The original Dead Island trapped its starring characters on an island and forced them to survive a flesh eating zombie horde. The game featured an interesting take on the zombie mythology, forcing our players into terrifying situations underneath the bright island sun.
Although the game had some bugs and required multiple patch updates, the weapon customization won over the fans and even a few critics. Now with the release of the sequel Dead Island Riptide, our four original heroes face a new and even more terrifying threat. We take a look at what is new in Dead Island Riptide.
NEW CHARACTER
The original four protagonists from the first game are back. Xian Mei, Sam B., Logan Carter, and Purna have escaped the island from the original game. As soon as they believe that they are safe, a crazy monsoon brings in the zombie horde that they hoped would never haunt them again. Along with these four terrified protagonist, there is an additional new character.
John Morgan is the newest character to join the survivors of the island of Banoi in their battle against the zombies. John is a master in hand-to-hand combat which opens up new possibilities in melee combat. He is a chef on the naval ship that is heading to the island of Panai where he meets the survivors of Banoi. The character is based off of many popular mods that fans made on the PC version.
DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS
In the original Dead Island, the island of Banoi provided copious amounts of sunshine and clear skies. Now, as the characters approach the island of Panai, a vicious monsoon appears and brings the zombies from Banoi in its wrath. This monsoon is only an example of the weather elements in Riptide. A new environmental weather system has been created to increase the unpredictability of the environment during combat.
The new weather system has been created with the sole purpose of amplifying combat. When the combat intensifies, so will the weather. Clouds will begin to grow and darken, blocking out all sunlight. Lighting will begin to crackle as it spreads across the sky. Thunder will grumble and growl with ferocity as the zombies close in. Rain will begin to attack from the sky as zombies attempt to rip the flesh from your body. This will reduce visibility and increase the tension while in combat. This will also make transportation across the islands more dangerous than ever.
TRANSPORTATION
Panai is large and vast area leaving plenty of areas for the zombies to lie in wait. While the protagonist will attempt to navigate this new island, they will have to contend not only with the flesh eating monsters but dynamic weather environments that will cause them to stay focused when making their way across the island.
As a potential survivor of this horrible atrocity, you will use rowboats to get from one side of the island to another. While on land the zombies have the upper hand in aggression and force meaning you should be able to survive on the water until help arrives. In Riptide however, this is not the case. Zombies can and will survive in the water and are waiting for the flesh to come to them. Zombies will pull you and your group from the boat and devour you in the water. You must stay aware and focused when using this mode of transportation, or you will meet your demise.
Dead Island Riptide is taking the best of the original and adding new features to increase the experience for you the player. While many features could have been added that would improve the polish of the game, the developers have chosen to add features that would create a more terrifying experience. Along with the above new additions, changes have also been made to make weapons more durable and improve co-op gameplay. This ensures that the journey to Panai will even more terrifying than the last.
