Dead Island (series)

Last updated

Dead Island
Dead Island Logo.png
Genre(s) Action role-playing, survival horror
Developer(s) Techland, Dambuster Studios, Fatshark, Stunlock Studios
Publisher(s) Deep Silver
Platform(s) Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
First release Dead Island
September 6, 2011
Latest release Dead Island 2
April 21, 2023

Dead Island is an action role-playing survival horror video game series published by Deep Silver [1] for Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and mobile platforms iOS and Android. There are four installments in the series, with the latest one released on April 21, 2023. Dead Island is centered on the challenge of surviving a zombie-infested open world island with a major emphasis on melee combat.

Contents

Dead Island was originally announced at E3 2006, [2] but was pushed back to 2011. It was initially released on September 6 in North America, September 9 in PAL regions, and October 20 in Japan. A stand-alone expansion, Dead Island: Riptide , was released in 2013 while a sequel, Dead Island 2 , was released in 2023.

A spin-off, Escape Dead Island , was released in 2014. A MOBA game based on the Dead Island series called Dead Island: Epidemic was cancelled during the open beta phase in 2015. The free-to-play title had been available on Steam early access since May 2014, but eventually never saw a full release and was completely shut down.

Video games

TitleDetails

Original release date(s):
  • NA: September 6, 2011
  • PAL: September 9, 2011
  • JP: October 20, 2011
Release years by system:
2011 - PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, OS X, Linux
Notes:

Original release date(s):
  • NA: April 23, 2013
  • AU: April 23, 2013
  • EU: April 26, 2013
  • JP: July 11, 2013
Release years by system:
2013 - PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows
Notes:
  • Last game in the series developed by the IP creator Techland.
  • Acts as a standalone expansion to the original Dead Island

Original release date(s):
  • NA: November 18, 2014
  • EU: November 21, 2014
  • AU: November 28, 2014
Release years by system:
2014 - PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows
Notes:

Original release date(s):
December 8, 2014 [3]
Release years by system:
2014 - Windows [3]
Notes:
  • A multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game
  • Acts as a spin-off of the series
  • Developed by Stunlock Studios and published by Deep Silver
  • Shut down in September 2015 [4]

Original release date(s):
May 31, 2016
Release years by system:
2016 - PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Notes:
  • A high definition remaster of both Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide.
  • Also includes Dead Island: Retro Revenge, a side-scrolling bonus game developed by Empty Clip Studios in collaboration with Platform and Powerhouse Animation Studios.
Dead Island Survivors

Original release date(s): [5]
July 4, 2018
Release years by system:
July 4, 2018 - Android, iOS
Notes:
  • Game was shut down in July 2020.

Original release date(s):
April 21, 2023 [6]
Release years by system:
2023 - PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Notes:

Comic

A one-issue comic book version of the series was released by Marvel Comics. It begins with Roger Howard, an investigative journalist, as he looks into the illegal exploitation of Banoi Island's resources. He appeared in the game as a voice, leaving behind tape recordings.

The story begins just as Roger Howard arrives. He explains why he's at the Royal Palms Resort, and then begins to target Kenneth Ballard the Royal Palms' manager. After gaining access to his office, Roger finds detailed files on Xian Mei, Purna, Logan Carter, and Sam B. After going through the files, Roger hears a knock on the door. Before opening it, he tries to explain that he was looking for the bathroom. Unfortunately, after opening the door, he comes face-to-face with a zombie. The story suddenly ends, with Roger's fate unknown. In the video game, various audio logs of Roger are found, with him slowly going insane from being infected. When the survivors reach the prison, they find his last audio log, implying a prison guard had killed him once becoming infected, with the recording found next to (presumably) Roger's corpse.

The audio logs detail his journey. Revealing that he and a group of survivors tried to escape into the jungle, but had crashed. The driver and Roger were attacked by an infected Orangutan, with the driver dying and Roger escaping. Roger makes it to the prison, and states he's making this log for scientists to see the full symptoms of infection, but starts hallucinating about his son.

