tldr: Dead Island is one of the best first person zombie games that exists, but imo, it shouldn't be played in a fast pace. If you like zombie games that you explore locations with peace and tranquility while killing zombies with nice weapons in a TRULY paradise, then this game is for you.

Unpopular opinion: I think this is better than Dying light, just because in Dying light I feel pressured to complete the main story because of its overly dramatic acting and the whole scenery behind that game, while in this I feel the total opposite, like I can take my time and enjoy it. But both games are really good.


Story : the story of Dead Island is alright for this game, because in my honest opinion you are not supposed to play this game for it's plot, you are supposed to kill zombies and enjoy the paradise while progressing throughout the story without caring too much for the plot. The "boring" aspect of the story is good because it allows the player to do whatever they want, if the story is something overly dramatic, then the player will most likely feel the need to continue the story as fast as they can.
There are some good moments in the story like collecting boxes of juice, that is so cool. So the story in my opinion is 10/10

Quests : I really like them. You have the main quests, the side quests and the continuous, the continuous are quests that you can repeat, for example, one continuous quest that I really like is the one that you have to give 3 bottles of alcohol for a nice dude in the first island, and as a reward he will give you a molotov, and you can repeat that as many times as you want.

Gameplay and mechanics : They are really nice, I'll list them with some facts that I find interesting.


1. Automatic save systems: 1 save slot per character. Meaning that you can have multiple characters even the same ones with it's own save slot

2.inventory system: you can find weapons and items lying around, you'll also find collectables and blueprints.

3. Workbench: the workbench allows the player to repair and upgrade its weapons. You can also create new weapons using blueprints that you'll find throughout the game.

4. Skills: You can level up your character by killing zombies and completing missions, each time you level up, you gain 1 skill point which can be used to purchase a skill from the skill tree (skill skill skill)

5. A map: self explanatory. You'll have a map for each island, but there are some exceptions.

6. Multiple Islands: You'll travel through more than one island, that's right, this game has a lot of different places to explore, and that's a big reason to why I love it so much.

6. Driving: You can drive cars in the islands, how cool is that? I really like the physics btw lol.

7.Fast travel: You can fast travel to several places.

8. Analog Fight (underrated) (I LOVE THIS MECHANIC): a mechanic that allows the player to control the swing of its weapon. for example, you can hold a key to make the character ready to attack, while holding that key you'll move your right stick from left to right, so your character will swing its weapon on that direction, I really like this function because it allows me to hit the zombies in the direction that I want while giving more realism to the gameplay. There is also an easy workaround to make it work with your mouse but you'll still need a controller to choose the option if I'm not mistaken.

9. Arena (DLC): As the name suggests, It's an arena to battle against hordes the zombies, It's a survival gamemode, you'll choose an arena level, and then you'll survive as many rounds as you can. It's pretty fun.

Now let's talk about the Ryder White DLC: ---SPOILER ALERT a strange EasterEgg--- It's very mid. It's really linear, there is almost no room for exploration, and the good part about this dlc is that it ends fast, I think I finished in 2 hours, and I was taking long because I wanted to check almost every corner just to see something different and to get the "collectables" which you can't even collect them (wow). But I was rewarded while checking the corners, I found an interesting thing near the ending of this DLC, spoilers ahead if you want to find it yourself:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3255985864

So yeah overall this dlc is a 5/10. at least you get to know better about the ending of the game, but It's very ignorable, the story of the dlc doesn't make much difference to the main story.

Level design and about the paradise : the best part of this game is with no doubt the paradise that you are in, I really really love the aesthetics the graphics and level design of the first island it's so calm and relaxing. I also enjoy pretty much the design of the fourth island the lab island It's also very pleasant.
About the level design, it's perfect but the second island can be a bit repetitive, oh and there is sewers in this game, and I really like it, even though It's a somewhat simple level design there. I just love this game.

Overall, if you want to relax yourself playing a nice zombie game in a paradise with nice weapons and nice combinations of things that you can do, then this game is certainly for you.

My beloved Dead Island, goated game back on the xbox 360 days, will never forget.

This game has aged like milk. Quests not working. Zombies glitching. Truck gets stuck on nothing. Achievements pop all the time that you didn't earn. Controls are sluggish to say the least. I played this game a ton when it first came out but Holy smokes is it bad.