Dead Island: the whole story of the first chapters waiting for the 2

Dead Island

There is a rapper from New Orleans, a spy from the People's Republic of China, a failed quarterback and a former Australian policewoman, all in a zombie-infested dream resort. These are not the first lines of a joke from the father of horror cinema George Romero, but the tragicomic premises of the first chapter of the Dead Island series, a title that has left an indelible mark on the way of making undead themed video games. >
Developed by Techland and released by Deep Silver in 2011, the first Dead Island initially managed to generate a lot around its launch, thanks to a cinematic trailer (considered by many to be one of the best ever) that traces the last moments life of a little girl after she was bitten by a zombie.

Once you took on the role of Sam B, Xian Mei, Logan Carter and Purna Jackson, however, the game took on a less serious and emotional tone than that trailer, focusing more on a bombastic and strongly inspired narrative. genus pulp.

In this special on the history of Dead Island, waiting for Dead Island 2, we will retrace the events of the four unlikely survivors through the events of the first chapter and its sequel: Riptide, released in 2013. The two games tell a story dense and adrenaline-pumping that survives the test of time and builds an intriguing post-apocalyptic scenario that encourages exploration.

Once upon a time there was Banoi

The story of Dead Island begins the morning after a celebrity party at a luxury resort on an island near Papua New Guinea. When our protagonists awaken, they realize that they are the only survivors of a wave of killing spree that has wiped out all the other hotel guests. A voice in the loudspeakers requires him to evacuate the building to search for resources and stay alive. Although the party was stardom, the heroes of Dead Island are far from respectable: Sam B is a rapper on the verge of bankruptcy, who came to the island to perform in the only song that made him famous, Xin Mei is undercover as a hotel receptionist when in reality he's a Chinese government spy, Logan Carter is a former American Football player who ruined his life in a clandestine race and Purna Jackson is a native Australian who joined the police force. tried to kill a serial harasser after the judicial system found him not guilty thanks to his connections and his money. function ready (fn) {if (document.readyState! = 'loading') {fn ()} else {document.addEventListener ('DOMContentLoaded', fn)}} ready (function () {window.addEventListener ('message', function (event) {let target_origin = 'https://aff.netaddiction.it'; if (event.origin! == target_origin) return; if (typeof event.data == "object" && event.data.hasOwnProperty ( "type") && event.data.type == "embaff") {let embed_id = event.data.embed_id; if (embed_id == '1345') {document.querySelector ('#_ aff_embed_1345'). setAttribute ('height ', event.data.embed_size);}}}, false);}) Once they understand that the resort won't be able to feed them for long, the survivors have to clash with a local gang, the Raskol, who puts sticks in their wheels as they try to fetch some supplies from a nearby supermarket. Once back at the hotel we find out more about what is happening: the voice on the speakers reveals his identity, his name is Ryder White and he is a colonel in the Australian defense forces. He has contacted the survivors because he is trapped in a maximum security prison where he is trying to produce a vaccine for his wife who, after being bitten, is starting the zombification process. Survivors must reach him at all costs because they are immune to the virus and essential to create a cure.

The origins of the Dead Island zombies

The undead of Dead Island are infected with a mutated variant of the mysterious virus Kuru White gives the four heroes the contact of a smuggler who could take them to him but the latter informs them that in the jungle a group of researchers is studying a mutated form of Kuru, a neurodegenerative disease (which actually existed in Papua New Guinea ) which in the Dead Island universe is the basis of transformation into zombies. The survivors join them and, with the help of a native woman from the island named Yerema, they manage to create a vaccine. From there the protagonists head to the prison with the help of the smuggler and, once they arrive, they help the prisoners fight the zombies.

