A few days ago, we reported an Amazon leak that hinted at a 2023 release date for Dead Island 2. That date has now been confirmed at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2022 as February 3, 2023.
Dead Island 2 was initially announced in 2014 as the sequel to the 2011 action role-playing, open world game Dead Island. However, many fans had given up on ever playing it, as it has languished in development hell since.
Over the past eight years, Dead Island 2 has gone through a chaotic development cycle with several developers working on and dropping the project. However, Nottingham-based Dambuster Studios, an internal Deep Silver studio, seems to have gotten things on track with the game now set for an early 2023 release.
Dead Island 2 is set in Los Angeles with many iconic locations promised, including "the verdant suburbia of Beverly Hill" and "the quirky promenade of Venice Beach." It will feature six playable characters called Slayers with customizable abilities. Like the original Dead Island, the game is played in first-person and involves the player participating in melee combat with lots of gore. If the trailer is anything to go by, the gameplay is smooth and realistic with the gore on full display.