Pax Prime 2012: Dead Island Riptide hands-off preview

Alright, for you Dead Island fans out there, we got to see a preview for the sequel – Riptide.  The zombie survival game starts off right where Dead Island left off.  In the gameplay segment, we got to see the heroes fortifying a church from an impending zombie invasion.  Apparently there are some crypts at the bottom of the church that could be used as a means to escape.  The catch is that it is flooded.  To get the water out a pump must be turned on but the problem is the pump is very loud and the zombies respond to noise.

The process of fortifying the church was attaching gattling gun turrets, laying mines, and setting up fences.  Once the event starts, all of the game’s NPCs help you in the fight.  In Dead Island Riptide, even the NPCs who aren’t being controlled by players will aid you.  These sorts of events are “huge stands” and are meant for you to use all your available resources to complete.  The footage with the mine fields was hilarious – zombies are dumb.

The game takes a focus on resource management. As a survival horror title, resource management is canon.  For those who want to carry their Dead Island characters over to Riptide, you can with levels and skills attached.  For those who want to play one of the new, still unannounced characters you can start fresh as well.  Levels won’t affect your ability to play with other people.  Level 50 and level 1 characters can play perfectly fine together with no hiccups.  The zombies will scale for that individual player making it always possible to group with whomever.  “Just play the game.” is the developer's motto.

The map will be about the same sized as Dead Island.  Sections will be segmented like before giving the players feeling of separate regions.  An advanced weather system will also be implemented, giving players the feeling of change and realism as the game is played.  New water graphics and the addition of boats will also give players a new feel and means for locomotion.  There isn't a release date yet, but you can look out for Dead Island: Riptide sometime in 2013.