Dead Island Definitive Edition will release later this month, bundling the original game with Dead Island: Riptide and another, more pixellated outing that we haven't heard much about, until now. Turns out Dead Island Retro Revenge is a 16-bit styled side-scrolling brawler with lots of flashing colours starring a very angry man, who is eager to get revenge against zombies for some reason.

The angry man also appears in the below trailer, which serves to describe what Dead Island Retro Revenge is, in addition to providing some (quite scant) narrative context. Exacting revenge on someone implies that a knowingly bad deed was committed, but I doubt zombies are sentient enough to do anything knowingly. Based on that, and the general attitude of the angry man in the trailer, I can only guess that he's mad.

Still, it doesn't matter how mad he is if he's simply a vehicle for killing more zombies. Dead Island Retro Revenge will be available with the Definitive Edition on May 31.

The Dead Island series is getting the remaster treatment later this month, bundling both the original game and its follow-up, Riptide. While the improvements are likely to please console owners more so than PC users, there are some neat if small graphical improvements coming to our platform as well.

These include "luscious improved graphics and game models" and "photorealistic lighting with physically based shading." Whether it'll serve to make an otherwise middling zombie slayer into something worth revisiting is yet to be seen, but there's a new trailer embedded below which might convince you either way.

The bundle will also come with Dead Island: Retro Revenge, a 2D beat-em-up with a 16-bit pixel aesthetic. The package will release May 31, and might be worth a look if you're still unaccountably optimistic about Dead Island 2 ever getting a release.

If the Australian Government's videogame classifiers have it right, we may soon be hearing about yet another installment of Dead Island-branded zombie-splattering good times. The classification site recently listed a new game called Dead Island Retro Revenge, which it slapped with an M rating for bloody violence and online interactivity.

Australia's game rating site doesn't serve up quite the same kind of joyously juicy details as our ESRB, but it does indicate that the game is being published by Koch Media, the parent company of Deep Silver, and that it's being developed by Empty Clip Studios. Empty Clip created the Rapid Fire Engine used in Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine, did an end-to-end port of Bit.Trip Core, and also developed the 2012 indie hit Symphony. Last summer the studio announced that it had begun work on a sequel to Symphony entitled Symphony Worlds, which is expected to be out early this year.

2015 wasn't a very good year for the Dead Island franchise: Dead Island 2 was delayed and then lost its developer, and the Dead Island: Epidemic MOBA was shut down in October before it even had a chance to get out of Early Access. Hopefully 2016 will go a little more smoothly. I've contacted Deep Silver for confirmation, or at least a spot of clarity, and I'll update if I receive a reply.

Thanks, Destructoid.

The best thing about Dead Island is its co-op, so I'm a little curious about why it's getting a single-player spinoff in the form of Escape Dead Island. It's a third-person action/stealth game set in the Dead Island universe, and it's coming to PC (and last-gen consoles), blimey, next week. The above trailer offers a glimpse of what we're in for, which as it turns out is a cel-shaded game about mystery and battering zombie brains in, with psychological am-I-going-crazy bits thrown in too.

Publishers Deep Silver are calling the game "a survival mystery, where you follow the story of Cliff Calo as he attempts to uncover the truth about the zombie virus". You're a journalist, see, and uncovering the truth about a zombie virus sounds like something a journalist might want to do. Escape Dead Island is being developed by War of the Roses/Lead and Gold developers Fatshark, rather than series creators Techland.

In addition to that launch trailer, a few new screenshots have been uploaded, ahead of the game's release next Tuesday. I've stashed them below.

The newest game available on Steam s now-ubiquitous Early Access program is Dead Island: Epidemic, the zombie-themed MOBA announced last fall and revealed at Gamescom. The public reaction to the game s very existence has been, well, confusion. Now that it's here, the public can decide for itself.

Developer Stunlock Studios, previously of Bloodline Champions, has popped Epidemic up on Early Access to get access to your soft, delicious brains. There is no better way to gain valuable feedback and concrete suggestions than by allowing you guys to actually jump in and have at it, the introductory post on Steam reads. o we decided that Steam Early Access is the best way for us to achieve this.



All of the usual reservations aside and believe me, I ve got them too it is nice to see a MOBA that isn t set in a cartoony, fantasy-based universe. The game will also feature three teams instead of the requisite two, and the art shows off a nice sense of humor. Who knows maybe this unholy alliance will be the new chocolate and peanut butter. Can it cut through our MOBA fatigue? If you re interested in finding out for yourself, Epidemic is now available in closed beta release on Steam.

