Random it may initially sound, there’s a point during the first third of Dead Island 2 – specifically when the player-character is trying to get one’s bearings with all the characters and survivors caught in the midst of this, the latest zombie-infested apocalypse – that immediately dug up memories of Far Cry 3. Fond memories might I add. Fitting it might be that Ubisoft’s third outing in the Far Cry Series came out around the same time the original Dead Island did (a year later to be precise), what brought about that sentiment and comparison was less to do with each respective game’s release. Instead, it was the way the story, in so far as that of the protagonist’s perspective, painted its characters as…how should I put it…a more insulated and lot less readable bunch. How interactions between these folks showed a hint of being out of one’s depth and comfort zone alike – less so with the scenario unfolding around you and more to do with those who hadn’t yet turned into the undead. Challenging it may be to fight off hordes of flesh-eaters, it’s equally so in getting one’s bearing with how these denizens think and act.
One of the best parts of Far Cry 3 for me was that sightly off-kilter vibe. To see the game’s main protagonist, Jason Brody, struggle/grapple with the unhinged, not-quite-clear-cut read-out of personalities amid the game’s fictional tropical setting. Can these folks be trusted and are they even on the same wavelength as I am; “the enemy of my enemy…” aside, something about all this doesn’t quite seem right. That feeling may not be as strong or as consistent in Dead Island 2, but there’s a similar quality to the way the game portrays its seemingly-helpless, seemingly-innocent bystanders as anything but, relative to your own position. The kind of people whom, unfortunate their deaths may be, a significant part of you would still consider not too tragic or detrimental a loss. Maybe a hint of satisfaction crops up that said character with an otherwise pompous, egotistical or otherwise loathsome trait, felt the full force of karma seconds later.
Does this then equate to a positive or a negative aspect ofDead Island 2, at least in terms of narrative and world-building? A lot of these characters aren’t immediately likeable – some, if not most, are forgettable and lacking real substance – but it’s those awkward interactions that have the most meat to the otherwise skeletal and seen-it-all-before structure. It’s a strange occurrence; to like the fact the game makes a selection of its roster unlikable. Proof that enjoyment needn’t be a case of instilling positive emotions and responses to what’s presented. Rather, the fact you scour and scavenge the zombie-infested remains of Los Angeles feeling, if anything, a sickening disdain for the city’s more middle/upper-class retreats. Swanky homes in the Beverley Hills region – a favorite moment being that most of these locations are adorned with the kind of “abstract art” I’m sure many would simply laugh at. How the excess, the flash, the shallow and narcissistic display of money, has ultimately all been for nought.
While it may not be the biggest presence in Dead Island 2, for a game that has been in development hell for nearly a decade, it’s in a way fitting that its most resonant moments are those that remind me of a game similarly decade-old by now. Just like how its most egregious and lowest points are those that feel similarly-aged in their design. Survive waves of foes until we deem it fine to progress with the story (die and it’s back to the start of the first wave buddy); the key to this inconvenienced door is held coincidentally by the last zombie you kill; we gave up on enemy ideas, so we’ll just chuck every enemy type at you in the final third to pad out the run time. For every positive or shred of goodwill Dead Island 2 musters, a reminder of its development history springs up to counter what segment of enjoyment is currently experiencing. A 2023 game that feels very 2013 in design and execution.
But while the connotations to such a claim may immediately conjure feelings of ill and concern, what Dead Island 2 proves is that there still lingers some valuable traits from that period of games. That period around the turn of 2010s when the more mainstream and AAA echelons of video games hadn’t completely lost their sense of humility and self-deprecation. That when having one violently tear hordes of the undead to pieces,being surrounded by such vibrancy isn’t a bad thing. Even the fact the game pushes back against the notion of an open world for open world’s sake – instead sectioning off its map, linked together by loading screens masquerading as entry/exit points. An acknowledgment that size isn’t everything or simply another consequence of the game’s rocky development? Who can say; who can also say that another example of NPC interaction, between two under-influence millennials (again, not all there) later on is somehow a beneficiary to the game world’s structure or not.
There are plenty of examples you can point to in Dead Island 2 to suggest that this may indeed feel like a game well-past its sell-by date. Even in the context of that most niche-albeit-oversaturated market of zombie-focused survival games, that something like Dying Light – maybe even Days Gone – has tweaked the formula in such a way to make things, if nothing else, curious to step back into. No one would blame you for holding the view that Dead Island 2’s release to the masses is a miracle in itself. That any praise one might share for what Dambuster Studio miraculously managed to cobble together starts and sadly ends at the fact this project is no longer vaporware in status. And while it’s far from perfect – making the same mistakes that games then and even now still commit to varying degrees – Dead Island 2 still knows how to have fun. Even if said fun comes at its own expense and the expense of its cast it knowingly paints in not-so-glamorous brushstrokes. But as noted, self-deprecation is an admirable quality so few games are willing to wield. For that at least, Dead Island 2 is doing something right.
