Dead Island 2 has done well to please fans since its recent release on April 21, with the game's launch marking the end of a wait that lasted over a decade. The gruesome yet eccentric zombie survival title can be said to have already stamped the franchise back on the map of the wider gaming industry, allowing the IP to be once again compared to its industry peers.
In particular, Dead Island 2 has drawn many comparisons to the recent Dying Light 2, with these two franchises having historically been regarded as each other's most comparable and direct competitors. Now that fans are becoming more familiar with the new Dead Island release and its identity, the long-standing similarities between both IPs clearly extend to their most recent mainline releases in many ways.
The Historic Similarities Between Dead Island and Dying Light
The first Dead Island launched in 2011, starting something of a revolution in contemporary zombie titles in which many of them follow the same general framework of their offered gameplay experience. Despite Dead Island and its follow-up spin-off title Riptide being having solid receptions, the franchise would quickly go into a kind of developmental limbo from which it seemed it may never recover.
During this time, the original team behind Dead Island Techland went about creating a new zombie-centric IP, birthing the Dying Light franchise in 2015. Both franchises feature a first-person perspective and an affinity for RPG mechanics such as skill trees and gear rarity. While Dying Light can be said to stand on its own two feet with its focus on parkour mechanics, it is clear that Techland took great inspiration from its past project when developing the game.
These similarities extend to the kind of game world and narrative mechanics of both franchises, with Dead Island and Dying Light both featuring open worlds with mainline stories and side-content quest givers. With the recent release of Dead Island 2, the discourse behind these similarities is once again fervent, with both franchises still playing well off one another yet experiencing some similar pitfalls.
The Similarities Between Dead Island 2 and Dying Light 2
Dying Light 2 released in 2022, at the time standing as a living example that the franchise had exceeded Dead Island in terms of sustained relevance. This enjoyment was short-lived, however, with Dead Island 2 releasing on April 21 and bringing the two IPs back on level pegging in terms of mainline releases.
Both of these more recent releases possess the same overall identity and framework that their launching titles provided, with the games currently being in fascinatingly similar states. Of course, both new titles feature zombie killing as their core allure, with both games relying heavily on gorey melee combat more often than not. While guns are available in Dead Island 2 to a greater extent than Dying Light 2, both games still essentially push players toward melee combat thanks to the inefficiency and rarity of firearms and ammo.
With both titles also opting for an urban dystopian setting, such as Dead Island 2's take on Los Angeles, the inherent similarities between both franchises is more apparent than ever. It must be said that Dead Island 2 portrays a much more comical and over-the-top take on this dystopia than the more grounded and gritty Dying Light 2, typifying how each franchise has toed the line of still maintaining its own unique feel. While both Dead Island 2 and Dying Light 2 are similar in numerous ways, it is clear that both games offer different overall feels and themes that have seen them both grow to be successful.