Dead Island Riptide

From Dead Island Wiki

Revision as of 22:03, 7 September 2012

Dead Island Riptide
Developer	Techland
Publisher	Deep Silver
Distributor	Currently unknown
Platforms	Microsoft Xbox 360 Sony PlayStation 3 Microsoft Windows[1]
Release date	2013[2]

Dead Island Riptide is a full standalone sequel to Dead Island, announced June 6, 2012 and set to be released in 2013.^[2] The game will be released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. It is set for an "extensive reveal" in the summer of 2012.^[1][3][4][5]

The game will be $49.99. "Deep Silver has tried to put to bed some of the rumours that have already emerged due to the pricing of the game. Firstly they confirmed that “It is a new game. Not a remake.” This was followed by an explanation for the low price tag being “That’s not a placeholder that’s the real price! It’s the end of a console cycle- we think this price makes a lot more sense given that"^[6] Deep Silver's Aubrey Norris has stated that the game is not "Dead Island 2". Other media organizations call the game a spinoff. This could hint that there are future plans for a game under that title in the series, possibly called Dead World.^[2][7][8]

Announcements

Game announcement press release

First details of Riptide

Plot

Dead Island Riptide picks up right where the original game left off, with the same four survivors, Sam B, Xian Mei, Logan Carter and Purna. Because of a tropical storm the chopper crashes. The crew land on a military ship where, due to a raging monsoon and the fact that our survivors are infected, an all-new zombie outbreak occurs onboard. This forces players to flee the ship or the ship runs aground (media reports are conflicting). The survivors end up on the island of Palanai in the South Pacific. Palanai includes the city of Henderson.^[11][12][13]

Joining the four survivors from the last game is a mysterious fifth character.^[14]

In a flooded church in the middle of a jungle, the only way to get to the next area is by going through some tunnels underneath the church. So in Breaching the Tunnels quest, the player must carry a water pump to the church.^[15] They must them get the water pump going to clear the tunnel, which causes a lot of noise, and requires the player to fend off incoming zombies for several minutes while the water is clearing.

Players need supplies to set up their defenses, and have travel by boat to scavenge heavy weaponry and supplies from the downed chopper. The players must also find gas for the water pump.^[11]

There is a lot of action on the water, with boats needed to get around waterlogged sections of the island. There are zombies wandering around submerged by the water or stuck in the swamps. There are explosive mines, poison mines and sonic mines.^[15]

At the church the player can set up the a pair of miniguns ripped from the chopper on the second floor to cover various angles of zombie approach, put up chain-link fencing to cover up a few doorways for a little while, and drop mines in the surrounding swamp.

As soon as the pump is going, many appear, shuffling up and tearing the wire barricades. During this attack there is environmental weather.^[11][16]

Features

Players and co-op

• Players can keep their original Dead Island game character progression through to the sequel.
• Level limitations between co-op partners has been removed. The game with automatically re-balance to find a middle ground that all players can play.
• Connecting to another player in co-op has been made simpler, where the game now automatically mentions if friends are logged in and nearby, letting them just jump into the player's game.
• Disconnections are handled more gracefully, and when people drop out of a group, there is a simple notification before a player can continue to play as they were before.
• Players will not have to wait to get firearms until later in the game.^[11]

Zombies

• New mutated zombies.^[14]
  • Grenadier zombie, which throws grenades at the survivors.^[15]
• More zombies on screen at any one time.
• Zombie respawning overhauled. Zombies will still reappear as a player returns to areas that they had already cleared, but the game is going to try and handle this in a more intelligent and complex fashion. The game will take into account if the player is on a mission, how recently the players last passed through, the character’s condition, whether the player is playing in a group and plenty other factors also.^[16]

Game play

• New set position defenses where the player must hold a position for a period of time. This is available early in the game.^[11]

Environment

• Environmental weather. A huge part of the engine overhaul has focussed on adding big weather effects which "ramp up the tension and atmosphere during pivotal battles". The wind builds until it’s roaring at you through the speakers, the skies darken as the clouds close in and torrential rain starts to come down, reducing the distance the player can see and making survival even trickier.^[11]
• The only mode of transportation across the flooded islands is by boat.^[13]
  • Zombies will pull players off the boat.^[15]
• The island is "vastly different from the one in the first game".^[12]

Weapons

• Weapons will be more durable.^[17]

Marketing

SteelBook

Dead Island Riptide was featured at the GamesCom 2012 in Germany^{[Verification needed][18]}

On August 31, 2012 at the PAX Prime 2012 convention, details and game screens were released. The survivors will arrive on a new island that has been hit by a monsoon, flooding many parts of the island. A new weather system will be implemented as well as "hub" missions where some places will need to be barricaded and fortified in order to complete mission objectives or save the survivors.^[11]

Players who preorder the game at GameStop, Amazon.com and Best Buy can get an “extremely limited edition" SteelBook.

Gallery

PAX Prime 2012 convention	PAX Prime 2012 convention	PAX Prime 2012 convention	PAX Prime 2012 convention
PAX Prime 2012 convention	PAX Prime 2012 convention	Part of Dead Island Riptide poster at GamesCom 2012 featuring Logan and Purna	Part of Dead Island Riptide poster at GamesCom 2012 featuring Logan and Sam B

References