Film

On September 27, 2011, Lionsgate announced that they acquired rights to develop a film based on the game's announcement trailer. As its portrayal of a family desperately fighting for their lives provided artistic inspiration. [7] The studio was reported to join with Occupant Entertainment (Producer Co.) and Deep Silver (Gaming Co.) with filming set to begin in 2015. As of 2022 no official update has been given. [8]

Novel

A novel based on the events of the first game, and written by Mark Morris was released concurrently with Dead Island in 2011.

Related Research Articles

Resident Evil, or Biohazard in Japan and Southeast Asia, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments inhabited by zombies and other frightening creatures. The franchise has expanded into other media, including a live-action film series, animated films, television series, comic books, novels, audio dramas and merchandise. Resident Evil is the highest-grossing horror franchise.

<i>28 Days Later</i> 2002 UK horror film by Danny Boyle

28 Days Later is a 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland. It stars Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who awakens from a coma to discover the accidental release of a highly contagious, aggression-inducing virus has caused the breakdown of society. Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns, and Brendan Gleeson appear in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep Silver</span> Austrian video game publisher

Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion.

<i>Left 4 Dead</i> 2008 video game

Left 4 Dead is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the Left 4 Dead series. Set during the aftermath of a zombie outbreak on the East Coast of the United States, the game pits its four protagonists, dubbed the "Survivors", against hordes of the infected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie apocalypse</span> Subgenre of apocalyptic fiction

Zombie apocalypse is a genre of fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Typically only a few individuals or small bands of survivors are left living. In some versions, the reason the dead rise and attack humans is unknown, in others, a parasite or infection is the cause, framing events much like a plague. Some stories have every corpse rise, regardless of the cause of death, whereas others require exposure to the infection.

Severed, titled Severed: Forest of the Dead in the United States, is a 2005 Canadian zombie horror film directed by Carl Bessai and set in a remote logging community following an incident where a genetic experiment goes wrong.

<i>Dead Island</i> 2011 video game

Dead Island is a 2011 action role-playing game developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. Released for Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the game is centered on the challenge of surviving a zombie-infested open world with a major emphasis on melee combat. The plot focuses on four playable survivors trying to survive and escape off the fictional island of Banoi.

<i>Left 4 Dead 2</i> 2009 video game

Left 4 Dead 2 is a 2009 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. The sequel to Turtle Rock Studios's Left 4 Dead (2008) and the second game in the Left 4 Dead series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2009, Mac OS X in October 2010, and Linux in July 2013.

<i>Death Troopers</i> Star Wars novel written by Joe Schreiber

Death Troopers is a Star Wars novel written by Joe Schreiber. Schreiber's idea was to create a horror story in the Star Wars universe that pulled from horror movies he enjoyed such as The Shining and Alien. The novel is the first Star Wars horror story since the Galaxy of Fear series, released in the late 1990s. Released on October 13, 2009, Death Troopers is set just before the events shown in A New Hope. It was heavily featured in the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies with SOE confirming a full page of information and advertisements of the game in the book. On September 22, 2010, Ballantine Books revealed the cover of the prequel novel, also by Schreiber, called Red Harvest.

<i>Left 4 Dead</i> (franchise) Video game series

Left 4 Dead is a series of cooperative first-person shooter survival horror video games published by Valve. Set in the days after a pandemic outbreak of a viral strain transforming people into zombie-like feral creatures, the games follow the adventures of four survivors attempting to reach safe houses and military rescue while fending off the attacking hordes.

<i>Re-Kill</i> 2015 American film

Re-Kill is 2015 American horror film directed by Valeri Milev and written by Michael Hurst. It stars Scott Adkins, Bruce Payne, and Daniella Alonso as members of paramilitary group tasked with hunting down and destroying zombies after an outbreak.

<i>Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead</i> 2010 video game

Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead is a fan-made, 8-bit-styled demake of Valve's 2008 first-person shooter game Left 4 Dead. It was developed by indie developer Eric Ruth Games and released as freeware on January 4, 2010. It was designer Eric Ruth's first attempt at an 8-bit demake, with the most difficult part for Ruth being the music composition due to Left 4 Dead's soundtrack depth and the limited audio that Ruth could work with. Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead allows players to control one or more of four survivors. It is an overhead shooter, similar to NES games Ikari Warriors and Fester's Quest. It was the first of the Pixel Force series, followed by Pixel Force: Halo and Pixel Force: DJ Hero.

