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How to play co-op in Dead Island 2

Jesse Lennox
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It's been a long time coming, but now that Dead Island 2 has arrived, what better way to enjoy the zombie apocalypse than with some friends? Nearly all zombie games, including previous Dead Island titles, include some level of cooperative play, and this game is no different. Exploring and fighting your way through an undead-infested LA is plenty of fun on its own, but this experience is begging to be played with a couple of friends. If you want to create your own group of Slayers to help you smash in some zombie heads, here's everything you need to know about how to play co-op in Dead Island 2.

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Difficulty

Easy

Duration

25 minutes

What You Need

  • Complete the Bel-Air Brawl mission

  • An internet connection

Dead Island 2.

How to play co-op in Dead Island 2

While you might be dying to kill some undead with your friends right away, you will need to play solo for a while before the option opens up to you.

Step 1: Start up Dead Island 2 and begin the campaign.

Step 2: Complete the opening missions up to and including "Bel-Air Brawl."

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Step 3: Once you have finished that mission, you will receive a tutorial explaining that co-op has been unlocked.

Dani lights a cigarette as zombies attack her from behind in Dead Island 2 key art.

How co-op works

You can participate in a co-op session in a few ways. The first is to join a session that's in progress through the main menu. To do this, simply hit Join and you can either find a random person online to play with via the Quick Join option or choose a friend via an open lobby from the list.

The other option is to start a game yourself. Once co-op is an option, every time you continue your game, you must choose to either play alone, play in a public lobby that anyone can join, make it so only friends can join, or set it to invite only.

Dead Island 2, after the initial missions, is completely playable in co-op, meaning you can run through this entire zombie-bashing game with a crew of up to two friends!

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
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This is the main reason your character choice is so important. In Dead Island 2, once you choose a Slayer, you're locked in for the duration of the game. If you want to try out a different character, you will need to start the game over from scratch, so unless you're okay with undoing all your progress, or want to do a second playthrough, give this decision a good deal of thought so you don't have any regrets.
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A pipebomb with kaboom written on it.

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How to get all the Curveballs in Dead Island 2

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Meat Bait
Given as part of the story by Carlos in Emma's house, this lets you throw out a chunk of meat that explodes on impact into a pool of meat(?) that attracts all nearby zombies to it.
Shuriken
On your way to the Halperin Hotel, the Shuriken are lodged into a car door directly in front of you. Using these throws out three Shuriken in a horizontal spread that travels a short distance before falling. They don't do a lot of damage, but can stagger and even remove limbs if you aim them well.
Chem Bomb
This is the second unmissable Curveball and is given to you inside the Halperin Hotel to put out a fire. It is good for more than just fire control, though, since you can use it to make zombies wet and susceptible to electricity.
Caustic-X Bomb
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Electric Star
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Pipe Bomb
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Molotov Cocktail
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Electric Bomb
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Flashbang
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Sticky Bomb
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Bait Bomb
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Nail Bomb
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Military Grenade
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