Dead Island 2: How to play co-op Digital Trends

It's been a long time coming, but now that Dead Island 2 has arrived, what better way to enjoy the zombie apocalypse than with some friends? Nearly all zombie games, including previous Dead Island titles, include some level of cooperative play, and this game is no different. Exploring and fighting your way through an undead-infested LA is plenty of fun on its own, but this experience is begging to be played with a couple of friends. If you want to create your own group of Slayers to help you smash in some zombie heads, here's everything you need to know about how to play co-op in Dead Island 2.

While you might be dying to kill some undead with your friends right away, you will need to play solo for a while before the option opens up to you.

Step 1: Start up Dead Island 2 and begin the campaign.

Step 2: Complete the opening missions up to and including "Bel-Air Brawl."

Step 3: Once you have finished that mission, you will receive a tutorial explaining that co-op has been unlocked.

You can participate in a co-op session in a few ways. The first is to join a session that's in progress through the main menu. To do this, simply hit Join and you can either find a random person online to play with via the Quick Join option or choose a friend via an open lobby from the list.

The other option is to start a game yourself. Once co-op is an option, every time you continue your game, you must choose to either play alone, play in a public lobby that anyone can join, make it so only friends can join, or set it to invite only.

Dead Island 2, after the initial missions, is completely playable in co-op, meaning you can run through this entire zombie-bashing game with a crew of up to two friends!