In a recent interview with Official PlayStation Magazine, Dead Island: Riptide's creative producer, Anthony Cardahi has discussed a handful of new features included in Techland's latest zombie title.
First thing to be addressed; having the word Riptide in the title of a game does allude to a particular weather being featured. It's already been confirmed that much of the new environment is heavily flooded. Torrential rain can limit player vision, and and the weather will also lead to environmental changes as well, so while one area was once nice and dry, a torrential downpour could flood the area completely later on. Does this mean that exploring the new area isn't possible? Think again. Says Cardahi, "The monsoons that were mentioned in the first game have now come to the archipelago. So a lot of the areas are flooded. This then allowed us to bring in the boats, which open up a lot of new gameplay possibilities in regards to movement and exploration."
More than just a part of gameplay, the weather will also play into the ambience. The new weather system "allows us to play around with the atmosphere of the game a lot more thanks to the different lighting systems, from sunny blue skies to dark, torrential rains storms that will obscure your visibility," said Cardahi.
Also new to the game are "defense hubs," familiar to anyone who've ever watched almost any zombie movie, or played any tower defense game. "They introduce something that is a classic zombie trope that you see in a lot of movies," he said, "where survivors fortify a location and try to hold on as long as they can. It's something that makes complete sense in the world of Dead Island."
Well the hubs may hold back most of the zombies, they'll have a hard time against the new zombie types, the Grenadier. "He's a lumbering monstrosity who has cancerous growths all over his body and he flings parts of his body at you," describes Cardahi. "He's a ranged attacker, which brings a freshness and variety into how the zombie combat takes place."
Love it or hate it, you can't argue that Dead Island was more about melee combat than anything else. For the majority of the game, weapons were slim, and ammo scarce. That, and it's just more satisfying to bash a zombie's brains in up close and personal. Hoping to make gunplay more of an option in Riptide, Cardahi promises a better shooting system, saying, "Because of the new shooting system, headshots are now really devastating. You can also improve and upgrade the guns to the same level as melee weapons. Guns now represent a completely viable combat choice that you can maintain throughout the game."
Riptide also features a new playable character, John Morgan, a navy cook, though he hasn't been quite fleshed out yet. Also, for those who played the first Dead Island, you'll be able to keep your original character and use it again in Riptide.
Pre-orders are also available for Riptide as well. Those who pre-order from GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy receive a shiney steelbook game case, with additional incentives to be announced later.
Dead Island: Riptide is planned to release in 2013 for Windows PC, PS3, and XBox 360.
Check out Sam B's recent video "No Room in Hell" featuring Chamillionaire, released by his record company to keep his memory alive, following his recent disappearance on Banoi. You can also see the Riptide trailer here.