Dead Island 2 Voice Commands

Dead Island 2 showcases a rare feature in the gaming industry – using AI Voice Commands to do various game tasks. This feature looks exciting, unlocking new ways to play Dead Island 2; however, it isn’t that helpful in its current state. But you can be hopeful and look forward to an upgrade in maybe some upcoming titles.

What Is Alexa Game Control?

Dead Island 2 uses Amazon’s AI voice assistant, Alexa, to do certain things. These include some game-related stuff as well as general AI assistant functions. This feature is built into Dead Island 2 and does not require additional hardware or software support.

For now, it is a little buggy, and some commands may not work as expected, or you may not see any response. But developers may fix it in upcoming updates.

How To Use Voice Commands?

Requirements

Amazon Account

• The basic requirement to use Alexa Game Control is to have an Amazon account.
• This does not include a special subscription account; any base account should work.

Hardware

• The necessary piece of equipment you must have is a headset with a Microphone to talk to the AI assistant.
• You don’t need any extra hardware like Amazon Echo or Alexa Speaker for this to function properly. The developers have already integrated essential stuff.

Region

• Unfortunately, it is only available in selected regions across the globe.

Setting Up

Setting up the process is pretty simple. Just follow these steps, and then you are ready to use it:

• Open the Settings Menu and go to Alexa Game Control.
• Link your Amazon Account either via a link or by scanning the QR Code on the screen.
• Once the linking succeeds, you must set up the audio controls.
• Turn on the “Enable Voice Commands” option.
• Select your preferred audio input device – Microphone.
• Set the “Voice Capture Mode” to any option you like. I suggest going for “Push to Talk” as it negates any chance of activating it if you are talking to someone else.
• Adjust the “Voice Capture Threshold” limit such that your words are clear to AI.

After completing these, you are good to go. Start the story and see if AI correctly interprets your words.

In-Game Use

Once the setup is done, you can test. Press “B” on the keyboard and start talking – if you selected the “Push to Talk” option. You can confirm the instructions are heard by observing the following things:

• A “ping” sound plays when Alexa activates and starts listening to the user.
• At the same time, a “blue circle” emerges on the bottom left of the screen. This shows the voice activity of the user.
• Once the instruction is complete, it will try to implement it if it processes it correctly.

Alexa Voice Commands

To see all the available commands that it accepts, head to the “Tutorials” section. It is present in the pause or main menu in the “Extras” section. It consists of sections that demonstrate each task acceptable to the AI. You can perform a single function using a variety of commands instead of one.

Below is a list of various functions you can do using Alexa Game Control:

Taunting Zombies

Teasing zombies is the most fun and useful function. Who doesn’t love to insult these half-dead creatures just to seek their attention and beat them? This feature allows you to call zombies towards yourself if they are busy somewhere nearby.

Your character will make a noise, and the zombies respond by rushing toward its source – you. There are many ways to do this. You can call them using generic terms or mention their names.

A few examples of these phrases are:

• Some general ones: “Hey you!”, ‘Over here, zombie!”
• You can call them by their name: “Come here, Shambler!”, “Come to Papa, Walker!”
• Or the classic ones like: “Eat me!”

Map

Another interesting thing is that you can access the common functions of the map. This includes creating a waypoint to some location or marking a location. This becomes extremely helpful if you are in a fight and want to travel to some safe location.

Common phrases for this are:

• “Mark the location for Safe House!”
• “Where is the workbench?”
• “Add a waypoint to the nearest Safe House!”

Weapons

Alexa Game Control also helps you to switch weapons. This can happen anytime, even during fights. Let’s say you are in a fight and your weapon breaks, or you need to switch to a stronger weapon; ask, and it will do that for you!

This one works in many ways:

• You can switch your weapon to either the next or previous one in the inventory – “Give me the next weapon!”
• You can select a weapon from a specific category – “Equip a firearm!”
• A certain weapon can also be selected if the correct prompt is given, including its name – “Switch to the ‘Red Dragon'”

Emotes

Similarly, you can use emotes in Dead Island 2, too. These emotes refer to specific actions your character does in Dead Island 2, and you can activate them using their relevant voice commands.

Refer to some of these, for instance:

• Wave: “Hi,” “Hello,” “Hey”
• Say Thank You: “Thank You,” “Appreciate it,” “Cheers”
• Help: “Help Me,” “Ask for Help,” “I need backup.”

There are many more; you can find them in the section on emotes in the tutorials.

Miscellaneous

On the other hand, the Alexa Game Control can also access other commands that are irrelevant to the game. These are used by it to do tasks such as order something online, set an alarm, play a song, and a lot more. However, to use them, the prompts are a little different.

To follow these instructions, you need to start the phrase with “Alexa.” Then, it will interpret and complete the tasks.

Significance

Although this feature looks exciting, it is not that much worth it. The functions you can perform using this are quite limited. Even though it’s fun to use it, there are still some bugs that decrease its practicality.

Hence, I can say it is not much practical aspect of Dead Island 2. You cannot always rely on it to get an accurate response because It can prove to be a bad option in many situations. However, it does make the whole game experience a lot more fun.

Availability

As for now, it is only available on PC and Xbox platforms. The setup process is similar on both platforms; however, the controls might differ on the console. There is a chance it might also show up in the PS version of Dead Island 2, and its working principles will remain the same there as well.

Final Thoughts

In this guide, I demonstrated how to set up voice commands in Dead Island 2. Players can do many fun things using this, but its complete implementation is a bit limited for now. It is not recommended to use it a lot due to unreliability, but you can still go for it if it improves the experience.