Dead Island: Riptide

Lore & Background

The plot of Dead Island: Riptide begins immediately after the ending of Dead Island, with four immune survivors landing on a military ship after escaping a prison island. They are taken into custody by Australian Defence Force Colonel Sam Hardy and civilian VIP Frank Serpo. After being sedated, the player wakes to find the ship overrun with zombies; Serpo flees by helicopter before the ship crashes. The survivors wash ashore on the island of Palanai and are found by WHO researcher Harlow, who informs them the infection has spread there. Colonel Hardy reveals that Serpo's organization seeks to weaponize the Kuru strain causing the outbreak. The survivors travel to Henderson, clear tunnels containing chemical weapons that mutated the virus, and eventually confront Harlow, who admits the outbreaks were deliberate tests with no vaccine. After killing Harlow, the immune leave Serpo to the zombies and evacuate with five other survivors. Post-credits scenes show most people they helped were killed, and after six days their boat washes ashore at an unknown location, with the fate of the heroes left ambiguous.

Reader's Guide

Dead Island: Riptide is notable primarily as a direct continuation of its predecessor, retaining the same four immune survivors plus adding a fifth. Its mixed reception stemmed from critics observing that the game carried over bugs and glitches from the original Dead Island without addressing them, and that it introduced little new content. IGN's Greg Miller gave it a 7.2/10, praising the cooperative gameplay and the ability to import saves from the first game, while criticizing the storyline and graphics. GameSpot's Mark Walton awarded a 4/10, calling it a frustrating mess of half-baked ideas and repetitive combat. The game's legacy includes a controversial promotional item: the 'Zombie Bait Edition' included a fiberglass statuette of a bloodily dismembered bikini-clad woman's torso, which drew widespread condemnation from the video game press and activists. Deep Silver apologized, calling it a mistake, though an extremely limited quantity was made available in Europe and Australia. The game later received a Definitive Edition remaster in 2016, bundled in the Dead Island Definitive Collection with the original game's remaster, all DLC, and a 16-bit side-scrolling spin-off called Dead Island: Retro Revenge. The next mainline entry, Dead Island 2, was announced at E3 2014 but entered development hell, changing hands multiple times before releasing in 2023.

Did You Know?

• The game's 'Zombie Bait Edition' included a statuette of a bloodily dismembered bikini-clad woman's torso, which caused widespread outrage and an apology from Deep Silver.
• A music video for the song 'No Room in Hell' by rapper Josef 'J7' Lord (as character Sam B) featuring Chamillionaire was released in November 2012 for promotion.
• The remastered Definitive Edition was released on May 31, 2016 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a Linux version following on June 3, 2016.
• In Japan, the game was published and localized by Spike Chunsoft.