Where does Dead Island 2 take place?

The recently released Dead Island 2 features brand new gameplay and additional gameplay enhancements over 2011’s Dead Island, making it a treat to play through for long-time fans of the series.

This action role-playing title from Dambuster Studios also shakes things up by picking up a new location for the zombie outbreak, set 17 years after the events of the first two games, Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide.

Read on to learn more about the in-game setting.

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Dead Island 2 takes place in the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco

The third mainline entry in the Dead Island series is confirmed to be set in the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, of the United States of America.

The game takes place during events that result in the complete quarantine of California as a result of a newer strain of the zombie outbreak, after which the protagonists (aka the Slayers) board a plane intending to fly them out of the now quarantined Los Angeles.

However, the evacuation flight ends up being shot down by the army thanks to the infected joining on board, and the group finds themselves stuck in the city as they now claw their way out of the city to safety.

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Why is Dead Island 2 set in the city of Los Angeles?

Despite its rather troublesome development cycle, one thing that has remained consistent with Dead Island 2 (other than slaying dozens of undead) is the setting being shifted to the city of Los Angeles.

In a rather strange and somewhat bizarre decision, the sequel was set up to always be within Los Angeles instead of the usual island setting, even before the third development team, Dambuster (an internal studio of Deep Silver), took charge of the game’s development.

Dambuster has responded to the nature of the setting, assuring players that LA brings with it new ideas and experiments for the franchise, allowing for terrific combat and the diverse cultural representation that the city is well-known for. The team hopes to bring in additional mayhem and fun when players navigate the sprawling city to kill zombies.

The version of Los Angeles depicted in-game has been described as being very "postcard-like", with the creative direction aiming for a more realistic and picturesque representation of the city, contrasted against tons of blood and gore.

Despite the realistic look, the game is designed to be fun to its core, aiming to deliver a great zombie-slaying experience to all players thanks to its unique combat system.

The gunplay of melee hack-and-slash with additional gameplay elements, including skill and ability cards that offer unique power-ups to each character in the open-world sandbox, allows for fun experimentation.

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Dead Island 2 was released on 21 April 2023 for the PC, PlayStation 4/5 , Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S lineup of home consoles. The game has received generally favorable reviews since its release, with praise being drawn to its fun and gory combat.

For more guides and news on Dead Island 2, keep an eye out on Sportskeeda gaming for further updates.