It has been a decade since the last Dead Island game, and almost a decade since the announcement of Dead Island 2. Now that the game has finally reached next-gen consoles, and after so many years in development, players might find themselves encountering things they didn’t know they could do in Dead Island 2, with additions to the original Dead Island.
The game has come a long way, both in terms of graphics and mechanics, so it’s best to know what awaits the player for their journey into Dead Island 2. Perhaps even the most hardcore Dead Island 2 players will find something they didn’t know useful for a future run in the zombie-infested Hell-A.
8 Playing With The Elements
There’s a unique feature to Dead Island 2 that wasn’t in the previous games, nor is it in other games like Dead Island 2. Players can truly harness the elements, and not to the degree of putting poison or fire on their weapons. Players can utilize their environment for extra damage, whether it’s toxic pools on the floor, flammable liquids, or even water. Even at the max level in Dead Island 2, some players might not know about the elements.
Players can hit puddles and water sources to cause a surge of electricity on the ground that can damage zombies. It’s great for controlling an area, provided players have an electric weapon. The same can be done with toxic pools, which can be quelled by throwing water. Gasoline can also be poured and ignited with an explosion.
7 Lost Loot System
Like most modern shooter games, loot is in abundance, yet, for some players in these sprawling open worlds, it can be easy to miss loot upon the masses of dead zombies and need to explore. If players leave behind loot or didn’t even know that something dropped, then returning to a safehouse will see them find a locker filled with their lost loot.
The fact that players do not have to look so tirelessly for loot on the floor makes the game far more fun, as players will not be stressed if a rare weapon has dropped. Players can instead visit the locker the next time they are in the safehouse to venture for lost loot.
6 Get Permanent Buffs From Challenges
A new system in Dead Island 2 features challenges. These challenges are unique and have many different requirements. Completing challenges in Dead Island 2 is not only great just for more content and to further complete the game, but they grant unique rewards that are not just random weapons. Players can receive permanent buffs from completing challenges.
With well over 80 challenges in Dead Island 2, some players may be overwhelmed, but challenges do not have to be the central focus of the player. Yet, they do help thanks to the permanent buffs provided, mods, and weapons. Challenges are split into multiple categories, so players can focus on different things.
5 Go For The Legs
Although most zombie games will have the player hacking, slashing, striking, and stabbing at zombies galore, Dead Island 2 features a different tactic of easily killing the zombies ahead. For Dead Island 2, players will want to focus their weapons on the legs rather than the head. Focusing blunt or sharp weapons to take those legs out will make the zombies fall over.
When zombies have fallen over, they have no choice but to crawl toward the player whilst on the ground. Another bonus to this tactic is the fact that their head is more exposed on the ground, and players can even stomp on their head to make them explode into brains and blood with Fury Mode.
4 Upgrade Favorite Weapons
Players that have found one of their favorite weapons early on in the game may be too loyal to it to abandon it for something else. Luckily, for a large bundle of cash, players can upgrade their weapon to help it scale with their level and progress through Dead Island 2.
It’s rather expensive to upgrade a weapon to level-scale, so it’s best to reserve this price for a weapon that the player is determined to keep, as there are other uses for money in Dead Island 2. Most games don’t allow players to keep their weapons, as they implore users to find new tools of death.
3 Solving Puzzles
There are occasional puzzles in Dead Island 2 that will require the hard-working brains and brawn of the player. Some rooms will be locked, yet, there will be windows that look suspiciously smashable. Something that players might not know they could do in Dead Island 2 is the fact that they can solve puzzles, with most of these puzzles involving breaking fuse boxes and windows.
It’s best to solve these puzzles with a throwable weapon. Whether it’s a cheap and common knife or the best melee weapon in Dead Island 2. Anything that will smash a window or land through a gate to hit the target and unlock the secret room that the player wants will be good enough to use and discard.
2 Power Of Fuses
For quite a high price, players can pick up a Fuse from a Vendor or Trader. These Fuses should be kept rather secure, as they are one-time keys that can be used in Dead Island 2. These Fuses give players the ability to unlock previously inaccessible rooms and open doors, where there will be plenty of gorgeous loot awaiting the keen eyes and hands of the player.
However, like most one-time items, players do not want to go around using every Fuse box they find. Sometimes there are alternative routes to retrieving their great prize and considering the price of said Fuse, it’s best to look around, and potentially even come back at a later time in case story progression will open that area instead of a Fuse.
1 Bunny Hopping Combos
Bunny Hopping is a videogame term that refers to a unique type of movement in which the player jumps up and down whilst moving to gain ridiculous speeds, faster than one would find whilst sprinting. Dead Island 2, whether intentional or not, features bunny hopping, a fun feature that was not in the first game for fans of movement-based games, and or speed-running.
What players might not know about Bunny Hopping, is the fact that players can still attack with their weapon whilst going at high speeds, meaning players can combine their bunny hops with a devastatingly fast striking combo to make zombies think twice about trying to bite the player.
Dead Island 2 is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.