Dead Island 2 brought some great surprises after being stuck in development hell. Developer Dambuster Studios finally brought the action horror title to life, and although Dead Island 2 has plenty of fun moments, the studio made a surprising choice with the game's co-op mode.

One aspect of Dead Island 2 that many players were looking forward to was the game's co-op, but the decision to make the game's multiplayer three-person instead of the more common four-person was a head-scratcher for some. Although Dead Island 2's co-op is a lot of fun, three-person co-op is an uncommon approach to multiplayer gaming. If the Dead Island franchise continues, a third game in the series may want to rework its co-op approach.

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The Case For the Next Dead Island to Have Four-Person Co-Op

A Three-Person Team Can Feel Unbalanced

Using an odd number for a game's co-op is a surprising choice. When it comes to multiplayer gaming, a four-person team has become more of a standard due to it feeling more balanced for many. Although the teams in Dead Island 2 are one person short of an even number, this mode in the game still emphasizes the importance of sticking together and working as a unit, even if the group is a trio.

The biggest disadvantage with three-person co-op is that it can make the team feel pretty uneven. With four players, a team can split up into two groups in order to cover more ground and make sure enemies are kept at bay on multiple fronts. A three-person team can make it a little more difficult to cover substantial ground and strategize when facing zombie hordes. If Dambuster Studios makes another Dead Island game, reworking the co-op into a four-person unit could give a lot more flexibility to the multiplayer gameplay.

The Case Against the Next Dead Island Having Four-Person Co-Op

The choice to use a three-person co-op approach is unorthodox, but there is also good reason for it. On the official website for Dead Island 2, Dambuster Studios actually addresses the use of a three-person system. After thorough play-testing, the game's developers found that keeping the cap at three players surprisingly made the multiplayer experience more balanced. According to the developers, a three-person team "kept the combat challenging with just the right amount of zombies". Despite some being unhappy with the three-person cap, Dead Island 2 was one of last year's best co-op games, so the three-person approach clearly didn't affect multiplayer that much.

Furthermore, Dead Island 2 is chaotic enough with one person hacking and slashing through zombies. Three players taking on a group of zombies seems to be just the right number before things could get far too gory to even keep up with what is happening on screen. Using three players for co-op also helps with the game's overall performance. Adding a fourth player into the mix could prove to be overload for the game, since there is so much blood and action for the FLESH system to process.

Three-person co-op may not be the general standard, but it's not anything new. Destiny 2 is one of the biggest online co-op titles around, and the campaign only allows for three players in a team. There are plenty of great games where three-person multiplayer is actually the right balance for both gameplay and performance, and Dead Island seems to be one of them. Despite the odds, Dead Island 2 has been a success, and its multiplayer is a great way to experience the game. Three-person co-op may take some time to get used to, but it offers a unique and diverse gaming experience.