In advance of Dead Island 2 releasing Dead Island: Riptide is free to keep as long as you get it before 16 Feb @ 5:00am.

We have awesome news for you! Dead Island is coming to Steam on 22 April! To celebrate this news, we give you a chance to get Dead Island: Riptide - Definitive Edition for free! 

But act fast,this killer deal only lasts 48 hours. Don't sleep on it, or you might just become zombie breakfast.

Steam announces that you can play Dead Island: Riptide for free this weekend, and you can buy it for 66% off after trying it.

Play Dead Island: Riptide for FREE now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time! Additionally, you can pickup the full game at 66% off as part of this week's Weekend Deal*!

Dead Island Riptide takes players to the island of Palanai on the Banoi archipelago, infested with bloodthirsty Zombies and only a few remaining Survivors still fighting for their lives. Introducing new terrifying enemies, deadly weapons, a new playable character and much more, Dead Island Riptide will draw players back into a world that has grown corrupt - with the last rays of hope vanishing in rising tides.

If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Dead Island: Riptide. If you don't have Steam, you can download it here.

Additionally, grab the original Dead Island for 75% off this weekend!

Customers in the UK and Scandinavia found that the redeemable codes contained in retail versions of Dead Island: Riptide for Steam gave not a copy of the actual game. They got a version of Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition instead.

A Deep Silver representative has confirmed on the game's Steam forums that the issue has been fixed and that all retail codes will now give the correct game when activated on Steam.

Update: We've worked with Steam to resolve this issue. If you are getting your retail copy of Dead Island Riptide today, the code will work properly. If you had redeemed it and received Dark Souls instead, please contact Steam support. They are aware of the issue and will make sure the correct game will be attached to your account.

It seems that codes for Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition have made their way into Dead Island Riptide retail boxes in some countries.

To the best of my knowledge, this issue would affect retail copies in the United Kingdom and Nordic countries.

Now, Dark Souls is an amazing game, but you probably bought Dead Island Riptide to play Dead Island Riptide! For those of you who don't know this, Dark Souls is also not a Deep Silver game.

We are aware of this mixup by whoever printed these codes for a completely different game from a different publisher, and are working on a best possible solution to help affected players and retailers.

I'll update this post as soon as I get more details, and I hope a solution can be found that will not require any action on your part.

A bunch of reviews of Techland’s zombie-follow-up Dead Island: Riptide have sprung up on the internet today. I will just be posting the site and score given the amount of reviews. Dead Island: Riptide will be released this week on PC, PS3 and 360.

Eurogamer – 6
IGN – 7.2
GameSpot – 4
MKGaming – 3/5
Destructoid – 5
Kotaku – No score; “It’s too broken to be worth your time.”
VentureBeat – 65/100
GodisaGeek – 7
GamingBolt – 7
VGU – 60/100
SavingContent – 3/5
PSU – 7.5
BagoGames – 4/5
OPM UK – 5
CVG – 5.9
GameInformer – 8
VideoGamer – 5
Polygon – 5.5
GamesVillage – 7
OXM US – 7.5
EGM – 6
OXM UK – 4
Machinima – 5.5

Madassgamers has a video preview of Dead Island: Riptide.

Key Gameplay Features:

 ”Dead Island Riptide brings back the explosive mix of open-world gameplay, co-op first-person action and RPG elements to fans worldwide.”

• Players can import their original Dead Island game character progression through to the sequel.
• Level limitations between co-op partners has been removed, with auto-balancing for enemy groups being implemented.
• Connecting to another player in co-op has been made simpler, where the game now automatically mentions if friends are logged in and nearby, letting them just jump into the player’s game.
• Disconnections are handled more gracefully, and when people drop out of a group, there is a simple notification before a player can continue to play as they were before.
• Players will not have to wait to get firearms until later in the game.
• Firearms can be obtained early in the game.
• Weapons will be more durable and last longer
• New mutated zombies, including the Grenadier zombie.
• Zombie spawning system has been altered and overhauled.

Enemies:

New Zombie Types Include:

Drowner - A type of zombie that appear as lifeless corpses, submerged in water, but spring to life when a human walks nearby. They have similar characteristics of Walkers due to their ability to grapple and sprint.
Grenadier - Zombies that throw grenades at the survivors, they can also rip cancerous growths from its legs and lower body and throw them at the survivors.
Wrestler - They are large, buff zombies that use their large fists to slam the survivors inflicting a lot of damage.
Ogre – Characteristics Unknown.

In Dead Island: Riptide there will be more zombies on screen at any one time and developers have said they have completely overhauled the zombie re spawning system. Zombies will still reappear as a player returns to areas that they had already cleared, but the game is going to try and handle this in a more intelligent & complex fashion. The game will take into account if the player is on a mission, how recently the players last passed through, the character’s condition and whether the player is playing in a group or solo.

Dead Island: Riptide is now available for pre-load on the Steam digital distribution platform for PC, but owners of the game are now reporting a pretty major bug that doesn't actually result in the download of any files.

Sadly, according to several Steam users on the game's forums, the pre-load is glitched, as the download ends right after it begins, without actually transferring any files.

As of yet, neither developer Techland nor publisher Deep Silver has actually commented on the problem that seems to be affecting Steam preloads.

Strategy Informer has an interview with Dead Island: Riptide's Creative Producer Alex Toplansky.

Despite causing a lot of controversy with grotesque busts, Dead Island Riptide is still just a game, and one that’s not really easy to define either. It’s not an expansion, as those aren’t really a ‘thing’ anymore for multi-platform games, it’s not really a spin-off, as it’s heavily connected to the original game, but it’s not a sequel either, as everything is still pretty the much the same, just tweaked or enhanced in certain places. We decided go talk to Creative Producer Alex Toplansky to find out what the hell is going on:

Strategy Informer: How do you guys view Riptide Internally?? It’s not really a sequeal, nor is it a standalone expansion or anything… doesn’t seem to fit neatly into any definition.

Alex Toplansky: This is a big question – I think the most important thing is that we never went into this thinking “oh, can we do DLC” or anything like that. We always came at it with the viewpoint that there’s a lot more we want to do, a lot more we want to show people, but we don’t want to start reinventing the wheel. You know? We weren’t like “oh let’s re-do the combat system!” or anything like that, which is something you’d do for a sequel I think. So we wanted to make it clear to players that they are getting more of the core gameplay that they enjoyed in the first game. I think that if we’d decided to go in this sequel direction it would have confused people a bit as to what was going on with that.

But we did want to add a lot of original stuff, like we really wanted to add another island, and we wanted to continue the story that was laid down with these four characters. We wanted to show that this is still connected to the original experience. By the time we were done with the game… I think when we started there was about ¾ of the amount of content the original had [in Riptide], but by the time we were finished, we had a game that had just as much content as the original game. So it’s definitely not an ‘expansion’, but I think it would have misleading to say It was a sequel.

Two previews for this game has been published on the net; the first one comes from
Gaming Illustrated and here's a quote:

Familiar names Logan, Purna, Xian Mei and Sam B will all be returning for the second installment of the franchise. While all four members of the original Dead Island will remain as the protagonists of the spin-off, a new playable survivor will be making his debut in Dead Island: Riptide. The new character, John Morgan, is described as a martial arts expert who fell into a menial job as a chef aboard a Navy ship. Despite his job status, Morgan seems to be more prepared for the apocalypse than anyone else.

The second preview for this game has been penned by Capsule Computers, and here's a quote:

Most of the missions themselves will not be foreign to Dead Island players: there's lots of acquisition quests and rescue quests, but we also got to experience the new defense hub missions. Our first time, we put up these wire fences to delay the zombies and allow shooters to pick them off at a safe range (although I had no success in stabbing through the fence as I couldn't reach them). We were assured that the hordes would not spawn and advance on the camp until all fences had been placed, although I'm sure they will place timers on some of them later in the game.

A collector Edition for this game called Rigor Mortis will be released at April 23rd 2013 - only in North America, it seems. The fans have voted on which content they'd like to see - and so it'll feature the most wanted items that the fans voted to have in the collector's edition. Courtesy of Gamebanshee, we can quote from the full press release. A snip, then:

The contents of the Rigor Mortis Edition are extremely limited and are available for preorder now at retailers across North and Latin America on a first come-first serve basis with a suggested retail price of $79.99. In the haunting, superb-quality Rigor Mortis Edition, Dead Island fans receive their very own zombie hula girl bobble figurine, a bloody zombie arm bottle opener magnet and a bungalow key with a branded wood keychain. In addition, the Rigor Mortis Edition will include a copy of the Dead Island Riptide Special Edition for console, packed with a treasure trove of extra DLC content and a helpful digital strategy map. All of this is embalmed in the ultimate Dead Island replica suitcase - the most iconic item from the original Dead Island.

Now Gamer has an interview Sebastian Reichert, the producer for this game.  A quote then
on if there were aspect of the firt game that's surprised the developers:

Was there any aspect of Dead Island that surprised you with how players responded to it?

