Dead Island 2 Release Time: When Will the Game Be Playable?

Dead Island 2 survived its trip through development hell and is ready to be released. Reviews of the game so far have been a bit mixed, though it’s generally agreed that Dead Island 2 is a very entertaining take on the first game’s core concepts. So when will you be able to play it for yourself?

Dead Island 2 is scheduled to be released on April 21st at midnight in every global timezone. It was previously suspected that the game would utilize a staggered release schedule, but that information has since proven to be inaccurate. The Dead Island 2 team even released this time zone map that shows exactly when you’ll be able to access the game:

Furthermore, the time above seems to apply to every version of the game (PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S). Again, there were previously some questions regarding whether or not PC gamers would have to wait longer to play Dead Island 2, but it’s clear that is not the case. Everyone should be able to access the title as soon as the clock strikes midnight wherever they live. That honestly makes this one of the simpler rollout schedules in recent major release history.

As always, this release schedule means that Xbox gamers will get to use the “New Zealand trick” to start playing the game several hours earlier. Here’s an explanation of how to pull that trick off.

Furthermore, console players are able to start preloading the game right now, while it seems that PC players will need to wait until closer to the game’s release to actually install it. At present, Dead Island 2‘s file size is expected to be 48 GB for PlayStation 5, 19GB for PlayStation 4, 54 GB for Xbox Series X, 26 GB for Xbox One, and a whopping 70 GB for PC. Sorry PC players. At least you’ll have a lot of mods to look forward to.

For those who don’t know, Dead Island 2 is the sequel to 2011’s Dead Island. However, while the original Dead Island was developed by Techland (who since went on to make the Dying Light games), Dead Island 2 is being developed by Dambuster Studios.

As I alluded to above, the sequel’s development has been anything but smooth. The game has passed through a few different development hands at this point and has obviously been changed quite a bit as it moved from developer to developer. Furthermore, the original Dead Island itself was seen as a collection of interesting concepts that didn’t quite come together. Many fans felt that Dying Light represented the better version of those concepts.

Still, don’t go into Dead Island 2 expecting doom and gloom. I was actually impressed with many aspects of a recent demo of the game and found it to be the kind of wacky, gory zombie title we haven’t actually seen a lot of in the genre’s recent history. Will the full game live up to that potential? You’ve only got a few hours left to see for yourself.