Dead Frontier 2

Dead Frontier 2
Designers	Neil Yates
Publishers	Creaky Corpse Ltd
Publication	31 August 2018
Genres	Survival horror, MMORPG
Languages	English
Systems	Microsoft Windows
Media type	Digital download (Steam)
Website	deadfrontier2.com

Dead Frontier 2 is a free-to-play online survival horror MMORPG developed and published by Creaky Corpse Ltd, the studio behind the original Dead Frontier browser game. Released on 31 August 2018, the game brings the tense, gritty atmosphere of classic zombie survival into a modern 3D world powered by Unity.

Set in the ruined remains of a fictional American region ravaged by a catastrophic viral outbreak, players assume the role of lone survivors trying to endure the growing undead threat. The game blends third-person action, resource management, and RPG-style progression with a strong emphasis on player cooperation.

Unlike its predecessor, Dead Frontier 2 is not browser-based but instead runs as a full client via Steam, featuring detailed interiors, dynamic lighting, instanced multiplayer exploration, and a persistent world. Players are encouraged to scavenge, trade, fight, and collaborate as they push deeper into increasingly dangerous zones, unlocking better gear, skills, and lore about the collapse of civilisation.

The game is still in active development and has received numerous updates since launch, including new weapons, armour, events, and quality-of-life improvements driven by player feedback. While free-to-play, it includes optional premium cosmetics and upgrades through the in-game credit shop.

Dead Frontier 2 has built a niche but dedicated player base who value its unforgiving difficulty, flexible character builds, and survival-driven gameplay loop.

Gameplay

Dead Frontier 2 is a third-person online survival horror MMORPG set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a devastating viral outbreak. Players assume the role of survivors navigating the perilous region of Palehaven, scavenging for resources, combating relentless hordes of infected, and cooperating with other players to survive.

The game features instanced zones where up to eight players can explore interiors and open streets together. Progression is level-gated, with increasingly dangerous areas unlocking better loot and tougher enemies.

World and Exploration

The world of Palehaven consists of multiple safe zones, hostile zones, and high-risk raid buildings:

Safe Zones – Town hubs such as Dallbow, Haverbrook, and Greywood act as social and trading centres. Here, players access NPC traders, storage lockers, healing stations, mission boards, and crafting facilities. Safe zones provide sanctuary from the infected threat.

Hostile Zones – These are infested areas teeming with various infected types, including standard zombies, elites, and mutants. Players explore diverse buildings — including houses, hospitals, police stations, and laboratories — scavenging for supplies and battling enemies.

Raid Buildings – Marked by red text on maps and nearby building names, locations such as Comer and Son Inc. and Palehaven City Archives present formidable challenges. These zones feature powerful bosses guarding high-tier loot and often require team coordination to conquer.

Each building and zone offers unique environmental challenges, enemy compositions, and loot opportunities. Exploration involves navigating dark interiors, searching containers and corpses for items ranging from Damaged to Unique quality.

Combat Mechanics

Combat is real-time and strategic, blending melee and ranged engagements:

Melee Weapons – Silent close-range options like knives, bats, and crowbars conserve ammunition but necessitate proximity to enemies. Melee weapons have stats such as Damage, Attack Speed, Knockback, and Stun Chance which affect combat flow and crowd control.

Firearms – Include pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, and sniper rifles. Each firearm features distinct stats: Damage, Accuracy, Reload Speed, and Recoil. Effective use requires managing ammo and weapon durability, as weapons degrade with use.

Damage System – Location-based damage applies to enemies, with headshots causing critical damage. Enemies can inflict bleeding, infection, and other status effects on players.

Durability – Weapons and armour degrade through use and require repair or replacement to maintain effectiveness.

Movement and Stamina

Player mobility is essential for survival and tactical combat:

Jog – The default fast movement speed, influenced by gear quality and skill perks.

Sprint – A faster burst movement consuming stamina. Stamina regenerates over time but is depleted by sprinting, making its management vital.

Dodge – An evasive move with its own cooldown, independent of stamina. Dodging allows players to avoid damage with invincibility frames.

Optimising movement and stamina usage enhances survivability, enabling players to evade enemies and traverse dangerous zones efficiently.

Skills and Progression

Character progression centres on a skill-based system:

Players earn one skill point per level, up to level 60, and an additional skill point per prestige level (up to +15 prestiges). Skill points can be invested in an extensive skill tree.

