Not so much a 'far cry' from the likes of Haus - more like a diet version of it, clearly affected by rushed writing which begs to be further explored even as it delivers some nice quality-of-life improvements to the base game. Still though... no one does this shit like Dead Island - almost completely optimized unpretentious zombie-shredding gameplay. Art design is still totally off-the-chain, and the ripper + sawblade launcher are the most devilishly fun video game weapons since The Heist & the Hazardous' Pain & Gain gun. Its potshots on influencer dullard festivals a la Fyre Fest, performative corpo advocacy, and the spinelessness inherent to slacktivism - not entirely soft targets today - are scattershot but relatively effective. Goddamn I wish there were like 100 more of these - I'm never not down for another blood-soaked Dead Island turret on surrendering to your most basic elemental turpitude to become the malevolent, super awesome beast you truly are.

Reviewed on Apr 22, 2024


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