Dead Island Riptide Preview
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Unfortunately, there are telltale signs of a Dead Island hangover. On more than one occasion an extended foot or swiping blade inexplicably fails to connect with the cranium of a nearby cadaver, while headless corpses spasm and convulse of their own accord despite a purportedly improved physics system. Pre-alpha footage this may be, but with the game launching in April 2013, Techland and publisher Deep Silver need to shift through the gears to ensure that ample time and resources are afforded at the end of development for a great deal of necessary polishing.
More worrying is the notion that Techland may once again lose sight of what it is that holds its creation together. The release of Dead Island's Ryder White DLC did little to reassure fans that the developer has a handle on exactly what made its original game fun enough to forgive its flaws. However, creative producer Sebastian Reichert is adamant that everyone involved in the project is now on message and understands that Dead Island operates best when it's allowing you to curate your own stories, rather than attempting to force-feed you narrative under restrictive circumstances.
By Deep Silver's own admission, Dead Island Riptide features neither the necessary level of change to the original template nor sufficiently innovates on its mechanics to be deserving of the title of true sequel. But Riptide is not an expansion for the first game either: it matches the original's scope and content and brings with it a handful of new features, many of which are only hinted at during the demo. The option for veteran Dead Island players to carry over their character from the original game is welcomed and doing so will keep intact both level progress and skill set. Meanwhile, the level cap will be raised sufficiently so as not to stymie character development.