<i>Project Zomboid</i> Open world survival horror game

Project Zomboid is an open-world isometric video game in development by British and Canadian independent developer The Indie Stone. The game is set in the post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested exclusion zone of the fictional Knox Country, Kentucky, United States, where the player is challenged to survive for as long as possible before inevitably dying. It was one of the first five games released on the alpha funding section of the gaming portal Desura.

<i>Dead Island: Riptide</i> 2013 video game

Dead Island: Riptide is a 2013 action role-playing game developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. Released in April 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, Riptide serves as a continuation of the story to 2011's Dead Island, with the original four survivors, plus a new survivor, arriving on another island in the Banoi archipelago, which has also been overrun by zombies.

<i>Dead Trigger</i> 2012 video game

Dead Trigger is a zombie-themed video game developed and published by Madfinger Games. It was released in June 2012 for iOS and Android mobile devices. The game is single-player only. Author Micah Nathan contributed to the script.

<i>Dead Island 2</i> 2023 video game

Dead Island 2 is a 2023 action role-playing game developed by Dambuster Studios and published by Deep Silver. It is a sequel to the 2011 video game Dead Island and the third major installment in the Dead Island series. Set about 15 years after the events of Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide, Dead Island 2 differentiates itself from its predecessors by taking place in the city of Los Angeles, which has been quarantined due to a zombie outbreak. The game was released on April 21, 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

<i>Dying Light</i> 2015 video game

Dying Light is a 2015 survival horror video game developed by Techland and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game's story follows an undercover agent named Kyle Crane who is sent to infiltrate a quarantine zone in a Middle-eastern city called Harran. It features an enemy-infested, open-world city with a dynamic day–night cycle, in which zombies are slow and clumsy during daytime but become extremely aggressive at night. The gameplay is focused on weapons-based combat and parkour, allowing players to choose fight or flight when presented with dangers. The game also features an asymmetrical multiplayer mode, and a four-player co-operative multiplayer mode.

<i>Were Alive, A Story of Survival</i> Horror podcast

We're Alive — A Story of Survival is a horror/post apocalyptic audio drama, originally released in podcast form. Its story follows a large group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse in downtown Los Angeles, California.

<i>Dead Effect</i> 2013 video game

Dead Effect is a first-person shooter video game developed by inDev Brain and published by BulkyPix for iOS and Android. It was released on September 12, 2013 for iOS, and on October 15 for Android. Initially available in the App Store and Google Play for purchase, the game switched to a freemium model in February 2014, with the inclusion of in-app purchases. On February 20, 2014, the game was greenlit for Steam. An early access version was released for Windows and OS X on April 15, with the game going gold on December 17. The game has received mixed to positive reviews, and has been downloaded over three million times. A sequel, Dead Effect 2 was released on October 29, 2015.

<i>Dead Island Reveal Trailer</i> Announcement trailer for the video game Dead Island

Dead Island Reveal Trailer is an announcement trailer for the video game Dead Island, which was developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. The story of the trailer follows a family who is attacked by a horde of zombies in a hotel. The trailer begins with the infected daughter, who has turned into a zombie, being thrown to her death from a hotel window. The trailer was produced by Glasgow-based Axis Animation, with music created by Giles Lamb.

References

  1. Purchese, Rob (February 17, 2011). "Dead Island published by Deep Silver". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  2. "E3 06: Dead Island Preshow Report". May 10, 2006. Archived from the original on October 22, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Welcome to Open Beta". Steam . Valve. December 8, 2014. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  4. O'Connor, Alice (September 19, 2015). "Dead Island: Epidemic MOBA Shutting Down". Rock, Paper, Shotgun . Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  5. Sholtz, Matthew (July 3, 2018). "Deep Silver finally gets around to releasing 'Dead Island: Survivors' on Android". Android Police. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  6. Yang, George (February 14, 2023). "Dead Island 2 Release Date Moved Forward by One Week". IGN . Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  7. "Lionsgate Developing Dead Island Video Game Movie". WorstPreviews.com. Archived from the original on November 30, 2011. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  8. Yamato, Jen (August 1, 2014). "It's Alive! 'Dead Island' Vidgame Movie Rises Again". Deadline. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2014.