Skip to main content

How to play co-op in Dead Island 2

A zombie crawls toward a player on a boardwalk in Dead Island 2.
Deep Silver

It's been a long time coming, but now that Dead Island 2 has arrived, what better way to enjoy the zombie apocalypse than with some friends? Nearly all zombie games, including previous Dead Island titles, include some level of cooperative play, and this game is no different. Exploring and fighting your way through an undead-infested LA is plenty of fun on its own, but this experience is begging to be played with a couple of friends. If you want to create your own group of Slayers to help you smash in some zombie heads, here's everything you need to know about how to play co-op in Dead Island 2.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

25 minutes

What You Need

  • Complete the Bel-Air Brawl mission

  • An internet connection

Dead Island 2.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How to play co-op in Dead Island 2

While you might be dying to kill some undead with your friends right away, you will need to play solo for a while before the option opens up to you.

Step 1: Start up Dead Island 2 and begin the campaign.

Step 2: Complete the opening missions up to and including "Bel-Air Brawl."

Step 3: Once you have finished that mission, you will receive a tutorial explaining that co-op has been unlocked.

Dani lights a cigarette as zombies attack her from behind in Dead Island 2 key art.
Deep Silver

How co-op works

You can participate in a co-op session in a few ways. The first is to join a session that's in progress through the main menu. To do this, simply hit Join and you can either find a random person online to play with via the Quick Join option or choose a friend via an open lobby from the list.

The other option is to start a game yourself. Once co-op is an option, every time you continue your game, you must choose to either play alone, play in a public lobby that anyone can join, make it so only friends can join, or set it to invite only.

Dead Island 2, after the initial missions, is completely playable in co-op, meaning you can run through this entire zombie-bashing game with a crew of up to two friends!

Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
How to play Stardew Valley multiplayer on mobile
Three Stardew Valley players visiting the Night Market.

Farming with friends in Stardew Valley is one of most relaxing ways to spend your day. While the game itself doesn't have cross-platform support, you can at least still play multiplayer with friends on the same platform. Well, any platform except for mobile. Before the 1.6 update, anyone playing the mobile version only had their villagers to keep them company, but now there's a way to invite your real friends to the farm. Using a hidden cheat code, you can now access an experimental mobile version of Stardew Valley. Here's how to test it out.

Read more
The fastest ways to gain XP in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Kill Order gameplay in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Ever since Modern Warfare, Call of Duty fans have been obsessed with finding every tip and trick they can to level up faster. Now that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has arrived with a refreshed Prestige system, the drive to grind levels is again at an all-time high. While everything you do does earn you XP, they are not all created equal. Just like picking your Wildcards or Perks, earning XP as fast as possible takes a bit of thought and planning. If there's a piece of equipment you have your eye on at a high level, or just want to grind through some Prestige ranks as fast as possible, here are the fastest ways to grind XP in Black Ops 6.
Do your dailies

We'll get the most obvious tip out of the way first. Daily challenges are back and work just as they always have. Every 24 hours you will be given a handful of small optional tasks to complete for a heap of bonus XP. These can be things like getting Scorestreak kills, getting Point Blank Kills, and getting kills with a specific weapon type. Most daily challenges are worth 2,500 XP, which is already a nice bonus, but there is also a fourth one that can be worth between 3,000 and 5,000 additional XP. Each day you log on, you should prioritize your daily challenges.
Tailor your loadout and play the objective

Read more
How to get the Beamsmasher in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
A soldier shooting a beamshamsher in Black Ops 6.

There's a lot to learn when diving into the Zombies mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Besides finding the Pack-A-Punch machines, Wonder Weapons are probably the most sought-after secrets on Liberty Falls and Terminus. We already covered how to get the Jet Gun on Liberty Falls, but the Beamsmasher is just as tricky to find on Terminus. Here's a full step-by-step guide on building this wonderful weapon.

Read more