Chances are if you are aware of, and/or interested in Dead Island, it’s as a result of the spectacular non-linear teaser that was released several months ago. The trailer, hinting at an emphasis on emotion, devastation and tragedy in a zombie apocalypse, went viral and drew millions of views on Youtube alone, even garnering some nice praise from game journalists and credible tech mags.
What you might not be aware of is that the game was actually announced 5 years ago at E3 2006, and had it not been for the sombre trailer blowing all our minds it probably would have continued to pass under everyone’s radar up to, and probably after, its release. Combine that revelation with the reminder that the game’s developer Techland had little to do with the teaser at all (they actually handed the job off to Axis, an animation studio) and we’re all left with not much to go on.
The whole teaser debacle aside, Dead Island is an open-world first-person zombie basher set in a resort in Papua New Guinea. You have the option of playing one of four blank slate archetypes who inexplicably have the good fortune of being immune to the infection that is mysteriously sweeping the island paradise. You wake up after a night of drinking and partying to find something horribly amiss; conventions! Zombie conventions everywhere! Making your way through the hotel you find blood, flickering lights and abandoned rooms, and led by a voice on a loudspeaker you’re eventually guided to a group of survivors, and through an awfully expositional conversation you’re tasked with saving the living, and killing the undead all over the isle of Banois. It’s a disappointingly uninspired introduction, especially after the amazing teaser (Yeah. I’m not setting it aside).
From then on you’re subjected to all manner of generic fetch-quests that slowly inch you closer and closer toward the endgame. There are multiple acts of the story which offer a change of scenery and new enemy types and weapon drops, but it scarcely draws you into caring for any of the inhabitants of the island, least of all your own character, who regardless of your selection has no discernable personality and yet refuses to keep silent long enough for you to infuse yourself into his or her place.