The ending of Dead Island 2 was rather abrupt. After watching your only hope of a cure, and your new-made friends, fly out of the quarantine zone on a helicopter, you are left to survive in Hell-A on your own. But what will become of our heroic Slayer? And what will happen to all the survivors we met along the way?
With the cliffhanger ending, we were left with a lot of unanswered questions. From the role the Numens will play, to the fate of LA itself, so much seems to be up in the air. Or, you know, the state of the world as a whole.
10 How Is The Rest Of The World Reacting?
We don't get much information from the outside world in the game, as was the case in Banoi as well. So, how is everyone taking it? We know Amanda has been uploading her videos documenting the outbreak to YouTube, did any of them get through?
We have no idea what the world knows. Do they even know there's been a zombie outbreak, or do they think it's just a disease? One could imagine that an outbreak on this scale wouldn't have been as easy to cover up as the one in Banoi. Then again, we don't know if the rest of the country is already experiencing their own outbreaks. We all saw how well people handled Covid, it is hard for us to picture a zombie outbreak being handled much better.
9 Is There Any Hope For LA's Survivors?
A lot of people have had their lives completely upended during the tragic outbreak in Hell-A. Those that weren't eaten are barely eking out an existence in the infested city. From the survivors at the Surling Hotel being low on food, to the Blue Crab perimeters being penetrated, the survivors are in a tight spot (even if the Slayer did help them temporarily).
Will there be any hope of an evacuation? Will The Slayer be able to protect them? As noble as it is for the Slayer to stay behind, one person can only do so much. A larger military response seems likely, but given how the previous military assistance panned out, that may not end well either. Ultimately, the fate of these survivors is definitely up in the air. And we haven't even dealt with the distinct possibility that the military may decide to cut their losses and press the red button. *gulp*
8 What Form Will DLC Take?
The developers have already announced that more story-based DLC is on the way. Which is more that a little tantalizing, especially given the game's cliffhanger ending. But it has our minds racing... what other pieces of new content could released in the future?
New zombie-killing weapons are a must, we would also love to see some new quirky survivors added into the mix, but we can all agree that the game needs to add more missions that could help answer some of these questions we have been left with. Of course, that's not to say that new zombies, additional gameplay mechanics, and general quality of life improvements wouldn't be well-received, as well.
7 Where Will Sam B Go Now?
He just can't seem to catch a break. The zombie virus has followed him from his vacation spot all the way back to mainland U.S.A., but will he finally get the rest he deserves. We know he escaped with Emma, but are the two going to actually have a chance to settle down?
Sam was previously immune to the virus, but that immunity started to fade. After being cured by the Slayer, we wonder if he will have that immunity anymore. Also, if he is still immune, then you can bet that the government's scientists are going to want to get their hands on him. And we all saw what happened to their previous test subjects. This definitely makes him a wanted man, in addition to him being a famous musician, that is (and we can all admit that "Who Do You Voodoo" is a banger).
6 Will We See More Numen?
The "next evolution in humanity" is a pretty creepy concept to think about. It is also a new threat in the Dead Island series that no one really expected.
Strength, telepathy, and a number of other powers that the game only hints at seem to imbue these mysterious, super-powered figures who call Hell-A their home. Will they rule the quarantine zone, will they seek to expand their numbers and recruit other Numen, or do we have them all wrong? Either way, it is impossible to know what their end game is, but we can be certain that they are definitely a threat. As if normal zombies weren't bad enough.
5 What Happens To Hell-A?
As stated earlier, to say Hell-A is a huge city is an understatement. But is it too far gone to reclaim LA? Obviously the build-up in the sewers is... a problem. A horrifying problem. It is hard to imagine there being a solution that sees LA return to being a normal, inhabitable city.
It would be interesting to see the setting develop to that similar to Dying Light 2, where we see survivors begin to cope with the horrors of the world around them. The alternative being to relocate for another installment or DLC will always have us wondering what became of Hell-A.
4 Will The Previous Survivors Return?
We got to see Sam B reprise his role as zombie-killing aficionado in this installment, but what of the other intrepid survivors? Where are they now?
Will they have seen the outbreak in LA and felt compelled to come help, or are they putting as much distance between themselves and this apocalyptic hellscape as possible? Thanks to some incidental dialogue from Sam B, it can be gleaned that the other survivors are, most likely, still alive. But we know little else about them. And even more worryingly, we don't know if, like Sam, they are beginning to succumb to the virus.
3 Will The Slayer Survive?
Speaking of survivors, what will become of our heroic Slayer? We know they chose to stay back and help search for Tisha, but we have no idea what happens next. The Numens are still aggressively pursuing them. And we just saw with Sam that the immunity may not be as reliable as one would hope.
A lot of questions still surround the new zombie-slayers, that's to be sure. One can only hope that they will find their way out of Hell-A and hopefully put the climactic events behind them. But, that just doesn't seem like the Dead Island 2's vibe, does it?
2 Does The Infection Spread?
The obvious difference in setting this time around was that, well... we weren't on an island. And as we already mentioned, we really have no idea what is going on outside of the city. You would think that the military is maintaining tight barricades all around Hell-A, keeping it effectively quarantined, but we saw how well those barricades held up in the city, so we aren't feeling particularly encouraged.
Dead Island 2 may just be the start of a worldwide zombie apocalypse. It seems the next logical step after diverging from the series setting of islands for the zombie infection to now spread wholesale across the globe.
1 Will There Be A Trilogy?
There is one question on everyone's minds at the end of the game: will there be another installment? Granted, there are already three games, but Riptide felt like a glorified expansion pack. It would be great to see them make it a true trilogy with a full featured third game building off of Dead Island 2's excellent base.
If Dead Island 2 sells well, it seems likely that we will get another game in the series. That only seems to open up more questions, though, with the most important one being, how much longer until this next game? Only time will tell, but with the zombie genre of games being far from dead, it seems more likely than not. Let's just hope that Dead Island 3 doesn't experience the same delays as this one. We're eager to get drop kicking zombies in a new setting.