The Dead Island 2 open world is a point of contention for some zombie-killing fans of the original game. The game takes place in Los Angeles and the gameplay we’ve seen already show off the beautiful environments that you’ll be able to explore. Many other zombie games like Dying Light, DayZ, Days Gone, and the original Dead island have an open-world design, so it’s understandable to assume that this game is too. Here’s whether Dead Island 2 features open-world maps or not.
Does Dead Island have open-world environments?
Technically, Dead Island 2 is not an open-world game. There are definitely larger areas where you can explore, but it’s far more linear than the original game.
That said, each area has plenty of optional areas and side objectives with safes, locked rooms, and loot caches that may require you to backtrack or investigate further. There are also minor puzzles that you can solve, and you can explore maps more thoroughly for some well-placed environmental storytelling.
Taken altogether, Dead Island 2’s more restrictive design might not make you miss the sandbox design of the original game. With so many open-world zombie games, this might actually be a welcome change of pace.
For more guides on Dead Island 2, here’s if the game has Denuvo DRM on PC and whether the game is coming to Xbox Game Pass at launch.