With how much Dead Island 2’s apocalypse parody poked fun at the Los Angeles area earlier this year, I guess it was only a matter of time before it turned its attention from vicious zombies to equally mindless cultists. I mean, how could they forget California’s reputation for welcoming eccentric people who then take advantage of our tolerance by brainwashing vast swathes of the population? Thankfully, this is something developer Dambuster Studios has corrected with its first DLC, Haus, which transports your character to a cult compound in Malibu where you’ll rub elbows with rich elites and smack down zombies who look like they’re dressed for the runway. And while I won't turn my nose up at a few more good laughs from a game I enjoyed, a three-hour runtime and very few new wrinkles to change up Dead Island 2’s basic zombie slashing formula make this jaunt extremely short-lived and a little unexciting.
When it comes to story, Dead Island 2 is back up to its old tricks in Haus, with some amusingly dumb but ultimately incomprehensible hijinks. With zero explanation, starting the first of the DLC’s two story missions takes you to the headquarters of a cult obsessed with immortality that has been preparing for the zombie apocalypse their leader predicted since before it happened. From there you’ll do silly things like fight a giant zombie dressed as a pig at a barbecue diner and toss dismembered heads at your enemies just because. It’s not exactly highbrow stuff and, frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. That said, in the second half it makes the very odd decision to present the cult (who brainwashes and tortures its members) as a benevolent organization, which makes your mission hard to get behind. But questionable moral implications aside, the moment-to-moment writing remains amusingly top-notch, with a few goofy new characters to meet and silly one-liners that made me smile. That was easily the best part of the base game and remains a strong suit here.
The one new location you’ll visit also has some surprising environments in store. Though the whole thing takes place indoors, the eccentrics running the place have made each room visually surreal, like one area that’s been made to look like a creepy cul-de-sac and another that looks like haunted woods out of a fairy tale. Per usual, Dead Island 2 continues to flaunt it’s fantastic graphics and top shelf art, and I’d say they’ve even managed to raise an already high bar in this DLC, which makes some of the monotonous action that takes place in these neat locations a lot more bearable
Which brings us to the biggest issue with this slim package: there’s very few new tools or ideas introduced to break up a structure that was already pretty stale to begin with. Apart from the admittedly cool new crossbow, you’ll still mostly slice and dice the same handful of enemy types as before. There’s also a small number of new skill cards that offer some different options for your build, though none I found were massive game changer, like the Sugar Rush ability that makes healing items restore more health and grants a boost to agility. I haven’t played Dead Island 2 since it launched, and even then I had more than enough time to refamiliarize myself with its mechanics and subsequently grow bored with them during this short add-on. This package definitely would have benefitted from some distinct new mobs to fight or perhaps some expanded crafting options to address the limitations that system still suffers from.
The crossbow is at least a solid addition that feels much better than the rest of Dead Island 2’s ranged weapons. Its high damage and pinpoint accuracy make it a great option for picking off enemies from afar when you’re sick of rushing into melee, although it’s probably still faster to just jump into the fray and hack away. More importantly, the crossbow is required to destroy a new obstacle called Dark Brains, which are literal brains hidden throughout the DLC levels that block your path with creeping tendrils until you give them a bolt straight to the squishy dome. Why can’t an assault rifle can’t take out these abominations? I couldn’t tell you. But making the crossbow’s use mandatory definitely made me play around with it more, so mission accomplished in that regard, I guess.
