Dead Island 2 Haus takes players back into the generally well-loved game Dead Island 2. Back into LA or ‘Hell-A’ for an extra instalment of fun, bloody, zombie hack-and-slash action.
The game has also announced to have at least two-story expansions and some cosmetics packs, the first story expansion dropped on the 2nd of November 2023 and was entitled Haus and cost you around £9.99 unless you have the pre-ordered game in which case this first DLC is free.
After playing a huge amount of the base game and managing to 100% it within two weeks (bit of a brag), I was very excited to play this DLC and for me at least it really did deliver.
Story
The base game of Dead Island 2 offers numerous comedic parodies about life in LA. The Haus DLC is no different, this time placing you in the plans for a tech billionaires death cult…sounds about right.
When you boot up the game you get a notification of a new mission called “The Invitation”. There will be a postcard waiting for you back at Emma’s Mansion in Bel-Air. Reading the postcard also somehow drugs you and you wake up out on the coast at some billionaire’s private retreat.
Our Haus
As you make your way in you are greeted by the undead in some strand PVC outfits before having a chat with a decapitated head which you return to its body. This decapitated head is Vincent, a high-ranking member of the cult who has obtained some kind of strange immortality, he then sends you on a journey to find other severed heads and learn their secrets.
If you hadn’t noticed from the base game this DLC is going to be weird and a little confusing. This death cult is associated with the big bads in the game known as Konradt. So, in this expansion you will meet some “living” people and that term is used in the loosest possible sense.
The DLC adds in a puzzle solving element and certain challenges within the first mission. The puzzles are called ‘Rites of Passage’.
This Haus has curb-stomping-appeal
The first Rite of Passage takes place in a mock suburban area where you are greatly advised to ‘stay off the grass’. There are three challenges to do in different houses so that you can meet Veronique:
One challenge sets you find a valve to fix an incinerator and to decide to ‘destroy a cherished item with fire’. What does a zombie slayer in the middle of an undead controlled LA cherish the most? That’s right a zombie annihilating weapon. Don’t panic though you can grab any old weapon lying around on the floor and burn that.
The second involves you fixing a frayed cable in a basement and ‘enduring agony’ via self-inflicted electrocution in the (since the frayed cable fix) now electrified flooded area.
The third involves you going to ‘confession’, journeying through an underground path into another house make your way to the attic and find the microphone. Each character has different voice lines of something they confess, first they confess to something comedic or minor which isn’t enough then each character reveals a true confession.
First confessions:
Amy: Uhh, ok. Umm, well as a kid, I played cards with my grandma for quarters, and I used to cheat.
Dani: You want a secret? Alright. Green isn’t my natural hair colour…shhh!
Carla: My favourite popcorn flavour is actually plain.
Bruno: Sure, you know what? These sneaks are knock-offs.
Jacob: I once did a stunt and was totally nonchalant, but in the taxi home I had a little cry.
Ryan: OK, my other car’s not really a Cadillac.
True confessions:
Amy: When we were teenagers, my twin, Jenny, was hopelessly in love with this guy, but too scared to ask him out. Um, instead of helping her, I asked him out myself. Totally broke her. And I didn’t even like him that much.
Dani: Sometimes…I think life would be easier if I was more like the rest of my family. Y’know, like, fit in. I…I tried really hard to be the person they wanted me to be. But…I couldn’t. its just not me. I wish you loved me like you love my sisters ma.
Carla: after mi primo died, I took off on my bike with all the money we made street racing and became who I am. I can’t help but thank God he ended up in that crash. Thanks, Mateo.
Bruno: Mi Abuela. It’s always “fix your hair, find a nice girl” y’know? So, I ignore her calls. Last month some asshole in Vegas pulls a phishing scam on her. And I’d ignore her calls. I swear, i’ll get back every cent.
Jacob: Ok, when I got home I also…had a BIG cry. Then a bath, with candles.
Ryan: My, uh, brother lives with me. I look after him cause he’s…special. Sometimes I wish I could just live my life…without him.
After making this confession a zombie bursts out of the TV wearing a mask of your characters face, and from this point zombies will start to burst through TVs to get you.
After completion of the three trials the house at the end of the street opens and you find yourself in a trippy and surreal home and the path to meet the elusive Veronique.
This suburban area is a really interesting change in the game. Any of the internal houses that you have previously decapitated your way through, have been big open plan luscious LA homes or very small 2 room locations. This area has you being ambushed out of wardrobes or out of vents in the ceilings. This claustrophobic feeling is a real addition of diversity to Dead Island 2.
The path to Veronique
Your slayer enters an area called The Deeper, an area that messes with your perceptions, makes you stumble through the dark and witness a whole host of strange, squelchy, sacrificial looking horrors. Fight your way through the Veroniques office where you find this severed head in an ice bucket in her office, not quite as decadent as champagne but a decapitated cult member has it’s uses.
Veronique explains that Haus was designed to save “The Chosen” from the impending apocalypse but didn’t quite get the timing right. This meant that zombies broke in before the chosen few could ‘ascend’. After popping her head back on her body, she tells you that you need one final head finalising your position as the grossest corporate headhunter ever.
The final head is that of Yong-Ho and is located near a diner. To reach this eating establishment you first need a special weapon being held by someone called Iris, a visionary artist who can be found down The Well in The Forest.
Less Cabin in the Woods more Haus in The Forest
After making their way through the dark forest with a backdrop of recordings of zombies you reach a gate with an audio tape. The tape tells you that the only way to open this gate and reach The Well is to travel back out into The Forest and light the beacons. This attracts the horde which once maimed enough opens the gate and allows you to continue.
Editors note-This forest with the colour pallet, backdrop and of course zombies really reminded me of Black Ops 3’s Zombie mode loading screen.— See below
Make Gandalf proud by lighting the beacons and then make him the Doom Marine proud as you rip and tear through the undead. Once enough blood has been spilt make your way back through the gate to The Well, you drop down and find Iris (dead of course) and discover that the special weapon is the newly added crossbow.
The crossbow allows you to destroy the ‘Dark Hearts’ littered throughout Haus. Destroy the one in front of you, fight your way back through The Deeper and bolt back to the central chamber. Veronique congratulates you and reminds you to head to The Diner.
The Diner is the quintessential American experience with the red and white colour scheme, the vintage cars in the parking lot and a pig mascot…that has been infected…and is now a crusher called Long Piglet. Make bacon out of Long Piglet and pick your way through the layers of bloody matter in the diner to find your next head in perfect condition…well it’s missing a jaw but that’s besides the point.
Same drill as before, head back to the central chamber and return the head. Upon doing so Yong Ho becomes a Screamer and Vincent shouts he has been corrupted and needs to be put down. Do this and then the next door will become open to you as you enter the “infusion lounge” to meet with the illusive Konstantin.
This must have Konstantin a fortune
Your slayer discovers that those who completed the challenges were then killed in the lounge, being marked as ‘Chosen’ and being given a place upon The Ark. You then get to have a face to face (-ish) with Konstantin who reveals themselves as an AI with a picture of a dog as it’s avatar.
The protagonist finds out that The Chosen are killed and uploaded to The Ark to ride out the apocalypse in safety before having your consciousness returned to you in a different form, to rebuild the world. Naturally every character is against this, but your slayer does agree to save The Ark, by destroying the Dark Brains that have begun to grow on it.
Haus Renovations
After being shown concrete proof your chosen zombie slayer embarks to save The Ark. To do so you must pass through a mutated hallway completely overrun by the biters but never fear, the whole area is covered by the orange orbs you will have seen throughout Haus that allow you to stay in ‘fury’ mode for the foreseeable.
Once reaching The Ark room, you fight your way through various side rooms, solving short and easy puzzles to put each Dark Brain out of commission. You ascend to the Room of Ascension and do much of the same before defeating the final Dark Brain and saving this secret cult and its Chosen from the infection.
Konstantin tells the slayer to approach to receive a gift, cautiously you approach before deciding to turn back, then suddenly you are hit with ‘Konstantin’s Gift’. This shows you visions of your journey before being thanked by Hope. The screen fades to black and you awake back at the spot at Emma’s Mansion where you touched the invitation, eyes dripping with the same liquid seen from Veronique and Vincent…each slayer decides not to tell anyone about what just happened.
Konstantin’s Gift takes the form of a survivor card that triggers an explosion upon taking damage while having a full ‘Fury’ meter.
That is the main story of the DLC, the secluded lair of the selective secretive society is yours to explore.
Side Quests
There are numerous side challenges throughout the game that has you fight a huge zombie dressed as a pig mascot and even contains challenges that spread into the main game. These are a couple extra ‘lost & found’ missions that put you on the trail of “lucky” people who escaped the cult of immortality.
Gameplay
The gameplay isn’t all too different from the main game of hack-and-slash action. The biggest changes come from the addition of new perks and what is now a zombie weapon staple since Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead popped up, a crossbow.
The crossbow is silent, has high damage and a whole bunch of customisation options. It fits straight into the game world and is actually a huge help to your standard adventure throughout the game.
You will find the combat challenges a bit trickier here as the zombies that spawn will be at your players level, rather than in the base game where each location has different levelling, and zombies can be vastly underpowered compared to your chosen protagonist.
The new perks are designed to enhance playstyles that the aren’t as popular. These perks add bonuses for thrown weapons and ranged weapons. Nothing to gamebreaking but really worth it for a full zombie killing experience in Hell-A.
Graphics and Sound
Dead Island 2 as a whole is a wonderfully vibrant, colourful and gorey game. The Haus DLC has all of this and more by also having a certain dark and looming quality. The DLC is an expansion of the tones produced by the secret labs encountered towards the end of the base game.
There really is a sense of darkness, seediness and quite frankly…evil in the location you run around in.
The sound design fits and changes between each area you explore.
Replayability
This DLC is just as replay-able as the base game. the story is intricate and fascinating and after playing through it as Dani it would be incredibly interesting to get to see how the other characters react to all the other-worldly weird, wonderful and dark parts of this DLC.
The story and side quests tally in at around four hours to complete, which although is long for a Call of Duty campaign it isn’t long for an RPG of this style. However, for those four hours you don’t have a chance for a breather, you will be wrapped up in the intrigue or fighting for your life.
Conclusion
With how long Dead Island 2 was stuck in development along with the other worries behind it from Dead Island 1 and Riptide not living up to its potential. Dead Island 2 and this DLC have really not disappointed, and just about make the nine years we didn’t know about it, worth it. Engaging story, chunky combat and great visuals which for £9.99 is such a steal.
Joys
- Great Atmosphere
- Adds a crossbow
- Explains the more complicated parts of the story
- A genuine challenge
Cons
- Hopefully the next DLC’s explain the story better