Contacted by White, however, they enter the elevator where they are sedated with a soporific gas. They are awakened by a prisoner named Kevin who explains that the colonel knocked them out to steal their vaccine and flee by helicopter with his wife and then order an atomic attack on the island. The survivors chase him to the roof where White's wife, now completely zombified, is freed from the ropes that bound her. In the heat White is bitten and forced to shoot his wife. To save himself, he injects the vaccine but instead of eliminating the symptoms of the virus it amplifies them, transforming himself into a super zombie that the heroes are forced to kill. Once the mission is complete, the 4 protagonists, along with Kevin and Yerema, escape from the island by helicopter.

Betrayal

The Ryder White DLC for the first Dead Island reveals a mystery that completely changes the perspective on the game In the DLC called Dead Island Ryder White, released in 2012, all the vicissitudes of the colonel of the Australian defense forces are retraced, from his arrival on the island to the desperate attempt to save his wife who worked in the prison of maximum safety. After a series of vicissitudes, White manages to reach his beloved but discovers that the structure is infested with zombies. To prevent the virus from consuming her completely, he must team up with Kevin, the same character who helped the heroes of the main campaign, who is actually a famous terrorist and hacker named Charon.

Shortly after we also discover that it was not White who directed the actions of the resort survivors, but the terrorist, who, however, gains the colonel's favor by telling him that the four are on their way with a vaccine. It is Charon who has prepared the sleeping gas to steal the vial but White decides to betray his partner by locking him in a cell. Here the character of Kevin is born who, unbeknownst to the protagonists, now wants to use Yerema, the patient zero from whose blood the fake vaccine was taken, to spread the infection all over the world.

The Story of Riptide

The island where Dead Island Riptide is set is even more treacherous and full of danger Dead Island Riptide begins moments after the end of the first chapter, with the survivors just landed on a military ship of the Australian Defense Forces. Separated and questioned, they soon find themselves surrounded by zombies, probably because Yerema bit a soldier while she was separated from the group. The ship crashes into rocks and the protagonists find themselves once again on an island overrun by the infected. Here the story follows a similar pace to that of the first chapter of obstacles to overcome and undead to eliminate but at the center of the narrative is the rivalry between Harlow, a WHO researcher obsessed with the virus, and Frank Serpo, a member of an organization whose goal is to turn the virus into a weapon.

One of the most interesting additions compared to the mechanics of the first chapter, is the introduction of the mutagen agent, a chemical weapon with which the heroes come into contact and which unleashes uncontrolled anger and aggression: in short, a fury mode. This will be essential to defeat Harlow because, in a desperate attempt to stop the survivors, she too decides to inject him, starting an adrenaline-filled fight. The end of Serpo comes shortly after because the heroes, once they find a boat to escape, abandon him to the infected after discovering that it was his organization that orchestrated the virus epidemic that turned everyone into zombies.

From Papua New Guinea to Los Angeles

In Dead Island 2, the zombies have taken control of Los Angeles Once they have escaped from the zombie-infested island, the protagonists retrace their adventures on the boat they used to escape and say they are ready to start a new life once on the ground. In the final cutscene of Dead Island Riptide, however, after the survivors' speech, a black screen appears with the words "six days later, on the shores of a distant land". From a radio program we discover that the infected emergency seems to have returned to the islands in the center of the first two chapters and that things seem to be returning to normal. The scene then moves to a boat, arriving on a pier, apparently empty. We understand in a moment that this is the one with which the protagonists have saved themselves but from the hold come strange grunts and screams. The door handle begins to turn and "The End" appears immediately after.

This open ending has left fans speculating for many years: Did the protagonists become infected and died? Are they the cause of the infection's arrival in the United States? These and many other unresolved issues will fall on the shoulders of Dead Island 2 when it releases on February 3, 2023. From the analysis of the cinematic and gameplay trailer shown so far, however, we do not see very many connections with the titles of the past. The resort and the Banoi archipelago are long gone, because Dead Island 2 is set in a Los Angeles (now called HELL-A) completely abandoned to itself after a failed quarantine attempt by the army. Players will take on the role of six playable characters, one of whom is the protagonist of the cinematic trailer and another is a girl named Amy. It will be interesting to find out how the narrative universes of the two games will be connected.

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