Dead Island 2 finally has a release date it might make

After a long, long wait, Dead Island 2 is finally releasing next February: The leak that appeared on Amazon last week has been made official by a new trailer that finished the big Opening Night Live showcase at Gamescom.

The tone isn't too far off the one that was released to announce Dead Island 2 all the way back in 2014—horror mixed with goofy, gory slapstick. With good reason: Dead Island 2 will be set in Los Angeles and will feature a "pulpy and irreverent tone" that aims to pay homage to "classic cult Hollywood horror B-movies."

The cinematic reveal trailer features Jacob, one of six characters who will be playable in Dead Island 2. Each will have a unique personality and dialog, and customizable abilities courtesy of an all-new skill system that will enable players to re-spec instantly. That's important, because finding new and interesting ways to wipe out zombies is what the game is really all about. 

"Dead Island 2's gameplay is all about experimenting with your preferred zombie-slaying methods, just kind of going nuts," lead narrative designer Khan explained on the ONL stage. "It's a combat toybox of close-quarters melee brutality, with a few guns for fun."

Along with solo play, Dead Island 2 will also support co-op action for up to three players. The trailer above is a cinematic, but Deep Silver also showed off a bit of fast-cut gameplay too:

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Dead Island 2 is set to come out on February 3, 2023, on the Epic Games Store. Have a look at a handful of new screens below.

Catch up with our full list of Gamescom announcements from Opening Night Live and check our Gamescom schedule to find out when to watch everything else.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Read more
Staring eyes in a face covered in oil
Death Stranding 2's PS5 release date is in June, let's hope it doesn't take 8 months to hit PC this time
borderlands 4
Borderlands 4 gets a release date and another acrobatic trailer
Killing Floor 3 splatters onto PC on March 25, but you can get your hands dirty a month early via its closed beta
Shodan, the villainous AI from System Shock
Nightdive's spent 6 years on its update of System Shock 2, so it's now the '25th Anniversary Remaster' and will finally announce its release date on March 20
Ark: Lost Colony teaser still.
Ark 2 is still on: The next Ark expansion 'leads into the events of Ark 2,' says Studio Wildcard
Phyre, the Elder Kindred from Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, stares intently at something in the distance, a frown writ into their forehead.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has been delayed again, but I'm not too worried—I've played it, and it's looking great
Latest in RPG
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Sphene applauds in Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story.
I'm not yelling 'we're so back!' yet, but Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story could be the first sign the MMO is returning to what made it so critically-acclaimed
Latest in News
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway