Dead Island: Riptide

Overview

Dead Island: Riptide is a 2013 action role-playing game developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. It came out in April 2013 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and carries on the story of 2011's Dead Island. The four original survivors, plus a new one, reach another island in the Banoi archipelago, which has also been overrun by zombies.

The story picks up right after the first game. The four immune survivors land on a military ship and are taken into custody by Australian Defence Force Colonel Sam Hardy and a civilian VIP named Frank Serpo. They wake from sedation to find the ship full of zombies, and it crashes. They come ashore on the island of Palanai, where a WHO researcher named Harlow tells them the infection has spread there too.

Like the first game it is played in first person, with melee weapons, guns and a level-based skill tree, and up to four people can play together online. Riptide lets you import your save from the original, and enemies scale to your level. This time there are boats to cross the water and hub defence sequences where you set up barricades against waves of zombies.

The game was announced in June 2012, with a first teaser trailer that September and a music video, No Room in Hell, in November. In Japan it was published and localized by Spike Chunsoft. Deep Silver announced a Zombie Bait Edition in January 2013 that included a statuette of a dismembered torso in a bikini. The reaction was strongly negative and Deep Silver's UK arm apologized for it.

Riptide shipped in a range of editions, including standard, limited, special, Survivor, Rigor Mortis Collector's and Zombie Bait, with extras such as notebooks, bobble figurines, bottle openers, character skins and weapons.

Reviews were mixed. Most critics liked the gameplay and the new setting but said the problems of the first game were still there and there was little new content. The Xbox 360 version holds a 57 out of 100 on the review aggregator. A remastered Definitive Edition came out on May 31, 2016 for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and was also bundled in the Dead Island Definitive Collection.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action role-playing

Developer

Techland

Publisher

Deep Silver

Series

Dead Island

Engine

Chrome Engine 5

Composers

Pawel Blaszczak

Designers

Jacek Brzezinski

Writers

Jan Bartkowicz, Tomasz Duszynski, Magdalena Tomkowicz

Producers

Jacek Brzezinski, Marek Sobol

Directors

Pawel Marchewka

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

4 players (co-op)

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Achievements

Achievements35 (1,000G)

Total

35

Gamerscore

1000

• The Storm Escape from the ship 15G 99.01% of players
• Heart of Darkness Find a boat for use in the jungle 15G 78.79% of players
• Breaching the Tunnels Successfully defend the tunnel entrance 15G 53.31% of players
• The Cinema Clear out the cinema 15G 52.33% of players
• Military Base Gain access to a long-range radio station 30G 48.66% of players
• Combat on the roof Survive the horde on the roof 15G 47.94% of players
• Henderson Town Reach Henderson 15G 51.52% of players
• Meeting Serpo Make pact with Serpo 15G 46.2% of players
• The Docks Enter the docks in Quarantine Zone 15G 45.11% of players
• You've tricked me once Finish the game 30G 43.51% of players
• Achiever Finish all quests in the game 100G 12.2% of players
• Mystery solved Find all the secret files 15G 18.48% of players
• Obtain level 50 Obtain level 50 30G 51.27% of players
• Obtain level 70 Obtain level 70 90G 24.7% of players
• Siege Hammer Install a total of 5 barricades during hub defense 15G 50.82% of players
• Dream Team Complete all the main quests cooperatively with any number of partners 15G Needs online 15.6% of players
• The Collector Find 50% of collectibles 15G 33.63% of players
• The Hoarder Find all collectibles 30G 14.36% of players
• Professional Tourist Find all pages from the guide book 30G 15.54% of players
• Twins Kill the Twins 30G 27.67% of players
• News junkie Find all the volunteer's voice recordings 30G 15.53% of players
• At Your Service Rescue 20 NPCs that have been grabbed by monsters 15G 50.64% of players
• The Hurt Mine Locker Kill 10 monsters with one mine 15G 16.61% of players
• Hurler Kill 100 monsters with thrown melee weapons 15G 21.04% of players
• BrainLess Kill 50 monsters by smashing, decapitating or shooting them in the head 15G 80.59% of players
• Bully Kill 100 monsters with a kick 15G 44.65% of players
• Jetboat Kill 100 monsters using the boat's speed boost 90G 20.69% of players
• Juggernaut Kill 100 enemies using charge attacks 15G 13.08% of players
• Better than the arm Kill 25 monsters with a chainsaw 30G 25.91% of players
• Serving Science Finish quests for Dr. Kessler 30G 25.91% of players
• First Do No Harm Finish hospital quests for Cecil 30G 19.99% of players
• Defeat Harlow Defeat Harlow 15G 46.56% of players
• It's an Order Mark 100 opponents which were then killed by your co-op partners 15G Needs online 11.31% of players
• King among Kings Kill special enemies: Grenadier, Thug, Wrestler, Infected, Suicider, Screamer, Butcher, Floater. 30G 50.66% of players
• Hunter-Seeker Find and kill all named champion monsters located in dead zones 90G 14.43% of players

Playable today

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	Xbox 360	57	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	7.2	10
GameSpot	4	10
Game Informer	8	10
Edge	3	10
Eurogamer	6	10
Destructoid	5	10
Polygon	5.5	10
GamesRadar	4	5
GameTrailers	7.5	10

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Pawel Marchewka
Producer	Jacek Brzezinski
Producer	Marek Sobol
Designer	Jacek Brzezinski
Programmer	Krzysztof Salek
Programmer	Tomasz Sobol
Artist	Krzysztof Kwiatek
Artist	Lukasz Skurczynski
Writer	Jan Bartkowicz
Writer	Tomasz Duszynski
Writer	Magdalena Tomkowicz
Composer	Pawel Blaszczak

Notes for collectors

• The Xbox 360 list has 35 achievements worth 1,000 gamerscore.
• Two achievements, Dream Team and It's an Order, need co-op play.
• The Zombie Bait Edition statuette drew so much criticism that Deep Silver's UK arm apologized within hours.
• You can import your save from the first Dead Island.
• In Japan the game was published by Spike Chunsoft.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 12 hours