Summary
At the end of the day, Dead Island 2 is comfort food, and so is the SoLA expansion. If you loved the base game to just let loose and bash in some zombie skulls, then this is just more of it, for better or for worse. It’s just good old dumb fun at the end of the day.
Developer – Dambuster Studios
Publisher – Deep Silver
Platforms – PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)
Review copy given by publisher
Does anyone still remember Dead Island 2? It’s been only a year since the game came out and I feel that nobody ever talks about it anymore! The base game was silly, fun, and an absolute blast to play, and I’m glad to finally see the 2nd expansion for it come out, titled SoLA. South Los Angeles I presume?
The set piece for Dead Island 2’s second expansion can be summed up as Coachella: Zombie Edition. It’s also quite comedic that this DLC is being released during the actual Coachella weekend too! SoLA takes place at a music festival in the heart of HELL-A, luring slayers into a brand new quest line that ties in smoothly with the main game. You must have progressed to a certain part of the main campaign (The Giant Slayer) before this expansion is made accessible. The story parts are alright, but let’s be honest here, nobody is playing Dead Island 2 for the narrative.
SoLA’s new map is reminiscent of a lively festival theme park with beautiful lighting, color, and overall Cali vibes. It’s an absolute treat to explore. The developers know how to make comedic jabs at the already not-very-serious themes that the game portrays. Were they also trying to comment that Coachella was dead this year? Get ready for brain-splattered seats and blood soaked concert floors. The new content should take you 3-4 hours to complete at a steady pace, 2 if you decide to rush it. Unfortunately, there still isn’t New Game Plus available, which is a feature that the fan-base have been asking for a while now.
Aside from a new area to explore and slaughter zombies, there’s also two new legendary weapons for you to get your bloody hands on. The first is the Ripper, which fans of the first Dead Island will surely remember, a baseball bat augmented with a spinning chainsaw on top. The more you swing it, the more it spins, so get to swinging! The second legendary weapon is the ranged saw blade launcher, which fires deadly spinning discs that can dismember any poor zombie caught in its way. Both weapons take full advantage of the game’s F.L.E.S.H. system that enables zombie limbs to pop right off with ultimate player freedom in mind.
What fun are new weapons if you don’t have any zombie variants to test them out on? The SoLA DLC introduces the Whipper and Clotter, two new apex zombies that will put your slayer skills to the test. The Whipper will use her intestines as a whip and try to blind you whereas the Clotter can effectively teleport by decomposing and recomposing at will. Both variants put tons of pressure on the player by being quick and nimble so don’t expect to mow them down easily. While new enemies are appreciated, I did expect a bit more than just two!
That about sums up what you’re getting in this DLC. Not that much but not bad either! At the end of the day, Dead Island 2 is comfort food, and so is the SoLA expansion. If you loved the base game to just let loose and bash in some zombie skulls, then this is just more of it, for better or for worse. It’s just good old dumb fun at the end of the day. The final boss of the DLC can be a bit of a slog, but as a whole, it’s pretty enjoyable. Expansion pass owners get this one for free but you’re looking at a $14.99 price tag for a standalone purchase.