Uh oh. Humble Bundle is already in the midst of a tempting Spring Sale (Saint Row IV is currently $10!) at the same time as GOG s Spring Insomnia Sale, and your wallet cowers in fear of Steam s next seasonal sale. The last thing it needs is another opportunity for amazing savings, but that s just what Humble Bundle announced with its new Humble Daily Bundle.
For the next two weeks, Humble Bundle will put up a new bundle every day. For the next 24 hours it s offering the Humble Deep Silver Re-Bundle, which includes Saints Row: The Third, Risen 2, Metro 2033, Dead Island, and others. You can get all the games including their soundtracks if you pay $9 or more. As usual, a designated portion of your purchase will go toward the Electronic Frontier Foundation or Child s Play.
This first daily sale looks just as good as Humble Bundle s usual offerings, so it s definitely worth checking in regularly over the next two weeks to see what games pop up there. It s okay. You weren't using that money anyway.

With the mashing-together of the words "Dead Island MOBA," Deep Silver risks finally bringing its Dead Island franchise into the realm of the truly horrifying. Don't count it out, though, as the publisher has confirmed that it's brought on board Bloodline Champions developer Stunlock Studios, which is apparently steering Dead Island: Epidemic from the treacherously tepid LoL-clone waters.

The free-to-play "ZOMBA," as Deep Silver has been calling this new invention, was originally announced earlier this month, but its developer was confirmed today in a report at Polygon. Stunlock emphasizes that it won't be doing the usual League of Legends-style thing, instead aiming more for the multiplayer arena combat of Bloodlines. (Hopefully with less of a learning curve, though.) This will become especially apparent in its Capture the Flag mode, charmingly referred to as "PvPvPvE" by its designers—players in three teams may occasionally have to put aside their distaste for each other by teaming up to overcome the swelling zombie waves.

Players will also be able to craft their own weapons to suit their own "personality and play style," which explains the miniature cannon that the hunchbacked guy in that screenshot above seems to be lugging about. Hopefully, this will warrant the inclusion of a zombie-repelling cocktail umbrella and a party blower, to suit my ZOMBA-on-the-beach partying ways.

The Deep Silver Humble Bundle turned some heads last week, with a great deal on games like Saints Row: The Third and Risen 2: Dark Waters. Now the bundle has expanded to include Dead Island and Metro 2033, making it a deal that is just ridiculous to pass up.

Paying more than the average ($5.14, as of this writing) gets you Dead Island, Metro 2033, Risen 1, Sacred Citadel and all Saints Row: The Third DLC. You can also pay more than $25 to get the recently released Dead Island: Riptide.

As with all Humble Bundles, you get to name your price and divide your purchase between publisher Deep Silver, charities like the American Red Cross, Child’s Play and World Vision, or Humble Bundle itself.

In my opinion, too many gamers have overlooked Metro 2033, which would be worth the $5 purchase price alone. If you're still holding off on the excellent Metro: Last Light, maybe exploring the previous game in that series will convince you.

Head over the Humble Bundle site and check it out. Over 400,000 bundles have already been sold, but the deal runs out next Tuesday, August 13.

Kill zombies. Survive. Loot. Complete fetch quests. That's the core gameplay loop in Dead Island, a series that hasn't really proven itself yet but manages to sell really well anyway. As a result of the latter, publisher Deep Silver has announced a new MOBA based on the franchise. According to the publisher, the game will "pit three teams of players against each other in a desperate fight for survival." So don't expect a relaxing, non-intense fight for survival.

Deep Silver is set to reveal more at Gamescom later this month, as well as more news regarding "the Dead Island universe as a whole." If you're keen to play the Dead Island games then now is probably the best time to get on board: this month's Humble Bundle is Deep Silver themed, and if you pay more than the average pledge you get a free copy of Dead Island GOTY. Pay $25 or more and you'll also get Dead Island: Riptide. All up, nine games are included so best check it out.

 

With the release of Saints Row IV just around the corner, it seems that publisher Deep Silver wants to set a charitable tone with a Humble Bundle consisting of its more delinquent titles. After all, crime’s perfectly legal if it’s done in the name of sick children.

The Humble Deep Silver Bundle base package consists of Saints Row: The Third, Saints Row 2, Risen 2: Dark Waters, and the Gold Edition of Sacred 2, along with the soundtrack for each game. Chipping in at least $4.70 will get you Dead Island GOTY edition, along with a DLC-laden version of Saints Row: The Third. And finally, if you chip in a whopping $25, you’ll nab yourself a copy of Dead Island: Riptide, though you might want to hold off on that one.

We should also mention that the PC version of Saints Row 2 was a poorly-optimized mess when it first came out, so keep that in mind if you’re nabbing the bundle for that title alone. There’s a chance things have gotten a bit better since we last visited the city of Stilwater, but we still recommend you proceed with caution.