How to Play Dead Island 2: Is It on PC Game Pass?

Dead Island 2, the incredibly long-awaited sequel to the original Dead Island, takes you to a post-zombie apocalypse Los Angeles and brings back all the brutal, first-person melee combat with a modern(-ish) story. It’s been out on PC since release, but now there are more ways to play, so is it available on PC Game Pass? Where else can you get it?

How to Play Dead Island 2 on PC

Well, I have good news and bad news. Bad news first: Dead Island 2 is not available on PC Game Pass, though it’s on Game Pass for Xbox Series S|X or Xbox One. The good news? Dead Island 2 is available on Steam for a launch 50% discount: $29.99 until April 29, 2024. After that, the price will jump to the endangered value of $59.99. You can, of course, still buy it on the Epic Store for full price before and after the Steam promotion.

Dead Island 2 has been available on PC since its release on April 21, 2023, via the Epic Games Store, but many have been waiting for the one-year timed exclusivity to expire for one reason or another. Mostly for it to come to Steam, if I’m honest, but there was also some hope that the game would make its way to game pass as well.

Will Dead Island 2 Work Well on Steam

For Steam users everywhere, there are a couple of catches to be concerned with. The first and less concerning (but still terrible) is Denuvo Anti-Cheat, a much-maligned piece of software blamed for all kinds of PC woes. These include massive performance hits, online issues, and general annoyance at Epic’s vice grip on the game.

Yep. If you were hoping the game’s Steam release would free it entirely from Epic’s grip, I’m sorry to be the bearer of even more bad news. If you do purchase Dead Island 2 through Valve’s store, you’ll still need to download Epic Online Services to play it. Sure, it’s not the Epic Game Store itself, but Dead Island 2 on Steam is not an entirely separate ecosystem.

If you’re like me and prefer to have all your games available via a single launcher as much as possible, getting Dead Island 2 on Steam is the way to go. You’re still hooked to Epic, granted, but you do get to keep everything about your game library nice and tidy. There have been some players experiencing connection issues and other hiccups, all of which will hopefully be worked out in a patch or two. I hope DeepSilver and Dambuster Studios give the game the additional bit of love it needs to shine. Especially for those players who waited a year to play.

To keep up with our other guides, check out our Dead Island 2 guide hub.