Dead Island 2
Dead Island 2 screenshot 1Dead Island 2 screenshot 2
ActionAdventureCo-opZombiesGoreFirst-PersonAction-Adventure

1,253 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 2,418

Peak in the last 7 days: 3,185

Dead Island 2 Steam store

Game description

A deadly virus is spreading across Los Angeles, turning its inhabitants into zombies. Bitten, infected, but more than just immune, uncover the truth behind the outbreak and discover who - or what - you are. Survive, evolve and become the ultimate Zombie Slayer.

Basic info

DeveloperDambuster Studios
PublisherDeep Silver
PlatformsWindows · macOS
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateApr 22, 2024
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10
ProcessorAMD FX-9590 / Intel Core i7-7700HQ
Memory10 GB
GraphicsRadeon R9 390X (8192 VRAM) / GeForce GTX 1060 (6144 VRAM)
Storage70 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 433 reviews from the past 1 year

71.8/ 100
Bottom 30%

Steam rating: Mostly Positive (77%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 25, 2026)

Gory, good looking and built around melee combat, this zombie brawler scores 71.8, though its story draws complaints.

👍 Strengths

135 reviews praise the visuals, from detailed environments to a dismemberment system that tears zombies apart, and Visuals & Sound ranks 368th of 1249. 79 say the combat feels heavy, meaty and satisfying, and a few note that different weapons change its rhythm. 70 simply find it fun, describing straightforward zombie slaying they are happy to repeat. Some enjoy the eccentric characters and humor. Multiplayer ranks 312th of 642, and Tech & Support ranks 359th of 1399.

👎 Where it falls short

Story & World ranks 1056th of 1096. 86 reviews call the story weak or silly, with forgettable characters, and several say it ends abruptly without a proper resolution. 45 find the game repetitive, saying missions fall into the same loop of switches, keys and zombie waves and soon turn boring. 21 raise difficulty issues, with some describing endless enemy spam and zombies that respawn right after a room is cleared, while a few find the base game too easy after a few hours. Content Volume ranks 1007th of 1351, and Pricing & Fairness ranks 919th of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“solid visuals and satisfying combat in fun gory zombie brawler” · 135 reviews
“combat feels satisfying, smashing zombies apart feels great” · 79 reviews
“71 hours without feeling terrible, straightforward zombie combat” · 70 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 65% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel +2.14 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Positive “combat feels satisfying, smashing zombies apart feels great” · 79 reviews
Negative “weapon attack range broken, zombie knockdown QTE spam, poor hitbox design” · 19 reviews

Progression 20% · Difficulty 15% · Onboarding 9% · Freedom 18% · Strategy 24%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 64% of reviews · Bottom 5% of the games we've analyzed

Story -1.08 · Plot, quests, writing, and the ending
Negative “story becomes increasingly stupid and childish” · 86 reviews
Positive “story has many details and good background supplementation” · 9 reviews

Characters 25% · World 25%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 54% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -1.77 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “gameplay is repetitive and gets boring fast” · 45 reviews

Volume 28% · Replayability 8%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 59% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +3.65 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “solid visuals and satisfying combat in fun gory zombie brawler” · 135 reviews
Negative “graphics good but no real improvement from Dead Island 1” · 1 review

Audio 15%

Playing with others, the community and servers
Mentioned in 25% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

Playing together +1.83 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals
Positive “fun co-op zombie slaying with friends” · 35 reviews
Negative “co-op broke after hours, only fun with friends otherwise repetitive” · 9 reviews

Community 0% · Servers & Connection 4%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 25% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.34 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “weapons feel weak, no difference between tools” · 7 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 17% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 26% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Performance +0.27 · Frame rate, optimization, and loading times
Positive “perfect optimization, no frame drops, excellent performance” · 3 reviews
Negative “frame drops everywhere, performance is trash” · 5 reviews

Stability 13% · Developer support 6%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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