Fighting and Revamping! Dead Island 2 Finally Made Its Debut and Gaming Community Is Raving About It

By: Joanique Montero, May 8, 2023 12:44 P.M

Back in 2011, Dead Island was named "Game of the Year" for its beautiful and vivid landscapes and its compelling story line. The player can choose between four (five characters in the sequel game "Dead Island: Riptide) based on their own individual skills and strengths and then navigate through zombie infested areas in hopes of finding a way to stay alive and vacate the area safely. The game also had a twist in the plot where the playable characters were immune to the zombie virus and showcased special attacks or "fury" that gave the player an intense damage boost.

The first "Dead Island" game introduced the protagonists: Purna, Xian, Sam B, and Logan as they all had the misfortune to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Each character has a back story that gives more insight on their own individual skill set that players can upgrade and level up as the character gets stronger. Throughout the story line, you will meet secondary characters like Jin, Yerema, Mowen, etc. who helps the heroes conquer quests and get one step closer to being rescued. At the closing of the first game (and defeating the boss Ryder White, the heroes are seen supposedly being rescued but the events of the zombie outbreak seemed to have spread to another setting. With this, the second game "Dead Island: Riptide" came into play; where the main characters from the first game (with an addition to another playable character "John") met more survivors and tried to navigate through the horrific scenes of the zombie outbreak in yet another tropical paradise.

Now fast-forward ten years into the future and now we have the next installment of the game called, "Dead Island 2". This game was certainly different from its two predecessors but has the same given plot, where a zombie outbreak was in full effect but the interesting thing about this is that the setting isn't in a tropical area but right here in the United States...LA to be exact. The game sets the infamous atmosphere of LA with the extravagant celebrity estates in Beverly Hills/Bel-air, sunny palm trees, high sky scrapers and downtown LA, etc. In this installment of the game, you are introduced to the six playable characters: Ryan, Amy, Jacob, Carla, Bruno, and Dani; whom you get a little of a backstory intro into the game to give the player a good feel for who each character is and where they came from. Like the first two games, the six characters come with their own set of skills that sets them apart from their comrades like Amy's stats, due to her athletic abilities, rank high in agility and critical damage but suffers in toughness and peak health, while Ryan scores really high in toughness, stamina, and resistance but lacks in agility. The character stats play an important factor in the choosing of the character and can depict whether it will be an enjoyable experience or rage fest.

The success of the new game has done pretty well, when it comes to the revenue and the long await for the game to be released. The game has grossed over two million in sales since its debut in March. The games long awaited debut, in my opinion, may have given way for the quick rise in sales as the game had been hinted to come out of the game nine years ago but the production regressed due to production issues and the unexpected global pandemic COVID-19 but was able to find its footing and release with a huge turn out with fans of the first two games. One aspect that dead islanders would appreciate is the return of a familiar face from the first two games. This gave the story line a more authentic feel with seeing that old character interact with the new characters and reveal the likeness of being immune to the zombie outbreak and sharing his knowledge on how he and his comrades survived the other two incidents but it was not specified on the backstory of what happened to the other characters at the end of the second game. All except for a brief dialogue about naming a gun and he mentioned the names of all the characters from the prior games with vague information as to where they are and what happened once they escaped and what they meant to him. The graphics of the game have improved but still give a feel of the "Dead Island: Riptide" game where the graphics were vibrant, clear, and detail-orientated. The atmosphere sets the mood for the player to be completely immersed in the game and the first person point of view adds a realistic feel when fighting the undead and foes.

Players get the best of both worlds with the original plot of a group of survivors finding out they are immune to the zombie outbreak and have to navigate a touch terrain and complete life-threatening quest along the way with interactions and confrontations with powerful enemies, both living and undead, and secondary charcters that help the story line come together. With that being said, the success of the third "Dead Island" franchise seems to have been a success and, semi-spoiler alert, with how the game ended it seems there may be a "Dead Island 3" in the future but hopefully it won't take nine more years for it to come out.