Metascore
80 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 24
  2. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Oct 19, 2011
    91
    Dead Island is maybe rough around the edges, has things that could have been better and has some strange solutions to gaming mechanics, but really, who cares? The main thing, close combat with zombies on an open environment, is both exceptionally well done and most importantly, great fun. Even alone. In the land of blindingly pretty, but simplified tubeshooters the ugly zombie game is the king. [Sept 2011]
  2. Sep 12, 2011
    90
    Ultimately, this isn't just a great zombie game. It's a great open-world game, a great action game, a great RPG, and a great co-operative multiplayer game. Being a masterpiece with a unique appreciation for zombies is just gravy.
  3. 88
    Dead Island has plenty of reasons to be likeable: a satisfying duration, enough freedom and interactivity to create addiction and enough potential to become a classic. And although it isn't what the elitists would call a mandatory title, I think it's infectious enough for me to pull my friend's sleeve to buy the game too.
  4. Sep 15, 2011
    88
    If you think you'd like killing a LOT of zombies in huge and varied open-world environments, finding boat-loads of randomized loot, customizing your character and weapons RPG-style, or all of the above, you will love Dead Island. Bring some friends along for the ride and you virtually cannot go wrong. Just don't expect much in terms of story or quest depth, and be sure to mod the game just the way you like it.
  5. Sep 19, 2011
    85
    You wouldn't imagine how many things one can forgive in a game where killing zombies is so much fun. [October 2011, p.55]
  6. Sep 12, 2011
    85
    Dead Island is ambitious - even ignoring the technical aspects, Techland attempted to make a game which would cater to people who wanted visceral combat and decent enemies, people who wanted an immersive game with dozens of hours of gameplay and people who just wanted somewhere to drive over zombies and blow stuff up. Dead Island accomplishes all of that and while it has some issues, for the most part it does it with style.
  7. Sep 5, 2011
    85
    New games featuring the walking dead have trouble standing out from the horde, but Techland's first-person, open-world, action/RPG entry Dead Island distinguishes itself. After kicking and slashing my way through the infected island of Banoi, I can say the game has tons to offer.
  8. Sep 5, 2011
    85
    Behind all the action there's an amazingly large and deep game. Of course it's also possible to play it simple and concentrate on the main story, but if you start building your own weapons, it's even better.
  9. Sep 15, 2011
    83
    As a fan of zombie movies and games you should have played Dead Island by now.
  10. Sep 13, 2011
    83
    There's no emotional soul, but Dead Island is an excellent open-world zombie hacker, slasher, and co-op loot party. [Nov 2011, p.65]
  11. Sep 9, 2011
    83
    The combination of Coop, Zombies and a tropical Island makes Dead Island a very interesting experience. It may have its flaws, but it's certainly still worth a look, if you consider yourself a fan of dismembering the undead.
  12. Sep 19, 2011
    82
    A sluggish interface, weak guns and a few dull sewers can't slow this game down. Dead Island is huge, bloody and beautiful.
  13. Sep 28, 2011
    80
    Dead Island is absolutely a fun and very playable game and worth the money, even if it lacks the incredible detail and more serious challenge of Dead Rising 2. Dead Island may lack new ideas, but it makes up for it with simple playability, and often that's all anyone wants in a game.
  14. Sep 12, 2011
    80
    It's also got some of the most hard-hitting first-person melee combat in any game I can remember, and an optional cooperative element that really broadens its appeal. Dead Island constantly runs the danger of collapsing under its own weird, esoteric technical quirks, but when it's running at full tilt its charms are hard to resist.
  15. Sep 11, 2011
    80
    An action RPG from the zombie-filled island that pleases by its great gameplay and surprises in many ways – like in a fine cooperation mode. The game suffers with some faults, but you can find those faults in de facto every sandbox game out there knowing that those faults have almost none eventual impact for your experience.
  16. Sep 10, 2011
    80
    When Dead Island is firing on all cylinders, it's an absolute blast to play, but sadly, this game will have people running into quite a few technical and gameplay-based frustrations before they get even a couple of hours in.
  17. Sep 7, 2011
    80
    There is a huge world to explore, thousands of zombies to kill, and tons of side quests to take. Here on the other side of a 25-hour playthrough -- where I skipped a lot of side quests after Act 1 -- I'm anxious to get back into Dead Island, and despite the game's flaws, that's not something I say often.
  18. 80
    Dead Island is fresh and banal together; raw in combat and visuals. It could be done better but a mix of Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead is amazing fun we've missed for so long. [Issue#208]
  19. Sep 15, 2011
    74
    Dead Island is a wonderful concept and the core gameplay is executed beautifully, but it really doesn't do anything new or interesting.
  20. Oct 3, 2011
    70
    Incredible potential squandered by a focus on action and dull quest design. Still a decent romp in co-op, but it could have been so much more. [Nov 2011, p.54]
  21. Sep 6, 2011
    70
    A schlocky, gruesomely fun action role-playing game awaits you on Dead Island. Bring three friends.
