Dead Island/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Banned in China: In certain countries the logo has been changed with the "I" being a standing zombie instead of a hanging body. The promo for Riptide was shown on Australian TV and it's portrayal of suicide had it pulled, and may have contributed to the game receiving an R rating (the first snuck in at MA.) The resin statue of a mutilated woman with the special edition was also cut for Australia.
  • Doing It for the Art: Given the many intricacies of the game, it's pretty obvious that the game was a labor of love as much as anything else. Dead Island was in development as early as 2007, but had a hard time finding a publisher until Deep Silver picked it up.
  • Fan Nickname: Left 4 Dead Rising.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Phil LaMarr is the voice of Sam B, and Kim Mai Guest plays Xian Mei. (Between Xian, Lian Xing, and Mei Ling, this might qualify Guest for some kind of badass Chinese woman hat trick.)
    • Steve Blum shows off a hilarious Australian accent as Sinamoi the lifeguard, and voices Nikolai for at least a few lines.
    • The audio recordings guy is unmistakably Cam Clarke.
    • Yerema is Arcee.
    • Logan is Sesshoumaru.
  • Shout-Out
    • One of the achievements is called "Cardio".
    • The doctor at the lifeguard station is named Jack.
    • When you first reach the roof of the lifeguard station, you witness an Oceanic Airlines flight crashing in the nearby jungle.
    • The name for the fast-running type of zombie is "The infected," just like in "28 Days Later".
    • The list of achievements contains numerous references, including one called "Right 4 Life", paying homage to one of the game's obvious inspirations. Another achievement is earned by playing the game exactly 28 days after first starting the game.
    • When you enter a certain apartment complex in the second act, there's writing on the wall next to a door. What does it say? "Don't open, dead inside".
      • On that same vein, the regular undead are called "Walkers".
    • There's a girl called "Anne", who pronounces her name as "Annie", sends you to find her bear and says "Have you seen my bear?" Sound familiar?
    • Late in the game, there's a named enemy named Jason. He has a machete, wears a mask and has decapitated heads on the desk of his house... Who does this remind you of?
    • Early on, as you're going through the bungalows, one of the only unlocked houses contains a bedroom with a female zombie tied to the bed, a running video camera pointed at her, and a dead cameraman slumped against the wall. The zombie's name is an anagram for Jenna Jameson.
    • Later on in the game after completing a quest you are awarded a unique Katana called: "Zed's Demise"
      • There's actually a fair few of these in the weapons, including Hammers named "Ban" (as in 'Banhammer') and "Gabriel's Sledgehammer" (A reference to the song by Peter Gabriel) and a knife called "Assassins Greed"
    • In the Laboratory area, there's a scientist named West. Frankly, anyone who didn't anticipate problems with a 'Dr. West' working with zombies hasn't seen Re-Animator, played any of the Splatterhouse games, or read the original H.P. Lovecraft short story "Herbert West, Reanimator".
    • There's a weapon mod called the "Left Hand of Glova" that allows you to shoot a fistfulla' loitnin' at zombies. There's even an animation showing your character pretending to inject an EVE hypo.
      • The Rending Claws mod, which involves affixing blades to brass knuckles, used to be called the Wolverine's Claws mod.
    • You meet a Russian helicopter pilot named Nikolai.
    • Apparently the creators slipped in several references that fly over the heads of anyone not living in Poland, like brands of bottled drinks.
    • Early in the game, there is a quest titled "Knockin on Heaven's Door".
  • Vaporware: Until the "little girl trailer" came out, it was assumed to be this. The first trailer was released in 2007, promising a 2008 release date... and not a peep from the developers for four years after that.