Dead Island was always going to be a success. Zombies seem to be a horror sub-genre that just (pardon the pun) doesn’t want to stay dead, and its Fallout style gameplay allowed for truly unique opportunities. Dead Island let players enact all of their zombie killing fantasies. Everything you’ve ever wanted to do to a zombie is doable in Dead Island (short of putting one in your tool shed to have a buddy to play multiplayer with). On top of that, the game sold well. Incredibly well, in fact. However, despite or possibly because of its success, many gamers and critics alike felt that Dead Island was perhaps the final nail in the coffin (okay, seriously the puns stop here) for the zombie genre… and of course they were wrong. At the tail end of E3 a sequel to Dead Island was rather abruptly and unexpectedly announced.
So, what exactly does this mean for the franchise, and what can we expect to see?
The sequel, entitled Dead Island: Riptide, has already been stated to come out to come out at the $50 price range. The developer said that this was merely because the came would be coming out at the tail end of this console generation, but could it also be because, perhaps the game will be rushed. Usually games that achieve unexpected, break neck speed success like Dead Island did have sequels quickly developed and usually the quality lessens depending on the pace at which it is developed. In the case of Dead Island, which was essentially lightning in a bottle, it could be very tricky to top a game that was as well designed (minus a few hiccups) as the original.
Don’t misunderstand, another Dead Island game could be great, and franchises like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed have managed to maintain a yearly publishing schedule and still have great quality games.
But, to develop a sequel to a game that had uncertain franchise potential is certainly risky. The team behind the game needs to be careful to not run the risk of simply giving us more of the same thing and branch out if they plan on delivering something truly memorable.