Active Skills – Include abilities such as dodge enhancements and sprint boosts, unlocked automatically without skill points.

Passive Skills – Require investment and improve weapon proficiencies, survivability, movement speed, looting efficiency, and other attributes.

Unlike the original Dead Frontier, there are no core stats like Strength or Agility; progression is shaped entirely by skill choices and gear bonuses, allowing for diverse playstyles.

Inventory, Weapons, and Gear

Inventory space is limited and influenced by equipped gear and skills, requiring players to make tactical decisions on item management.

Weapons and clothing come with various stats impacting performance:

Damage and Attack Speed – Define offensive capability and attack frequency.

Accuracy – Affects hit precision with firearms.

Reload Speed – Determines how quickly firearms can be reloaded.

Knockback and Stun Duration – Impacts how far an enemy is knocked back and stunned.

Durability – Indicates how long armour lasts before breaking.

Armour – Absorbs a percentage of incoming damage, increasing overall effective HP.

Effective management of weapon and clothing stats, combined with timely repairs, is crucial for maintaining combat effectiveness and survivability.

Looting System

Looting is a core survival mechanic:

Players search containers, corpses, and vehicles for weapons, ammunition, medical supplies, food, crafting materials, and rare gear.

Loot spots are highlighted and can be looted once per respawn cycle (daily at 10:00 AM GMT).

Loot quality and quantity depend on player level, building type, and equipped loot modifiers.

Declining an item does not consume the loot spot, allowing for strategic looting.

Players maximise loot by targeting appropriate building types and equipping gear that enhances loot chances.

Building Types and Loot Specialisation

In Dead Frontier 2, various building types offer specialised loot tables and increased chances to find certain categories of items. Understanding these specialisations helps players optimise their scavenging runs and target specific resources or equipment.

Comer and Son Inc.

This is a high-risk raid building known for its challenging bosses and exceptional loot. Within the special boss rooms, players benefit from a +500% increased chance to find Elite and Unique items, making it one of the best locations for acquiring rare and powerful gear. These rooms demand careful coordination and combat skill due to the difficulty of the enemies.

Police Departments

Police buildings provide a +100% increased chance to find weapons and ammunition. These locations are ideal for players looking to replenish their ammo supplies or upgrade their arsenal. The buildings often contain a variety of firearm types and tactical gear, making them popular destinations for combat-focused players.

Hospitals

Hospitals specialise in medical supplies, granting a +100% increased chance to find medical items such as bandages, painkillers, antidotes, and other healing consumables. These buildings are crucial for maintaining health and treating status effects like bleeding and infection, especially during prolonged expeditions.

Stores and Restaurants

These civilian locations offer a +50% increased chance to find food and drink items. While the bonus is more modest compared to other building types, these resources are essential for managing hunger and thirst mechanics, supporting player stamina and overall survivability.

Industrial Buildings

Industrial areas provide a +100% increased chance to find fuel and vehicle parts. These materials are important for crafting, vehicle maintenance, and specific mission objectives. Players targeting engineering or crafting will often prioritise these buildings.

Residential Buildings (Hotels, Houses, Mansions)

Typically, residential buildings do not offer specific loot bonuses under normal circumstances. However, certain missions or events may temporarily increase the chances of finding mission-critical items in these locations. Despite the lack of bonuses, residential buildings still contain a diverse range of loot including crafting materials, basic weapons, and consumables.

By selecting buildings aligned with their immediate needs and combining this knowledge with loot-enhancing gear and skills, players can greatly improve their efficiency and success rate in scavenging valuable resources.

Economy

The economy in Dead Frontier 2 is a dynamic, player-driven system that significantly impacts progression, survival, and social interaction. It centres on earning, spending, and trading in-game currencies, managing resources, and navigating the fluctuating market influenced by player activity.

Currency Types

Dead Frontier 2 uses two main currencies:

Cash – The standard currency earned primarily through completing missions, looting buildings, selling unwanted items to NPC traders, and winning PvE events. Cash is essential for purchasing weapons, ammunition, armour, consumables, crafting components, and paying fees such as clan creation and storage upgrades.

Credits – A premium currency usually acquired by real-money purchases, though some can be earned via in-game events or rewards. Credits are mainly used to buy cosmetic items, premium upgrades, convenience features, and occasionally rare gear through the credit shop.

