The often-delayed title is actually getting released.
Distant view of a city skyline showing a virtual representation of Los Angeles.

Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios released a double dose of Dead Island 2 news today. They showed off the launch trailer for the title, which is a good sign that the game is actually getting released on April 21. They also released some information about how co-op will work in Dead Island 2.

Dead Island 2 is expected to be out on April 21 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The PC release is a (timed) exclusive through the Epic Games Store.

Dead Island 2 take you to HELL-A, a twist on Los Angeles that fills the familiar locales with hoards of the undead. The combat has a strong focus on melee and boasts about having "the most advanced dismemberment system in games."

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The studios also discussed what the co-op experience is like in Dead Island 2. Co-op opens up to you roughly 20-30 minutes into the game once you reach Emma's mansion. It is then that you and up to two additional friends can join up and play together.

There is no cross-play support for co-op but there is cross-gen support. This means that players on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 can play together. Same goes for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S players. The catch here is that the host of the game must be on the PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 5, Xbox One X, or Xbox Series X|S. Those on the base models PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will not be able to host a game at launch.

  • If you're a PC gamer, you can have others join you or join other PC co-op sessions.
  • If you're an Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One X user, other Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One|S|X players can join you. You can also join other Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One X co-op sessions.
  • If you're a PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4 Pro user, other PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4|Pro players can join you. You can also join other PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 Pro co-op sessions.
  • If you're an Xbox One|S user, you can join Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One X co-op sessions.
  • If you're a PlayStation 4 user, you can join PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4 Pro co-op sessions.
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The progression system allows you to keep playing from where you left off in a co-op session. That is, say you played up to the game's sixth mission in co-op and then ended the session. The next time you play the game in either single player or co-op you will be at that sixth mission with all your items and gear.

The flipside to this is you cannot jump ahead of where you are in the story. Meaning, if you are on the third mission of the game and your friend is on the sixth mission, you won't be able to join their game. They can join your game, but you cannot join their game.