We felt pretty well understood by our fans, but of course we listened to their feedback. Based on that it seemed like the firearms aspect had been pushed too much into the background. While the focus in Dead Island will remain on close combat – because that’s an important part of the experience – this time around when the player uses guns, these really give the feeling that they can “pack a punch” against enemies.

Deep Silver has announced a release date for Dead Island: Riptide.

Dead Island^TM Riptide Release Date Announced

Deep Silver announces release dates and pre-order details for Dead Island Riptide

Hampshire, UK - 30 October 2012/... Deep Silver today announced the global release of Dead Island Riptide, the next exciting title in the multi-million selling Dead Island franchise, as well as providing details for the exclusive pre-order editions of the game.

Already one of the most anticipated titles of 2013, fans will finally be able to take on the zombie hordes once again when Dead Island Riptide is released on April 23, 2013 in the USA and Canada, and on April 26, 2013 in the rest of the world.

In an interview with VG 24/7, Sebastian Reichert, creative producer at Deep Silver, talks about this game. They talk about a darker plot, the 5th character and why the setting hasn't changed dramatically. A quote:

We asked Reichert if he could respond to fan concerns that the island setting of Palanai appears too similar to Banoi in the original game, “No worries guys, with the flooded jungle the whole experience of this game will feel really different. The additional defensive gameplay, the boat, and the advanced character development will make sure that you are diving into a different experience.”

A quote on the plot:

When quizzed on the plot, Reichert responded by saying, “Plot-wise, ‘darker’ is good description of where we’re heading, but of course we stay bright and beautiful on the outside. We are taking a very special step in this instalment and we are looking forward to see how the fans react to it.” “There will be a new character, and yes we have a lot of ideas as mentioned before.

A cinematic trailer for this game has been released. You can watch it here.

Here are a few more Dead Island: Riptide previews, which are unlikely to contain new info, but one never knows.

DSN:

From the start of the booth presentation at PAX, Deep Silver let us in on the story behind this new edition. We were told that the events in riptide continue where Dead Island ended. For those who haven't played it, I won't spoil it for you. There are new drivable boats, dynamic weather, and familiar game modes. Dead Island: Riptide is sure to please zombie survival fans, and by that I mean a game mode similar to a certain nazi zombie mode; and a popular zombie survival where players are "left for dead".

OXM:

One of the most noticeable changes in Riptide’s overall presentation is the improved responsiveness in combat physics, as well as character and gore animations. Techland assures us that this is still a very melee-centric game — the primary weapon used through most of the demo was actually an electrified sword — and connecting a blow to a zombie had an impact that the original game somewhat lacked. Firearms and explosives also have a bit more oomph, with much bigger explosion radii and seemingly tighter gunplay to complement the power of the physical strikes.

Co-Optimus:

Overall the whole thing came off as a very intense, chaotic ride. I think defensive missions like these will be a welcome addition to the Dead Island franchise. It was a little unsettling to see the NPCs kind of standing around and not doing anything during the mission. I think the other playable characters were supposed to lend a hand, under control of AI, but I didn't really see that in action. It looked to me like only the two controlled characters were doing anything, but it was very intense, so I may be wrong. Either way, it should be a blast with a friend (or three).

Another set of Previews for Dead Island: Riptide. A very short one at Agrogamer and a somewhat longer preview at Press2Reset.

Palanai is the new island to explore in Riptide, and as the title leads you to believe, focuses heavily on water. Monsoons pelt Palanai causing the island to be swampy and flooded. Players have access to brand new vehicles to help them traverse the treacherous waters. The last thing our heroes need are zombie sharks and while they aren’t sharks exactly, zombies will be able to grab ahold of the boat and try to pull our heroes to their demise.

Not sure if there is anything new to extract from these previews about Dead Island: Riptide after the many we have seen, but let's try this one at LevelSave:

When the first fence broke down an NPC ran out into the fray. This is when I heard the first really bad news of the entire Demo. If an NPC dies in one of these “Defense Missions,” of which there will be multiple during the game, the entire mission is failed. Now I do not mind keeping some silly NPC alive; I have been begrudgingly doing it for my entire life. What I do mind is when that NPC runs out into a swarm of five zombies with a reckless disregard that rivals Evil Kinevel. In a real apocalypse I would just shrug my shoulders and walk away, because I would never want to be around someone that utterly insane.

And this one at Explosion:

For people who were unsatisfied with the first game, there are several additions to the formula.  As the title “Riptide” implies, water is going to be an important factor.  Players will be able to drive around in boats while zombies attack from beneath the waves.  Missions will also involve pumping water from areas to allow the survivors access to new locations.

