Dead Island Hero image

The Staycation Will Be Televised With Dead Island: Definitive Collection

Polish developer Techland’s Dead Island series, the definitive “worst vacation ever” simulator, now has a definitive edition, in the form of Dead Island: Definitive Collection. Available now, the collection includes both Dead Island and its sequel Dead Island: Riptide, along with Dead Island: Retro Revenge. These fully remastered editions include all of their respective downloadable content and patches, as well as a host of upgrades. For its part, Retro Revenge is brand-new, standalone, 16-bit-style sidescrolling action game/endless runner, set within the Dead Island universe.

Oh, and that “remastered” thing is the real deal, as the two Dead Island games come stuffed to the gills with upgrades. Techland and publisher Deep Silver are hyping the game’s graphics, which have been quite significantly enhanced for Xbox One. In-game textures have been redone in a higher resolution, which leads to a visual improvement across the board.

This is heightened by a new, nearly photorealistic lighting system, along with cutting-edge shading techniques from the latest iteration of Techland’s Chrome Engine, which combine to bring a higher quality visual fidelity to the game’s graphics, and help in-game scenes respond in a more realistic way to different lighting conditions.

Better anti-aliasing techniques make for a cleaner overall look (read: fewer jagged edges), and all of Dead Island’s in-game 3D models have been improved as well. There are new motion blur effects, as well as the introduction of horizon-based ambient occlusion – all of which helps bring this extended, terrible vacation to life in ways even a week’s worth of rain, watered-down drinks at the hotel bar, and a testy bellhop could not.

And that’s not all! Updated UI provides a more consistent look between both Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide, helping to create a seamless experience and overall package. Both games feature online four-player co-op (so you don’t have to traverse the zombie infested island alone), and the fan-favorite, unofficial PC mod “Power Fists” will also be added to both games, letting players punch their way through the mayhem with reckless abandon. The zombie-punching, daiquiri-swilling tropical romp is available now for Xbox One.