Dead Island 2’s release date has been brought forward by a week. In a tweet, publisher Deep Silver confirmed that after spending years in development hell, the zombie-slasher sequel has finally gone gold — meaning, that development is officially complete and the game is ready to be burnt onto discs. Following this update, the team has now preponed the game’s launch from April 28 to April 21. Initially announced in 2014, Dead Island 2 finally getting a concrete release date is an exciting milestone for the franchise, with even fans betting on more delays to come. Deep Silver has now shut down such comments in a sassy announcement video, with the caption: “You asked for it, you got it.” It’s worth nothing, however, that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the much-anticipated sequel to 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, is also slated for an April 28 release. Deep Silver’s decision to prepone their game could be a move to avoid a release date clash.
After eight years of delays, Dead Island 2 finally showed face at Gamescom, last year, offering a glimpse at the setting and the pulpy vibe the gameplay exhibits. Contrary to the name, the title is set in a fictional version of Los Angeles, overrun with zombies as a deadly virus plagues the streets. In this stylish, sun-baked playground, players visit iconic, real-life tourist locations and lay waste to all kinds of infected using crafted equipment or weapons stolen from the rich folks in LA — or as the game likes to call it, ‘HELL-A.’ Armed with katanas, machetes, bear claws, firearms, and a whole lot more, you embark on a gory odyssey, hunting the walking dead across the quarantined city. There’s a touch of superhuman abilities as well, bestowed onto you by an unfortunate zombie bite. Fret not, as you’re totally immune to the virus.
Dead Island 2 is described as a “proper RPG experience,” flush with quests and characters — in the vein of what we’ve seen from Techland’s Dying Light games. Only here, the focus is on heavy dismemberment and visceral gameplay, instead of free-flowing parkour action. Developer Dambuster Studios has promised heavy replayability, with support for co-op play for up to three players. In place of a standard skill tree — as seen in the original 2011 game — Dead Island 2 will rely on a Skill Deck. These are essentially cards that represent different abilities and perks, which can be swapped on the fly. “The art is amazing, they’re fun to look at and all of that, but they’re just really fun to play with,” lead narrative designer Khan told GameInformer, earlier this month. “Change skills midair. You can take off, change your skill, and land with a different loadout, and that’s just amazing.”
While Dead Island 2 is certainly a multi-platform release, it is also among the first to make use of Amazon’s new Alexa Game Control. Players can use voice commands to control their characters in-game and perform various activities, such as interacting with NPCs and swapping between weapons. In fact, Dead Island 2’s arrival was originally revealed in an Amazon listing leak with a February 3 release date. It was then delayed to April 28, before the aforementioned update.
April 28 also marks the launch of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor — a result of a delay from its originally planned March window. Given the circumstances, it feels like a wise decision by Deep Silver to move the release date up by a week, so it doesn’t clash with Respawn Entertainment’s next chapter in the Cal Kestis-led Star Wars universe.
Dead Island 2 will now release April 21, across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.