Trading and Player Market

The game supports direct player-to-player trading, allowing survivors to exchange gear, consumables, crafting materials, and currencies. This player-driven marketplace leads to a dynamic economy where item prices fluctuate based on supply and demand, rarity, and player preferences.

Efficient trading can provide players with better gear or cash flow, making economic savvy almost as important as combat skill in progressing through the game.

Looting and Resource Gathering

Looting forms the backbone of the economy. Players explore various buildings, defeat infected, and complete missions to acquire valuable items. High-risk zones and raid buildings such as Comer and Son Inc. or the Palehaven City Archives offer the best loot but require careful preparation and teamwork.

Items found range in quality from Damaged to Unique, affecting their value and usability. Players must decide whether to keep, craft with, or sell loot to maximise their gains.

Leaderboards and Bot Farming

Leaderboards track top players based on mission completions, raid scores, kills, and other performance metrics. However, the community widely acknowledges the presence of automated bots farming these leaderboards to accumulate credits and rewards.

These bots perform repetitive tasks such as farming specific missions or kills to generate in-game currency and items without player input. Botting can flood the market with excess credits and gear, artificially inflating supply and sometimes disrupting fair player competition.

Developers periodically attempt to detect and ban bots, but botting remains an ongoing issue affecting the game's economy and player experience.

Resource Management and Inventory

Players must carefully manage their cash, credits, inventory space, and crafting materials. Inventory is limited, forcing prioritisation between carrying essential weapons, ammunition, consumables, and valuable loot.

Balancing spending on upgrades, repairs, and consumables against saving for future needs is a critical aspect of survival. Players often trade surplus items to generate cash for necessary expenses.

Economic Impact on Gameplay

The economy shapes player progression and gameplay style. Well-funded players can afford better weapons, armour, and crafting components, improving survivability and efficiency in combat and exploration.

Economic savvy—such as timing trades, farming efficiently, and utilising market trends—can accelerate advancement and enable players to tackle more difficult content or dominate in PvP.

Missions

Missions form a fundamental aspect of Dead Frontier 2, providing structured objectives that reward players with experience points, in-game cash, and sometimes unique or rare items. Missions encourage exploration, combat, crafting, and cooperation, while also advancing the game's story and player progression.

Daily Missions

Daily Missions reset every day at 09:00 GMT and provide players with a variety of short-term goals. These tasks include:

Eliminating specified numbers or types of infected enemies.
Collecting and delivering items.
Looting particular buildings or areas.
Defeating boss enemies.

Players can accept Daily Missions from Noticeboards located in safe zone Outposts or from certain NPCs.

Missions are tracked in the Mission Log, accessible through the player's inventory.
Rewards typically consist of experience points (EXP) and cash.
Uncompleted Daily Missions expire upon the daily reset.
Using gear and skills that boost experience gain can maximise rewards.

Story Missions

Story Missions offer narrative-driven questlines that expand the lore of Palehaven and its survivors. These missions are often multi-step and provided by key NPCs primarily in Palehaven.

Objectives include combat, item retrieval, crafting, and trading.
Mission chains unlock progressively more challenging tasks and richer rewards.
Rewards often include unique weapons, rare upgrades, and significant EXP boosts.
Notable quest givers include Chief Banks, Mr Moore, and Duncan.
Preparation and teaming up with other players can greatly aid in completing tougher objectives.

Challenge Missions

Challenge Missions are timed events lasting 20 minutes, tasking players with defeating specific enemy groups within the time limit.

Designed to test player combat skills under pressure.
Rewards include both cash and experience points.
Can be completed solo or with a team.

Outpost Attacks

Outpost Attacks occur every four hours and last for 20 minutes. Players defend safe zone outposts from waves of infected attempting to breach the doors.

The outpost door has a shared health bar visible to all players on the server.
Successfully defending grants global buffs increasing experience gain, item find chance, and ammo drops.
Failure disables outpost missions for one hour.
Melee weapons and effective team coordination are highly recommended.
These events encourage cooperation and add dynamic PvE challenges to safe zones.

Mission Rewards

Missions typically reward players with:

Experience points (EXP), essential for character progression.
In-game cash, used for purchasing equipment, supplies, and crafting.
Unique or rare items, particularly from Story Missions.
Temporary buffs and status effects, notably from Outpost Attacks.

