As the previous game was a revision of The House of the Dead 2, which replaced the character's guns with keyboards and prompted players to type words or sentences to kill zombies, but otherwise retained the same graphics and story but with comedic elements added in, The Typing of the Dead 2 serves as a revision of The House of the Dead III. Characters now wield keyboard-shaped shotguns and once again wear backpacks that consist of a battery and a Dreamcast. Like the previous game, The Typing of the Dead 2 has an emphasis on improving the player's touch-typing skills.