  22. Sep 15, 2011
    68
    Dead Island's saving grace is its open-world approach, cool custom weapons and fun coop. Nonetheless, Techland created a perfect foundation for a cool, RPG-flavored survival horror game, but forgot to polish it, in addition to providing a dull narrative.
  23. Sep 18, 2011
    65
    Dead Island is yet another tombstone upon a grave of excessive ambitions. Our condolences to those who fell for that excellent cinematic trailer – it has nothing to do with the actual game.
  24. Oct 9, 2011
    60
    It's the mission design that proves most disappointing. Its scale is highly ambitious but Dead Island's population of living dead aren't enough to compensate for its barren lack of variety and an increasingly tedious structure.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 749 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 57 out of 253
  1. Dead Island is a Open world, first person view, zombie survival horror with item collection and character skill advancement trees. Its as If Borderlands and Dead Rising got together and had a baby, that baby would be dead Island. This game has rich four player co-op, simple yet effective story, a deep weapon crafting and character customization system. Do you love zombies? Exploration? character advancement? item collections? co-op? then dead Island is a no brain-er. The only reason this game doesn't get a ten is due to a slightly bugged user interface that should be fixed this week with a patch. I would like to add that Dead Island on a high end pc is the ultimate zombie killing experience. This version has no texture loading issues, great control and much better graphics over all. Full Review »
  2. Dead Island is suffering from the typical "First Day/Week Hiccups" Nearly every game is packed with bugs within the first week or so, I am going to be doing an early review on things. Dead Island is an extremely fun game, that is worth the money . Logging in and playing with a friend for the first time is a blast, as you hack and slash every zombie that comes your way and you always scream "Ooooohhhh" whenever you slaughter a zombie. The co-op set up was very convenient, but lacked hints or a clue on when your co-op buddy can join you, after the Prologue your friend can join. Otherwise the co-op seems to really play smoothly and not suffer from any other issues that I came across. Experience: I am a gamer who does not fully believe every "Professional" reviewer, I look through them and then try the game myself, and find that most of the time I enjoy it even if the review was abysmal. It all matters about the experience you have with the game. As I mentioned before I played with my buddy through the co-op system, and we had a blast. The game does not seem to get old, the hacking and slashing, the gore and the exploration is just a pure treat. Every swing and throw I have done was an experience I have never felt before in a game, the brutal contact you make with a melee weapon to a zombie is just satisfying and you can feel their head crunch and necks snap. Overall Dead Island is definitely an experience you'll remember for a long time, and especially with a friend, you'll be laughing a lot. (re)Playability: Every gamer wants a game worth the money, and a game they can come home and enjoy hours on end, and this game is one of them. There are a TON of side-quests waiting for your acceptance and a vast amount of weaponry. There are weapon upgrade/repair tables around the world, which can be used for creating weapons, repairing weapons and upgrading weapons, and every single weapons has at least 3 upgrades giving you a chance to craft some crazy weapons and gather materials for blueprints and look for weapons. That's a lot of (re)playability there. Overall the (re)playability is very high, and I can tell that the game will offer another or...another play though, and I could tell there is too much to explore, and you won't be exploring it all on the first play through. Graphics and Animation: When I first starting playing the game my first reaction was "Wow this look nice" Its a rare case to find an open-world game to look so beautiful. As a 3d Environment Artist for games myself, I study the game world (I know nerdy) and I just felt in love with the environment, it is very well done for a open-world game and they deserve two thumbs up, but one thing I noticed is that some zombies tend to look too "wrinkly" the normal maps on some enemies are a bit "over exaggerated"compared to others and seems that the normal infected look better than the bosses, which was kind of odd to me, but it is not too much of a deal. The lip-syncing is not very good, but its nothing to ditch the game for, and the cut scenes are "meh" The animations for the zombies are great though as they switch and run at you, there is one kind of zombie that I seriously acted real (if zombies were in existence of course) Overall the art in this game is well done. Conclusion: As I mentioned this is my early review on things from what I experienced, and take what you want from this, but what I can say is Dead Island is getting some harsh reviews for things like: Glitches, story, lip-syncing, performance,etc" and this game JUST came out, I feel that it is quite unfair. The reason this is not a 10 is because of the rumors I heard on a Dev-build in which I figured because of the no-clipping, and some evidence of code that a steam user posted on the forums. This hopefully should be fixed, but I don't rely on that, as I mainly rely on my enjoyment and experience I had, and I already had an amazing experience with the game that is not even finished yet! Are you still debating whether to get this game or not? Well the comparison of "Fallout 3 with Zombies" is actually fairly true, it is really great. This game is the first game in a long time that I look forward everyday to play its the "I can't wait to get home from ____ to play this game" kind of feeling, and I haven't felt that in a long time. I don't blame anyone for waiting to get the game when things clear up a bit, but this is a must get no matter when you decide to play it. 9/10. Full Review »
  3. Deep Silver and Techland have royally messed up for a major release Dead Island, released a DEBUG version, to fix it caused files to become corrupt and user progression to be erased. Full Review »