Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition

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The outbreak follows you to another island paradise.

Platforms: PC, Linux, PlayStation, Xbox
Price: Paid
Rated: Mostly Positive on Steam (71% of 13,078 reviews)
Players: 1 to 4 (online co-op)
Made by: Techland
Released: 2016

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store (PS4, plays on PS5)Xbox Official site

What frightens The zombie outbreak spreads to a new tropical island, and the infected come at you through jungle, rain-soaked docks and stilt villages, close enough to grab; you meet them face to face with claws, blades and clubs, while bloated, mutated infected and night-time hordes push you back.
Content: gore, intense violence, strong language, drug use, suggestive themes.

Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition is Techland's remastered sequel to Dead Island, with all its earlier DLC. Caught in the outbreak on another tropical island, you fight the infected up close with melee weapons across an open world, alone or with up to three friends online. It is gory action horror more than slow dread.

About Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition

Dead Island: Riptide is the follow-up to Techland's Dead Island, published by Deep Silver; this Definitive Edition, a remaster, came out in 2016. The remaster runs in full HD with improved models and lighting and includes all the DLC released for the original.

The store puts the premise plainly: continue the story of the outbreak and see another paradise gone to hell. The screenshots show where that leads: jungle, rain-soaked docks, glass buildings and stilt villages over the water, all overrun.

Like the first game, it is played in first person with melee at its heart: the store promises smashing heads, cracking skulls and slicing with the weapon of your choice. Guns appear, but most fights are close and physical. The world is open to explore, and the story can be played with up to four players online.

The horror is in the gore and the press of bodies: infected that rush out of the rain at night, swollen mutated ones that take a beating, and a lot of blood on bright beaches. It is closer to an action game with a horror setting than to Resident Evil or Silent Hill, and it plays as a continuation of Dead Island rather than a new direction.

If you have not played the series, Dead Island Definitive Edition is the place to start; Dead Island 2, from Dambuster Studios, moves the outbreak to Los Angeles with a newer engine and more dark comedy.

How to play Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition

Buy it on Steam, the PlayStation Store or the Xbox store and start the story.
Explore the open island in first person and follow the story.
Fight the infected up close with the melee weapons you find, and use guns when you have them.
Invite up to three friends online to play the story together if you want company.

Screenshots

Dead Island: Riptide screenshot: zombies lurch out of the rain at night under floodlights

Dead Island: Riptide screenshot: a swollen, mutated infected walks through a glass-domed building

Dead Island: Riptide screenshot: first-person view of a clawed weapon raised against a zombie on a wooden jetty

Dead Island: Riptide screenshot: a bloodied zombie closes in on the player in a sunlit stilt village

Tips

Do not let a crowd surround you; back off and take the infected a few at a time.
Pick up whatever weapons you find and keep a spare; you will not always have your favourite to hand.
Fight in a group of players where you can; the co-op makes larger hordes manageable.
Leave space behind you near water and jetties so you are not cornered.

Questions

Is Dead Island: Riptide a sequel to Dead Island?

Yes. The store says it continues the story of the outbreak, in another paradise gone to hell. This Definitive Edition is its 2016 remaster with all earlier DLC.

Can you play Dead Island: Riptide in co-op?

Yes, the story can be played by up to four players together online.

What platforms is Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition on?

Windows and Linux on Steam, PlayStation 4 (it also plays on PS5) and Xbox.

Is Dead Island: Riptide scary?

It is gory zombie action more than a frightening game: you fight hordes up close rather than hide from them. It has intense violence and gore.

How is it different from Dead Island 2?

Riptide is Techland's direct follow-up to the first game, set in another tropical paradise. Dead Island 2, by Dambuster Studios, moves to a quarantined Los Angeles with a different cast and a more comic tone.