Dead Island 2 is a game full of different objectives from simply completing Challenges to going through the main Story Quest or focusing on clearing Side Quests. The Message in a Bottle Side Quest is one that players will find literally in a bottle on the beaches of Santa Monica, not far from where they end up at the end of the Blood Drive Story Quest.
This Quest is all about hunting down a food critic in Hell-A that, for some reason, is still reviewing restaurants even after the Zompocalypse. In his first note, food critic Anthony R. Oliver mentions being stranded in the place he most recently reviewed. So, Dead Island 2 players are meant to hunt him down and help him out using these 'Reviews' as guides.
Location 1: Bucket O' Fish
The first location is a pretty simple one to solve by reading Anthony's initial message, as he directly uses the term 'bucket' in it and mentions seafood/fish multiple times. The main difficulty of this quest, in general, is figuring out where these locations are on the Pier. Half of this Pier is a recreation of the Pacific Park in actual Santa Monica, while the other half is a slew of army encampment tents and general restaurants.
To get to the Bucket O' Fish, players just need to go up onto the section of the Pier that's covered in military tents and head through the narrow 'tunnel' underneath the Ocean Park sign. After passing through they should see this Seafood restaurant right in front of them and the objective of the Side Quest should change to 'Scrape the bottom of the Bucket O' Fish for the arrogant critic'. Players will then explore this 'fishy' location, watching out for the tripwire at the bottom of the first set of stairs.
After following this hallway they should reach the Staff Only door with puddles of oil surrounding it, head inside, and progress through this under-the-Pier maze. At the end will be a small stretch of puddles with electricity coursing through and the Bucket O' Fish Review sitting on top of a crate. Players can then grab this, read it, and start heading to the second location.
Location 2: Pier Grill
Upon reading A. R Oliver's next note, it becomes clear that the guy has started to go mad with hunger and is hopping from location to location in an attempt to find any safe haven with food he can dine on. In his note, Anthony mentions knowing of a place with a military landing pad near its front door, and anyone who has explored the Pier a decent amount should immediately know where this is. From the Bucket O' Fish, head back to where the Ocean Park sign is and turn left towards the crashed military helicopter that should be clearly visible to the player's left.
Go around the right side of this crashed 'bird' and players should see the Pier Grill right in front of them as their objective changes to 'Scour the Pier Grill for any sign of the arrogant food critic'. There's much less to 'scour' here, as it's really just a front patio seating area, but there will be a decently-sized group of Zombies to fight, including a Crusher. Once players have a second to breathe, they'll find Oliver's next piece, the Pier Grill Review, sitting on the table to the furthest southwest area of this patio.
Other than the fact that Oliver gave this place a brutal two stars, he also mentions how he couldn't manage to get their frozen food down and how he had to fight with a monster for his meal (AKA a Zombie). So, Oliver, who is now pretty piping mad at this point, heads to his third location, which is a place that specializes in greasy, unpleasant, and quickly-made food.
Location 3: Hot Dog Shack
For his final location, Anthony R. Oliver heads to the Hot Dog Shack, a place that has the highest chances for there to be any sort of edible food at all. To get here, players will want to head due east from the Pier Grill, following the line of buildings until they run into another line of buildings running perpendicular to them, one of which is Luigi's Pizzeria. From here, head south and players should see the Hot Dog Shack on their left after a short run.
As they get closer the objective changes to 'Find the arrogant food critic' on the other side of the building before quickly changing to 'Cut the food critic down to size' as they round the Hot Dog Shack and see A. R Oliver standing there, ready to hurl undead vomit at them as he's become a Slobber Zombie.
Defeating Oliver & Completing The Quest
After reaching Oliver, players will then need to kill him, sadly, as they usually must at the end of most of these survivor-hunting Quests. Oliver is a basic Slobber Apex Zombie, and there aren't too many other basic mobs nearby, so the fight should be easy overall. After killing the food critic, he should drop some notes on the ground. Players will then be asked to 'Save the food critic's final review for posterity' while also being rewarded with the Caustic Blight Skill.
- Caustic Blight - Slayer Skill Card - Autophage skill: In Fury Mode, the player's melee attacks will inflict the Melting Ailment on Zombies, but in exchange, these Fury Attacks also drain extra Fury.
Pick up Oliver's final memoir titled Review, Hotdg Shak: Twelvteen Strs, and the Quest is completed, rewarding players with a lump sum of 3,000 XP.
Dead Island 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X\S.