Skip to main content

'Dead Island 2' isn't dead, new developer Sumo Digital still on the project

Dead Island 2 E3 Announce Trailer (Official International Version)
Dead Island 2 was originally announced back in 2014, and appeared to be taking the zombie series into even crazier territory, with an irreverent trailer that showed citizens seemingly unfazed by an undead outbreak ravaging California. Since then, new information on the game has been practically nonexistent, publisher Deep Silver is adamant that the game is still progressing as planned.
Recommended Videos

Speaking to Eurogamer, Deep Silver avoided offering concrete details on Dead Island 2‘s release date, but did confirm that its current developer, Sumo Digital, is still on the project.

Dead Island 2 is in development at Sumo Digital, and we are excited by the progress the team are making with Deep Silver’s most successful IP. When we are ready to share more information, we will,” the publisher said.

Sumo Digital, which has previously contributed to games like Forza Horizon 2 and led development on LittleBigPlanet 3, took over development on Dead Island 2 in early 2016 following a creative disagreement between Deep Silver and original developer Yager Development of Spec Ops: The Line fame.

The original Dead Island and its pseudo-sequel, Dead Island: Riptide, were developed by Techland, but the developer left the series afterward to focus on the similar Dying Light. The new game was better-received by critics, who praised its parkour system and online multiplayer, while both Dead Island titles were criticized for their lack of polish.

A spinoff game release in late 2014, Escape Dead Island, is among the worst games released on the last generation of consoles. Trading the role-playing and first-person combat elements of the main series, the game instead uses a third-person perspective and stealth elements combined with a comic book-inspired art style that looks like a very poor imitation of Telltale’s The Walking Dead.

Though Dead Island 2 has no release date, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC players can currently pick up Dead Island: Definitive Collection. The bundle contains remastered versions of the original game and Riptide, as well as the new sidescrolling game Dead Island: Retro Revenge.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Dead Island 2 takes aim at Los Angeles culture, the rich, and influencers
A zombie crawls toward a player on a boardwalk in Dead Island 2.

Getting stuck in development hell often doesn't bode well for games. For every Final Fantasy VII Remake or The Last Guardian, there's an Aliens: Colonial Marines or Duke Nukem Forever. Often, the final releases lack a compelling design identity, chasing trends that popped up over the years and feeling like a mishmash of multiple developers' ideas of what the game should be. My biggest fear going into my hands-on demo with a near-final build of the oft-delayed Dead Island 2 was that it'd feel devoid of much creativity or lack a clear vision; thankfully, I was dead wrong.

Dead Island 2 - Extended Gameplay Reveal [4K Official]

Read more
Dead Island 2’s Amazon Alexa voice commands are novel, but limited
Dani lights a cigarette as zombies attack her from behind in Dead Island 2 key art.

I’ve always found myself interested in new technologies that could possibly enhance how we play or experience games. Whether it’s a computing innovation like cloud gaming or new controller features like the DualSense’s Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers, I love testing those things out. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to try Alexa Game Control during my recent hands-on preview experience with Dead Island 2.
When Dambuster Studios and Deep Silver’s Dead Island 2 finally launches on April 21, it will be the first game to support Alexa Game Control. By connecting one’s Amazon account to the game, players can use the voice-recognition capabilities of Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa to perform in-game actions like taunting zombies or equipping their best weapons. I was curious to see just how deep this went, but after some hands-on time, this first implementation of it proved to be little more than a novelty.

Hey, Alexa
Dead Island 2 players can toggle Alexa Game Control on when they first show up in Bel-Air after the game’s opening. It has a dedicated tab in the Options Menu where players can choose to enable or disable it, choose whether they want it to work automatically or with push to talk, set the voice capture threshold, and decide which microphone they wish to use.
After enabling Alexa Game Control, I immediately noticed a ring at the bottom-left corner of the screen. When I spoke, this lit up with blue and teal colors, like the top ring on an Alexa device, and text confirming whether it could do the action or not would appear. Not having to say “Hey, Alexa” also means it implemented itself into the game smoothly. At first, I tried to see if voice commands would work for basic things like walking, jumping, and dodging, to no avail. After this, I hopped to a save I had placed later in the game and opened its tutorial menu to see what Alexa Game Control could really do.
Reading its tutorials and lists of commands, the limits of Alexa Game Control became clear. It mainly provides quick shortcuts to save you a button press or two in the middle of playing. In Dead Island 2, Alexa Game Control has four main uses: setting waypoints, taunting enemies, triggering emotes, and switching weapons. The tutorial menus give a complete list of commands that work, although each wildly varies in its usefulness.
Oi, zombie!
The funniest use of this voice technology in Dead Island 2 is taunting zombies. Shouting something like “Hey, dude” or “Oi, zombie” to get the attention of enemies that hadn’t detected me always made me chuckle. It’s also occasionally useful; at one point, I got a bunch of zombies to walk into a large pool of acid and die after taunting them. While it takes the same amount of time as walking up to the zombie to get their attention, I see the potential in voice technology that lets you interact with the world like this.

Read more
Dead Island 2: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more
soak sunshine slaughter first dead island 2 gameplay screenshot 3

Believe it or not, Dead Island 2 is not only still real, but it's actually coming out. For those who've been following the troubled trajectory this title has had, you know this is a story almost 10 years in the making. Originally revealed in 2014, Dead Island 2 has died and been resurrected no less than twice, with a new development team taking up the project each time. The average person probably assumed the game was scrapped years ago, but for those who never gave up hope, your faith has been rewarded.

Leaks did take some of the excitement out of Dead Island 2's big re-reveal during Gamescom 2022, but it couldn't stifle what looks to be a game far better than its beleaguered history would lead you to believe. Since so much has changed over the course of development, let alone with the entire gaming landscape, plenty of people may be wondering what all the excitement over this zombie game is all about. Grab yourself a blunt object and get ready to smash some zombie skulls as we run through everything we know about Dead Island 2.
Release date

Read more