. After years of speculation, delays, internet whispers, and pretty substantial Dead Island 2 leaks, developer Dambuster Studios has finally given the game the re-reveal that it always deserved. 

As we learned in our Dead Island 2 hands-on preview ahead of Gamescom 2022, you can expect a dystopian sandbox vision of Los Angeles that’s been aptly renamed HELL-A by way of its incumbent hordes of zombie baddies. As luck would have it, only you and a select few are immune to the undead apocalypse, and have little choice but to save the day and humanity. Dead Island 2 will let you do all of this and much more, in single-player and in up-to-three-player co-op – read on for everything we know about Dead Island 2 so far.  

Dead Island 2 release date  

(Image credit: Plaion)

The Dead Island 2 release date is February 3, 2023, which means the action-RPG horror adventure arrives almost 11-and-a-half years after its forerunner. The first Dead Island launched in the US on September 7, 2011, and in the PAL region two days after that again – receiving 3.5 out of 5 stars in GR+’s Dead Island review. At the time, writer Matthew Keast said: “It’s big, it’s messy, it’s unique – an ambitious, shaky experiment”.  

Dead Island 2 platforms 

(Image credit: Deep Silver)

Dead Island 2 PC – one of the most highly searched terms among desktop Dead Islanders gained a lot of steam following the Dead Island 2 leak on August 18, when an Amazon listing detailed platforms, since-deleted story details and new screenshots. Of course, PC isn’t the only confirmed Dead Island 2 platform, with the game also set to launch on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One.  

Dead Island 2 trailers

Besides the now iconic E3 2014 zombie transformation cinematic, featured below, things were pretty quiet on the Dead Island 2 trailer front for quite some time. At Gamescom 2022, however, Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios treated us to a new reveal trailer and some brand new, up-to-date in-game footage. 

Let’s take a look at the development journey. First, here’s the Dead Island E3 2014 announcement trailer to refresh your memory. 

Next up, you’ll find the new Dead Island 2 reveal trailer, which was shown during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2022.  

Lastly, here’s the Dead Island 2 gameplay trailer, which should give you some idea of what to expect from the game when it launches in 2023 as one of the most anticipated upcoming Xbox Series X games and upcoming PS5 games.  

Dead Island 2 combat  

(Image credit: Plaion)

Deep Silver bills the Dead Island 2 combat as something that builds “the most intense, visceral and gory first-person experience possible”. With that, expect plenty of weapons across Dead Island 2’s six playable characters – each of who boasts their own unique personality and dialogues. Better still, each character’s abilities are fully-customizable, with a new skill system designed to let you re-spec characters on the spot as a means of testing new builds. Moreover, Deep Silver promises Dead Island 2 has “the most advanced dismemberment system in games”, so we suspect this isn’t a game for those with weak stomachs.  

Dead Island 2 co-op  

(Image credit: Plaion)

Dead Island 2 co-op sounds cool, and while the zombie slash ’em up can be enjoyed in full single-player, buddying up with two mates in teams of three seems like great fun. Through this, Deep Silver reckons “replayability is guaranteed”, as teams uncover Dead Island 2’s “thrilling” pulp story, and converse with its cast of eclectic characters within its “twisted” universe. How co-op will be presented in Dead Island 2 remains unclear at this point – whether it’s available from the get-go, or integrated into its story mode similar to the likes of Dying Light 2 remains to be seen. 

Dead Island 2 development 

To put it lightly, Dead Island 2 has walked a long development path to this point. With Yager Development originally at the helm, work was said to have commenced on the sequel way back in 2012, before the project was officially announced at E3 2014. The following year, Sumo Digital took over development, before primary care of Dead Island 2 was passed onto current developers Dambuster Studios three years ago in 2019. Given how scant information has been throughout the game’s development, it’s hard to say how much it’s changed from inception to today. We can, of course, expect to see more between now and launch, now that the Dead Island 2 release date has been confirmed.  

For more new releases, check out our round up of new games for 2022 and beyond.