At PAX Prime the developers showed another new feature that allows players to deploy fences and mines to defend areas from swarms of zombies.  Stationary weapons were available too, giving this sequence the feeling of the survival mode in Left 4 Dead, or the zombie modes of Call of Duty.  This sequence added in some variety to the Dead Island standard gameplay of free-roaming and fetch missions.

Two videos featuring Creative Producer Sebastian Reichart who shows Dead Island: Riptide can be watched at G4TV and 4Player.

Kotaku has taken a look at Dead Island: Riptide:

The defense aspect seemed neat. It's a collaborative effort, and lets you get wild with ammunition for a short amount of time before stepping back into the difficulties of harsh and unlikely survival. I'm excited for a new arsenal, too, but this demo didn't give me too extensive of a look to tell you how that's going. One last feature that I'm excited about, though, is that you can move your character over from Dead Island. Which we all know will make for even more brutal enemies, but there's something great about starting off strong and being asked to defeat even stronger enemies.

As did G4TV, which includes an interview.

Here is a collection of previews of Dead Island: Riptide.

Destructoid:

Riptide picks up right where Dead Island left off; the survivor's dramatic escape via military ship is instantly thwarted by a monsoon, leaving them to wash ashore somewhere near Banoi to fight the zombie invasion anew. Fans of the first will find the combat and aesthetic largely unchanged, with a few key intriguing new features. Original characters played in the first game will "carry over" to Riptide; you can continue your progress with whomever you invested time into initially in the series.

Game Fanatics:

Players will be able to form up to 4-hero parties and will compete among each other for special items and abilities while combating Zane’s forces. Deep Silver has not revealed all character classes yet but has given a sense of familiarity to the world of Sacred; fans will recognize certain environments in the game, but such locales may not look & play the same as they did in previous games.

Prima Games:

For Riptide, Deep Silver and the developers at Techland (who worked on the original) are adding some new décor.  It’s still quite tropical with trees and other foliage that make you feel like you’re in the middle of an island, but it’s a slight bit grittier this time around, as you aren’t exactly working your way across the beach.  It kind of resembles New Orleans backwaters, more like.  Oh, and the blood effects?  Fantastic.  When we chopped someone’s head completely off, the carnage certainly didn’t come up short.

G4 has a preview for this game.  It is based on hands-on time with the game.  Some spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk. A quote from the beginning of the preview:

Our demo threw us into about 6-10 hours into the new game as our two-man team lugs around a chain gun to a semi-submerged church out in the middle of the swap. As it turns out, the rains didn’t just bring the original characters to the new island. You’re going to be waist deep in water and the undead. A returning cast of characters means that players of the original title will get a leg up on the rest of the gamers by being able to transfer their characters over.

Deep Silver has announced officialy Dead Island: Riptide. Courtesy of Gamesbanshee, a quote from the press release.

Dead Island™ Riptide: Drowning Hope

Deep Silver reveals details about new title in the Dead Island franchise

LARKSPUR, CA – AUGUST 31, 2012 -- Deep Silver today revealed the first details about the next installment in the Dead Island™ franchise, coming to stores in 2013.

Having survived the ordeals of the zombie infestation on the once beautiful island resort of Banoi, our group of survivors thought they had finally found a safe place to escape from this terrifying nightmare. But they were wrong. Shortly after the battle-hardened team had landed their helicopter on a military ship, a furious storm hits and havoc quickly spreads on board. Suddenly they find themselves struggling for their lives again with all hope drowning in the rising waves.

You can see screenshots from the game here.

If you pre-order the game now, you'll get a Limited Steelbook Edition

Starting today, gamers will be able to pre-order Dead Island Riptide in-stores and online at GameStop, Amazon.com and Best Buy and receive an extremely limited edition Steelbook as a preorder incentive. These beautiful Steelbooks will be available at time of game purchase at GameStop, Amazon.com and at Best Buy for those who preorder early. Quantities of these Steelbooks are extremely limited and only available on a first come first served basis while supplies last. Additional preorder incentives are expected to be announced later this year.

At Gamescom I got to see a demo of Dead Island: Riptide, a game with some RPG elements in the character development, however there is an embargo on what was shown until the end of the month. Still here is some info by Joystiq on why it might not be released in Germany:

Dead Island: Riptide, like its predecessor, is unlikely to be released in Germany. The situation is awkwardly laughable, since the game is being shown at behind-closed-door sessions at Gamescom in Germany, but the audience in attendance won't likely get to legally play the game. Pouring lemon juice on the paper cut, publisher Deep Silver is a German company.

And a poster at Gamepur which is about as much as you will see in the next two weeks (unless someone breaks the embargo).