Fans Download, Play Unfinished Version Of 'Dead Island 2'

A 5-year-old build of “Dead Island 2” has been found crawling its way on the Interwebs and gamers are playing the zombie-filled title.

Eurogamer first spotted the game via 4Chan and was quickly caught by other websites. The game is said to be dated June 2015 courtesy of Yager. The Berlin, Germany-based video game developer was tasked by publisher Deep Silver to continue the zombie-bashing sequel of the original “Dead Island” game before the two split up in July 2015 due to “creative differences.”

following the separation, the operation to create “Dead Island 2” was turned over to Sumo Digital, a video game developer based in Sheffield, England, in 2016. Sumo Digital is known to be the name behind “Hitman,” Hitman 2,” “Mortal Kombat 11” and a couple of “Forza” titles as well.

But the “Dead Island 2” baton didn't stop at Sumo Digital. By August 2019, Deep Silver announced that “Homefront: The Revolution” maker Dambuster Studios has taken over the reins to create the new title. Kotaku described the game's development story as “rocky” considering the many hands it had to endure before it could settle.

“Dead Island 2” is still in development, but there is no specific release date. The leak, however, provided a ray of hope now that players know that they are still working on a sequel. It is undoubtedly unfinished, but it did garner some raves when it was first announced at E3 in 2014. The game was available to the press throughout the second half of 2014 – the height when the game was supposed to be released in the spring of 2015. Unfortunately, April 15 saw its first delay and was moved to 2016. Eurogamer added that it was during this time that “Dead Island 2” saw “major problems.”

The leaked game is both “colorful and crazy:” it is situated in zombie-infested Los Angeles and involves an “eight-player multiplayer” madness across three locations.

“Oh boy what a blast from the past. Didn't expect this one and while it's literally unfinished work in progress in a way it's nice that at least somehow people can see what we've been working on before we got the ax,” said Jan David Hassel, a former Yager employee and now DICE game designer on “Dead Island 2” suddenly presenting itself to its waiting fans.

Click here to see the gameplay of "Dead Island 2."