Dead Island 2 Patch 6 is here, and it’s a big one. Adding New Game Plus, as well as a quirky new Neighbourhood Watch horde mode, Patch 6 is an early Halloween treat for fans of the open world zombie game.
A new Dead Island 2 Ultimate Edition has also released, bundling in the two DLC packs from last year.
Dead Island 2 New Game Plus is roughly what you would expect, letting you replay the main campaign (skipping the prologue) at a higher difficulty and with an already levelled up character. Helping you keep up with the increased challenge, you’ll have three additional skill slots, an increased level cap, and this game mode will add a bunch of new skins, new weapons and some brand new enemies – the Revenants, which are darker, more powerful variants of the Apex Zombies that have some new behaviours and tweaked abilities.
The real showpiece of this update, though, is the Neighbourhood Watch horde mode, which shifts the focal point from rampaging through LA as a souped up Slayer, to defending your home base as a basic college student from VCLA – a blend of UCLA and USC. Just because they’re unpowered, though, doesn’t mean they don’t have some zombie-fighting chops!
Dez, Rav and Bozzy all have specific natural attributes – they’re a Chemist, Medic and Hunter, respectively, and you can have multiples of each character in a team – with passive Utility Talents alongside active Ability Talents, working similar to the curveballs from the main game, which can be a grenade-like attack or a throwable buff for your allies. They’re abilities on a cooldown, so make sure to keep using them.
Working together builds up the Bond, which is what feeds your Signature Attacks. There are five or six of these per class, and can do things like unlock each character’s signature weapon – Bozzy’s one-hit-kill crossbow for example – and more.
Each character’s skill tree is grown by completing missions in each day of the mode, with any XP then feeding into a class-specific Rank meter, which unlocks more Talents and Session Modifiers that can be used in future sessions.
Here’s the full patch notes for Dead Island patch #6:
New Game Plus (NG+)
You asked for New Game Plus, and we delivered – it’s time to crank up the difficulty, boost that level cap, and dive into Hell-A with new weapons and a wicked new breed of zombies.
How to start a New Game Plus?
NG+ Mode is now available to Slayers who have completed the main campaign.
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- After completing the story, a pop-up will let you know NG+ is unlocked.
- Head to the Main Menu -> Slayers, and export your character to NG+, which now has its own tab in the menu.
- Pro tip: We recommend being at least level 30 before taking the plunge.
Neighborhood Watch Mode
This mode is live and ready for you available from the Main Menu!
Expect fresh mechanics, new weapons, and more to keep those zombies at bay.
SoLa
The final club encounter with the Dirge has been tweaked to reduce difficulty
General
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- Various stability improvements
- Performance improvements
- Various bug fixes
Dead Island 2 is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. It’s also currently available in the PlayStation Plus Extra library, and in Xbox Game Pass.
Looking back on our Dead Island 2 review, I said, “Dead Island 2 does a great job of reanimating this dormant zombie-battling series, with the gore-filled combat and excessive weaponry that goes well with the oversaturated LA setting. It’s an enjoyable romp, but at the same time, ironically feels like it’s playing it safe.”
via Dead Island
