After Year on Epic Games Store, Bestselling Dead Island 2 Hits Steam. It’s Available 50% Off, but Still Has „Mixed” Reviews
Dead Island 2's release on Steam hasn't gone as planned. The main reason is players' doubts about using Epic Games' launcher.
Yesterday, Dead Island 2 finally made its debut on Steam, marking the end of a year-long exclusivity period for the Epic Games Store. The premiere on Valve's platform wasn't entirely successful.
The positive aspect is certainly the price. A promotion has been arranged to celebrate the release on Steam, allowing the game to be purchased at half price until April 29th. Thanks to this, the basic edition now costs $29.99, and for the Gold edition - which includes a season pass for DLC - you will pay $39.99.
Despite the discount, the reception of the game on Steam is mixed - only 63% of user reviews are positive. Players are angry that Dead Island 2 is using Epic Online Services network services even on Steam, which is the reason for the cold reception.
- The players' reaction seems slightly exaggerated - Epic only provides network infrastructure here (Epic Online Services is also used by, among others, Rust, Warframe, Elden Ring, and Palworld).
- We don't have to use the Epic Games launcher if we want to play solo or multiplayer with other players on Steam. It is only needed to play with people who have the Epic Games Store version of the game.
- The entire issue appears to stem mainly from the fact that Dead Island 2 doesn't clearly communicate this, leading some players to believe that gameplay isn't possible at all without logging into the Epic launcher.
- The situation isn't improved by the fact that if you have the Epic Games Store client installed, the game can launch it by itself.
In general, the developers and publisher messed up communication with players and failed to ensure that, as standard, when playing on Steam, players won't have any contact with Epic's launcher unless they choose to use it themselves.
The Steam version of Dead Island 2 also has some technical issues - some players report errors when logging into Epic Online Services. Furthermore, DLCs weren't accessible to Gold Edition owners at the game's launch, but this issue has been resolved.
We remind you that Dead Island 2 was very popular on EGS and consoles.
