When I started playing Dead Island 2, everything was screaming at me that I shouldn't like this game. They overhauled so much of the RPG and open worldness of the first game that made it so special, the story is uniquely unserious and cheesy, and there isn't too much depth to the combat. But once I committed to playing and beating this game, as well as taking my time moving through it, I was so surprised that I was actually enjoying it and having fun with it for a few reasons. First, the environments are so visually stunning and well detailed. As someone who lives in LA, I had a blast exploring all the nooks and crannies of notable LA locations. I would say this by far is the biggest standout for the game. Every house tells a story whether blatant or hidden and it's an aspect I don't see as much attention to detail in other games. Secondly, mowing your way through zombies is just... awesome. Modding all the weapons and slicing zombie heads, comboing with some drop-kicking, while not extremely complex it is actually a lot of fun and theraputic. I would also say that I was surprised of some of the story twists once I made my way through the end game. I'm glad I stuck with this one.