Sigmund Freud would’ve loved the first Dead Island 2 expansion

Deep Silver Dambuster announced the first Dead Island 2 expansion release date, and the horror game DLC’s emphasis on dreams and the nature of the soul sounds like something Sigmund Freud would be all over. The Dead Island 2 expansion is called Haus, and it launches on Nov. 2, 2023, for all platforms where you can play Dead Island 2.

“Lose yourself in a surreal, psycho-horror dreamscape,” Deep Silver said in the announcement. “Haus takes players to a completely new story, where a secret billionaire’s techno-death cult fights for survival amidst the Zompocalypse. Haus is a paragon of a new future, as prophesied by their enigmatic leader Konstantin.”

That new future doesn’t sound very nice, though. Deep Silver calls the techno-death cult’s HQ in Malibu a stylish, but nightmarish resort where the inmates push the boundaries of morality; a sanctuary; and a “machine to strip away flesh and harvest the soul.” Fun! Maybe it’s metaphorical, what with the dreams and all, but this is Dead Island, so it’s probably literal.

While you’re there, you navigate a “deranged labyrinth of biomes,” which seems a bit unfair at first glance. The press images show a swanky beach scene with poppy petals in the breeze and a cyberpunk-looking area, both of which look pretty normal. Then there’s pretty creepy room with dim lighting and weird vines growing in the middle and finally a neon-lit diner – in the middle of the woods, complete with a logo of a pig eating a hot dog. It’s truly the stuff of nightmares.

Whether the biomes of Haus are real or some delusional dream meant to reveal the core of your soul for harvesting remains to be seen. You’ll have some new toys to help you stay alive, whatever the nature of your trials are. These include a powerful new crossbow, the Hog Roaster BBQ weapon, and eight new skill cards to augment your zombie-splattering abilities.

The base game sold over 1 million copies just three days after launch, and Deep Silver has another expansion planned for a later date.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF