A heavily underrepresented feature in Dead Island 2 that almost no one has been talking about is the Alexa Game Control feature that the game has.
Not only has this feature been a comedic goldmine for streamers playing Dead Island 2 to yell at zombies to 'come and get some', but it also has a lot of different useful functions. So, let's go over how players set this up, how to use it, and what it can be used for.
Setting Up Alexa Voice Control
Setting this up is pretty easy and (thankfully) doesn't require an actual Amazon Echo or Alexa product in the player's immediate vicinity in order to use it.
To set it up, players must simply:
- Go into the Settings Menu.
- At the very bottom should be the Alexa Game Control Option.
- First, players will need to link this game to their Amazon account. Doesn't have to be a Prime account or anything like that, any account works.
- Then, make sure Voice Commands are Enabled.
- Choose the required Voice Capture method between Voice Activity, Push to Talk, or Tap to Talk.
- Set the Audio Threshold where Alexa starts picking up the player's voice audio.
- Make sure the right microphone is being used.
After all is said and done, Alexa Game Control should be all set up and ready to use. From our experimenting, Push to Talk works best for this, as setting it to Voice Activity constantly has Alexa activating when players get surprised by a sudden zombie and make a little 'yelp' in fear.
How To Use Alexa Game Control
After the basic options are all set up and fine-tuned, players can start messing around with Alexa in-game. When it's being used, they'll hear the standard 'ping' of Alexa turning on to listen to them talking as well as a blue circle at the bottom left of their screen appearing, with lighter blue filling portions of the circle as the player speaks. After the player finishes talking, Alexa will then quickly process the command and act on it if there's an option to do so.
Keep in mind that this does seem to be a pretty 'nerfed' version of Alexa, as it won't be able to access Amazon Music, Audible, or Communications as well as a few other systems.
Still, there are tons of things players can still ask of Alexa, and those commands don't even have to relate to what's currently going on in the game.
In-Game Functions For Alexa Game Control
In the Tutorials section of Dead Island 2's pause menu there should be multiple tabs that go over all the different Voice Commands players can use with Alexa Game Control, as well as all the different words they can use to arrive at the same result.
It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but in essence, these are what players can use Alexa to do:
- Taunt nearby Zombies or even one specific Zombie in a group using their Zombie type's 'name'.
- Set Waypoints to all sorts of different locations (nearest Point-of-Interest, Merchant, or Safehouse, for example)
- Switch to the player's next weapon or even a specific weapon depending on the command used.
- Trigger different Emotes just for fun or to non-verbally communicate with an ally in online play (which is unlocked right after meeting Sam B).
There are tons of different permutations for each of these commands such as being able to swap to the player's 'sharpest' weapon, target the 'Slobber' zombie in a group, or specifically make a waypoint to a nearby Fusebox.
The Difference Between Game Control & Regular Alexa
What matters most is that players don't need to use the standard 'Alexa' trigger word to start their sentence for these commands, though they can if they want.
However, all of the Alexa Voice Options that don't relate to the game such as asking Alexa to find nearby pizza places, make fart noises, or 'play Skyrim', will require this 'Alexa' Trigger Word. So, it usually helps to use the word 'Alexa' when going for an Alexa-specific Voice Command and to not use it when trying to have it do something in-game.
Less 'Serious' Voice Commands
Any of the common 'comedic' things people who first get their Echo like to mess around with is also possible with this version of Alexa. We've already had:
- Alexa making constant fart noises while the player fights off zombie hordes.
- Name nearby restaurants to grab pizza while the player is roaming around in-game (streamers be especially careful with this).
- Have Alexa narrate a choose-your-own-adventure version of Skyrim while playing Dead Island 2.
- Tell knock-knock jokes on repeat.
- And so much more.
Is This Feature Worth Using?
Finally, let's do a bit of a mini-review to elaborate on whether this feature is just a useless gimmick or actually helpful in-game. And the verdict is...it's alright but not exceptionally helpful. Being able to switch to specific weapons with a phrase or mark nearby waypoints without muddling through different menus.
In general, the most helpful options seem to be being able to 'pull aggro' by taunting zombies in multiplayer so that an ally (preferably Bruno with his backstab Trait) can hit them from behind or quickly switch to a specific weapon after throwing/breaking one.
It doesn't make the game easier, revolutionize anything about gaming especially, or really even serve as that much of a total convenience, but Alexa Game Control is absolutely worth messing around with to see if players enjoy using it.
Dead Island 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.