Dead Island 2

Late Feb - Early Mar

Out of boredom, curiosity, and since I remember liking the original when I was a younger lad - I wanted to give Dead Island 2 a fair shot. Over 10 years since the original, I have have remaining fond memories of a somewhat jank, but fun co-op game to play when I had nothing else to play. I think that vibe basically describes the sequel to a T. A fun game, typically made more fun through co-op, with a bit of jank. Not really something you'd fall in love with, but if you had a buddy to play with - I can understand seeing the whole thing through. If I could describe the entire game in a few words I think what describes it perfectly is a "Game Pass game".

While I didn't play the game with anybody - largely because I don't have any friends who'd I want to play something like this with - I felt like the entire experience, much like the first game, was crafted around the 2-4 player co-op stack. Meaning, the silliness and sandbox, is probably a lot more fun when you have someone else to joke around with. Although the gameplay is fine, and the attacks had good weight and the gore system, honestly some of the best gore I've seen in a game outside of the Doom series, it did feel a bit repetitive at times. Ultimately boiling down to "hit this guy x times and he dies", which is perfectly serviceable for a zombie game - I feel like for me it got too repetative without much of the other elements of the game backing it up.

Unlike other zombie games (Dying Light, Dead Rising, hell even The Walking Dead), Dead Island has always been a sandbox expereience. Meaning, the fun is to be had on your own accord, while experimenting with the weapons and status effects. Fun in its own right, when paired with something else to keep you going. The game did have a very neat concept of building a "deck" of abilities that you could mix and match to fit your playstyle, and build craft to create the ultimate zombie killing machine. I did this by creating a "maim" build, where if you maim a zombie with a bladed weapon, your attack speed increases and you heal, creating this whirled blade gameplay where you essentially "death by 1000 cuts" a zombie. It was really fun crafting that, but nothing really compelled me to keep going in the game.

The story was so very simple. While trying to escape in LA via plane, an infection breaks out mid flight, and the plane crashes where you wake back up in LA, ready to figure out why you are still alive - despite being bite. See where this is going yet? Long story short, you are imune and going on a quest to find the CDC to figure out why. Basically, the same plot as the first game, and it did NOT hold my attention. Like other "open world" games - I say that lightly because its more "open area" - Dead Island 2 has a variety of side content that I find myself spending wayyy to much time doing, instead of rushing through the story to just get it over with. I know I can exhaust myself by doing this content, but the story did not compell me enough to really try to get through it, which ultimately lead to me losing interest after about 15 hours.

While the game wasn't bad by any means, I feel like I expected it to be shorter. And perhaps my style of gameplay, made the main story take longer than it should have. I don't really have anything to bash the game over, and it felt like a fine game. Just nothing really made me stick to it, and I'm glad I got it on sale. If you have a buddy to play with, this is a great sale game to pick up just for some good old fashioned goofying off. If you want to try on your own, consider getting Game Pass!

C+

Metal Eden

March 19, 2026

"My experience had shown me that the probability of failure depends on the number of personal involved"

A game that has been on my wishlist for quite some time, Metal Eden is a Doom 2016 lovers wet dream. The only thing that this game is missing visually is Mick Gordon on the soundtrack, which is a real shame, not to say that the soundtrack is bad - but the generic kinda Cyberpunk-esque soundtrack, while fitting, leaves me wanting more from it. The gameplay itself is top notch, with a fine weave of mechanics all doing something slightly different, while fitting right into your kit, is the type of refinement I'd expect from id, not a random indie studio. This being indie however, my biggest glaring issue with the game is performance - I get it, UE5 is taxing to run. However, despite how good the game does look (at times, DLSS really hurting here for my PC specifically), the performance draw back for such a high octane shooter really hampers the experience. A fun time, perhaps drawn back on less than ideal hardware.

First lets talk about the good. You play as Hyper, a Samus Aran level kickass armor chick. She may not say much, but she doesnt need to, her skills in the arena are enough to speak for their self. The world you are in, is a mining colony built above a planet, suspended in low orbit. With a clear cyberpunk vibe, Metal Eden wastes no time with the introductions, and throws you right into the mess, in an attempt to find "The Engineers", a group of 4 "people" who hold all the power of the CORE. CORE being the technology that has progressed humanity into the stars, consciousness upload. These Engineers, I gather, are either humans so old they helped build the infrastructure of the world and are so widely integrated with the system itself that no one can distinguish them between machine, or AI that effectively are doing the exact same thing (which doesnt really matter in the story of the game thus far). In your quest to find those Engineers, you fight through the sky city, on the planet floor, and in manufacturing plants - all in a series of interconnected "arenas", where you fight 3 waves, get an upgrade, and move on. Deceptively simple, but when you come to expect that pattern I believe it works out for the game. They mix it up with the connector bits, of rail riding, jump shooting, wall running, you name it. If there was a mechanic that was in a previous movement shooter of similar caliber, Metal Edens got it.

The thing Metal Eden has when it comes to self identity is the CORE mechanic, which allows for you to RIP the CORE out of your combatants, and proceed to shove it right back into their face. Dealing damage, and dropping ammo at the same time. Much akin to the DOOM chainsaw in its function, this presents a new interesting layer of upgrades surrounding it, and upgrades I found myself gravitating towards, as essentially it operates as another hand bazooka you have access to every 30 seconds. The other major functionality surrounding the CORE mechanic, is the consume function. This allows the player to rather than shooting the CORE back at enemies, taking it for yourself, giving you an amped up super punch which allows you to break the armor of the tougher enemies in a single blow, later restoring health and armor, serving a similar role to Dooms fury kill. I like the but of variety here, without straying to far from whats familiar. A strong self identity, while maintaining what gamers have become accustomed to from the giants of the past.

Now I have to say the most obvious issue with the game, the performance. I know UE5 can be a bit of a mess, especially when targeting for a solid 144+ FPS, but this game isn't CyberPunk 2077. This is a glaring issue people in forums online talk about, and I would almost rather the team prioritize art style over lighting effects. There isnt even a reasonable medium to low. Medium is serviceable in the looks department, but low strips absolutely all process effects away, leaving behind potato quality visuals indicative of a PS2 era game. Not good, and to me an indicator of a dev team that doesnt optimize their games - like most UE based teams I feel. "Get it to run on consoles, and who cares about PC".

Overall, I'm happy I was finally able to play Metal Eden. However, while I had a good time, I dont know If I would be revisiting any time soon. The story was nothing to shake a stick at, and I pretty much summed up the entire plot in a couple sentences earlier. The story was mostly a means to progress the arenas, but if story wasnt going to be a forefront, why even bother in the first place. Where Doom gets away with its virtually zero story, I feel like a lot of effort was misplaced, and could be redirected to making the game longer, or creating more interesting set pieces. I think some of the issues facing the game hinder its ability to impress, however not enough to make me not want to play. I guess Im saying Im glad this wasnt a 10-20 hour story as it was short and sweet, albeit maybe a little too short. I think there is the recipe for something great here, but perhaps that greatness was done by another more legendary team already. A fun time nonetheless, but hardly anyones favorite.

B-