Mission Tracking and Interface

The Mission Log tracks accepted missions, showing progress, objectives, and completion status.
Completed missions appear in green, active missions show progress numerically.
Mission details and rewards can be viewed from the inventory interface, aiding mission management.

Tips for Successful Mission Completion

Prioritise missions by proximity to reduce travel time.
Equip gear suited to mission goals — high damage and accuracy for combat, increased inventory for collection.
Use consumables and buffs to improve survivability and efficiency.
Collaborate with other players on challenging missions or bosses.
Monitor mission reset times to avoid losing progress or rewards.
Employ stealth and strategy to conserve resources on missions that do not require full combat.

Crafting

Crafting in Dead Frontier 2 is a vital gameplay mechanic that allows players to create and upgrade weapons, clothing, backpacks, and consumables using collected materials, blueprints, and recipes. It provides a way to improve gear beyond what is found through looting or trading, enabling customisation and optimisation of playstyle.

Crafting Materials

Materials are the core components used in crafting and are obtained by looting containers, enemies, or salvaging items. Materials have tiered levels that correspond to the zones they come from, influencing which recipes they can be used for. Common materials include:

Cloth – Found in low-level zones (Level 1+). Used for crafting basic clothing and backpacks like Extra Pockets and Archivist’s Visor.
Leather – Available from Level 20+ zones. Essential for crafting Leather Pouches and some armour pieces.
Polypropylene – Found in mid to high-level zones (Level 40+). Used for crafting Webbing and Seeker’s Pouches, plus upgrades.
Duct Tape – Found in higher zones (Level 50+). Used in advanced items like Emergency Syringe and Sewing Tools Bundle.
Salvaged Scrap Pieces – Obtained by breaking down weapons and armour. Used in various recipes, including Makeshift Bandolier and weapon parts.

Materials have associated scrap values indicating their crafting worth, which influences how much in-game cash they are worth if sold.

Crafting Recipes and Blueprints

Crafting requires specific recipes or blueprints, which players unlock by progressing through mission chains, defeating bosses, or finding them in loot.

Basic recipes allow creation of items like backpacks, holsters, and basic weapons attachments.
Advanced blueprints unlock the ability to craft high-grade weapons and specialised equipment such as Ronin’s Blade or the Gore Trimmer chainsaw.
Some rare blueprints are tied to story or side missions, incentivising players to engage deeply with the game’s content.

Each recipe specifies required materials and quantities, the necessary crafting station, and sometimes additional conditions.

Crafting Stations

Players craft items at designated crafting stations found primarily in safe zones such as Palehaven and Outposts. Crafting stations vary by item category:

Weapon Workbench – For assembling and upgrading firearms and melee weapons.
Clothing Workbench – For creating and enhancing armour and clothing items.
Backpack Workbench – For making and upgrading backpacks with increased capacity or special stats.
Medical Workbench – For crafting consumables like bandages, syringes, and medkits.

Access to certain workbenches may require progression in the game or completion of specific missions.

Crafting Mission Chains

Many advanced crafting recipes are unlocked via mission chains. Completing these missions often involves hunting powerful enemies, collecting rare materials, or completing complex objectives.

Notable crafting mission chains include:

Ronin’s Blade – Unlocks the blueprint for this high-grade pistol after completing associated missions.
Call of the Accursed – Grants recipes for high-grade melee weapon scraps and crafting components.
CCT-10 – Unlocks the recipe for a specialised shotgun after finishing mission objectives.

These missions add depth and encourage cooperative play to gather required materials and defeat challenging foes.

Crafting Benefits and Strategy

Engaging with the crafting system offers several advantages:

Players can tailor weapons and gear to specific builds or playstyles, enhancing survivability or damage output.
Crafting high-grade items often results in better durability, stats, and unique modifiers compared to looted gear.
Upgrading gear via crafting is often more cost-effective than purchasing or trading high-end items.
Strategic crafting reduces reliance on the in-game economy and helps players maintain competitive advantages.

Crafting Tips

Regularly collect and store crafting materials, prioritising those used in multiple recipes.
Complete crafting-related missions early to unlock essential blueprints.
Work with clanmates or friends to pool materials for crafting high-end gear.
Keep an eye on blueprint drops in loot and complete side quests to expand your crafting options.
Manage your inventory space carefully to carry necessary materials without overburdening your character.

