Knowing how to play Dead Island 2 online means you don’t have to face the zombie apocalypse alone, as you can form a team in coop with up to two friends – or completely random players for a more authentic survival experience! Having some friendly Slayers by your side in Dead Island 2 can help you take down the tougher enemies together, as well as watching each other’s backs to avoid any nasty surprises. This option becomes available once you leave Emma Jaunt’s to find the Halperin Hotel, so when you reach that early point in the story this is what you need to know about setting up online coop in Dead Island 2.
How to play online coop in Dead Island 2
To host a Dead Island 2 online coop session, you can set it up immediately from the main menu by choosing to Continue Game and then setting the Game Type to one of the following:
- Public – anyone can join your game via matchmaking
- Invite Only – only players you invite can join
- Friends Only – players on your friends list can join without an invite
You also have the option to Join Game from the main menu, which will show you a list of any friends currently playing, along with a Quick Join option to matchmake you straight into an available multiplayer game with anyone. While in the game itself, you can also hit pause then go through Options > Online in the menu to change the Game Type, though if you adjust this while already in a game session it may restart it, causing any current players to disconnect and progress since the last save will be lost. It’s worth pointing out at this point that there is no Dead Island 2 crossplay available, so you’ll only be able to connect to others within the same console family, or other PC players for those on PC.
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An important factor to consider when choosing to play Dead Island 2 online is that you won’t be able to pause while in an online game session, even if you’re the only player currently connected. You can confirm this if you hit pause as you’ll see things moving around in the blurred background, which means zombies can still attack and kill you while you’re in any of the menus. You’ll need to take extra care to ensure you’ve found safety before examining your inventory or browsing collectibles, so unless you’re definitely intending to join with others you should select the Single Player option for peace of mind.
Why can’t I host Dead Island 2 online on PS4 or Xbox One?
Dead Island 2 online coop uses peer-to-peer instead of servers, which means the player hosting a session is running everything through their own console. Due to graphical requirements, those on the base PS4 or Xbox One / Xbox One S are unable to host sessions due to technical limitations, though they can still join sessions hosted on PS4 Pro / PS5 or Xbox One X / Xbox Series X or S respectively. According to the official website (opens in new tab), the developers are working on a solution so all consoles can host in the future, but for now this limitation is in place.
How to communicate in Dead Island 2 coop
While playing Dead Island 2 coop with others you’ll have the usual multiplayer voice chat options, but there are also a selection of quick chat options available for communication via the Emote Wheel. To use this, hold left on the d-pad then select any of the following options with the left stick:
- Agree
- Say Thanks
- Point
- Wave
- Disagree
- Suggest Resupply
- Ask For Help
- Celebrate
This will perform the selected emote, as well as a quip from your Dead Island 2 character, so you should be able to get your message across to anyone else in your sessions even if you can’t talk to each other through voice chat.
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