Dead Island 2: How to Find All Life in Hell-A Collectible Journals

The Life in Hell-A tab in Dead Island 2‘s Journals menu covers the details of everyday existence in post-zompocalypse Hell-A. Here’s where to find them all, from the obvious to the surprisingly well-hidden.

If you’re looking for other Journal collectibles in Dead Island 2, follow the links to our other mini-guides, generally broken up by category: 

• Main Quest Journals
• Side Quest Journals
• Beforetimes Journals
• It Begins Journals
• The Truth Journals

All Life in Hell-A Journal Locations in Dead Island 2

Urban Blight: 4

• #1: In the Pipes: During “Justifiable Zombicide,” you have to jump through some hoops to get into a room where Phil, the site foreman, has been hanging out. After he’s gone, revisit that room to find a lockbox and this file, taped to the machinery.
• #2: Workplace Incident Report: During “Heart of Darkness,” while you’re on your mad dash through the septic tank, keep an eye out for this file on the far corner of the catwalk.

Screenshot by GameSkinny

• #3: Engineers on Edge: Go east down the road north of Farouk’s house in Beverly Hills, past the bus, to a chain-link fence that’s been smashed by a mudslide. An abandoned phone is on the ground by the fence with this chat group exchange on it.
• #4: Do Not Enter: In the basement of the Serling Hotel, you can find this taped to the wall next to the door that requires a Fuse.

Surviving & Thriving: 9

• #1: Divine Mindlessness: Check the nightstand in the master bedroom of the big empty blue house west from Michael’s place in Beverly Hills.
• #2: Death Spiral: Check the answering machine on the Halperin Hotel’s reception desk.

Screenshot by GameSkinny

• #3: So Dumb: In the Thalia Apartments on Ocean Avenue, go into the one open door and look for this taped to the wall next to the hall closet.
• #4: Gratitude Journal: Open the small storage room with the white door on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Access Rd. 1384.
• #5: Prize Fighter: Once you reach Ocean Avenue, check out the concrete planters out front of the 24LA news building.

Screenshot by GameSkinny 

• #6: Everything Must Go: Go into Epaules et Pieds on the first floor of the Lotusville Mall on Ocean Avenue and grab this off one of the shelves.
• #7: Trash Poetry: Take the “Lending a Hand” side quest on Ocean Avenue and Denise will give you the Waste Disposal Keycard. This gives you access to the waste area under the mall, where there’s a hole in the wall near one of the dumpsters. Smash the boards, then take the page off the ground.
• #8: Zombie Outbreak Society Rules: About halfway down the south side of the Santa Monica Pier, on the beach, there’s a big open door next to the Ocean Park billboard. Inside, work your way around to the other side of the locked chainlink door and take this off the mattress.
• #9: Family Ties: Go into the hot dog joint on the north side of the Pier and take this off its kitchen counter. This might be my favorite Journal entry in the game.

The New Normal: 12

• #1: To My Followers: Grab this off the computer desk in the “Broseidon and the Spartan” podcast studio in the Goat Pen house in Bel-Air.
• #2: I’ll Be Waiting: This note is taped to the wall between the first set of elevators on the second floor of the Halperin Hotel.
• #3: End-of-the-World Bucket List: Go into room 205 in the Halperin Hotel and take this off the side table by the bed.
• #4: Diary Entry: Thursday: Once you’ve survived the ambush at the Venice Beach sluice gate in the Brentwood Sewers, the door to the nearby office will unlock. Go inside and take this clipboard off the dead guy.
• #5: Out of Time: Check the merry-go-round on the playground next to the police station in Venice Beach.
• #6: People-Watching: Circle around to the back of the Muscle Beach Juice Bar in eastern Venice Beach. Use the stacked pallets to get to the roof, then follow the makeshift bridge around to an empty sniper’s nest with this file on the wall.
• #7: Feeding Frenzy: Leave Rodriguez’s lifeguard tower in Venice Beach going west, out to the burn pits. On the beach’s northwest corner, look for a shipping container with 82 stenciled on the side and climb the stack of crates to its top. You’ll find this Journal on a dead soldier.
• #8: Reed’s Doubters: After you wake up in the Serling Hotel, grab this off the side table in Room 01.
• #9: Chore Rota: In the Hotel Serling’s bar, this can be found on a table by the windows.
• #10: Triage: S. Foster & J. Yoon: This can be found in Room 03 in the Serling Hotel, where Valentia’s treating Sid’s foot, on the bureau against the back wall. I’m not sure what triggers its appearance, but it was simply there when I walked in after clearing the last story mission.

Screenshot by GameSkinny 

• #11: Falling on Death Ears: Once you reactivate the sKOpes in “The Search for Truth,” talk to the sKOpe unit on the desk in the OSK store’s server room.
• #12: The Case of Lacey Dubois: When you install the circuit breaker to open the tunnel in the Metro, double back the way you came. As you pass the breaker panel, the power will overload, which makes it safe to touch the water in the flooded room. This lets you check out the side storage areas, one of which has this file in it.

That’s where to find all of the Journals for the Hell-A collectibles tab in DI2. If you need a different kind of help with Dead Island 2, check out our dedicated guides hub.

Featured image by GameSkinny