Clans

Clans are player-formed groups within Dead Frontier 2 that provide social, strategic, and gameplay benefits. Joining or creating a clan allows survivors to cooperate more effectively in raids, missions, and PvP encounters, fostering a sense of community and teamwork.

Clan Formation and Membership

Players can create clans by paying a fee of $1,000,000 in in-game cash. Clans have customizable names, tags, and emblems to represent their identity. Membership is managed by clan leaders and officers, with a maximum of 6 ranks available to organise hierarchy and responsibilities within the clan.

While there is no dedicated clan chat, clan members can send clan-wide messages through the in-game messaging system to coordinate and communicate.

Clan Features and Benefits

Shared Resources and Support: Clan members often pool resources, materials, and information to help each other progress more efficiently.
Coordinated Raids and Missions: Clans enable players to organise raids on high-level buildings like Comer and Son Inc. and tackle challenging bosses with improved teamwork.
Victory Points: Clans earn Victory Points through various activities. These points can be invested to unlock clan-wide bonuses.
Clan's Blessing: A unique status effect applied to all clan members, named after the clan itself. This effect is indefinite and scales with invested Victory Points, granting bonuses such as:
+0-5% Headshot Damage
+0-5% Body Damage
+0-5% Health
+0-5% Experience Gained
+0-10% Inventory Capacity

Exclusive Clan Events: Some clans host exclusive events such as clan-only missions or competitive challenges.
Clan Rankings and Prestige: Certain servers and community platforms track clan performance, providing prestige and bragging rights for top-performing clans.
Protection and Backup: Being in a clan provides safety in numbers, deterring hostile players and increasing survivability in PvP zones.

Clan Management

Clan leaders and officers have tools to manage member roles, invite or remove players, and set clan rules. The rank system allows up to 6 ranks in total, which can be assigned to members to organise permissions and responsibilities. Effective leadership is essential to maintain discipline, coordinate activities, and grow the clan’s influence.

Clan Status Effects

Status effects granted by clans appear in purple in the Inventory menu. The primary effect, Clan's Blessing, is automatically applied to all clan members and provides scalable stat bonuses depending on the clan’s Victory Points investment.

Community Impact

Clans significantly shape the social landscape of Dead Frontier 2. They encourage cooperative gameplay and create long-term player engagement through shared goals and camaraderie. Many veterans recommend joining a clan early to enhance the overall game experience.

Reception

Dead Frontier 2 has received mixed to generally positive reviews from critics and players, praised for its atmospheric survival horror gameplay and cooperative multiplayer, but criticised for repetitive content and a grind-heavy progression system.

Critical Reviews

On MMOs.com, the game scored 2.75 out of 5. The review praised its Resident Evil-style atmosphere, player-driven economy, and cooperative gameplay. However, it criticised the similarity of areas and zombies, which led to repetitive gameplay, and noted the lack of a formal tutorial, which can make the early game difficult for new players.
MMOHuts gave it a 3 out of 5, highlighting the straightforward gameplay and blend of survival and MMO elements. The review also mentioned the game’s limited content variety and repetitiveness as downsides.
GameMite rated the game 7.6 out of 10, praising its graphics, gameplay mechanics, and multiplayer features. The only drawbacks mentioned were the repetitive background sounds, like the looping screams, which some players found irritating.

Player Feedback

On Steam, Dead Frontier 2 holds a "Mostly Positive" rating with over 25,000 user reviews. Players praise:

The dark and tense atmosphere that effectively creates a survival horror mood.
The cooperative gameplay which encourages teamwork in raids and boss fights.
The variety of character customisation and skill options allowing different playstyles.

Common criticisms include:

The repetitive nature of combat and exploration.
The grind-heavy progression requiring extensive time investment for high-level gear and skills.
Occasional performance issues and bugs affecting the experience.

Community discussions on forums like Reddit’s r/deadfrontier2 reflect mixed opinions — long-term players appreciate ongoing updates and developer interaction, while newcomers sometimes find the early experience punishing and grindy.

Awards and Recognition

Though it has not won major industry awards, Dead Frontier 2 has built a dedicated niche player base and is noted for frequent updates and active developer support.

Summary

Overall, Dead Frontier 2 offers a solid survival horror experience with a strong emphasis on cooperative play and character progression. Despite its repetitiveness and grind, it remains popular among fans of challenging, atmospheric survival MMOs.

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