Denuvo Removed from Dead Island 2 - 2 Years After Hack by Empress

The game was released at a time when Empress was still actively working.

Recently, players remembered Dead Island 2 again. Publisher Deep Silver removed the infamous DRM protection Denuvo from the project in October 2025.

It is noteworthy that the hacker Empress cracked Dead Island 2 a couple of years ago. Players on the Steam forum have longcalled for the removal of DRM.

Many people liked Dead Island 2 itself - the game has "mostly positive" reviews on Steam, with a rating of 77%. Some of the negativity was associated with Denuvo, as well as the use of Epic Games services.