Dead Island Riptide follows the immediate aftermath of Dead Island, with survivors escaping on a ship to foreign lands. In this installment, gamers gain access to more weapons with various mod additions as they fight for the surviving characters to find a haven amid the growing zombie outbreak. As the remaining survivors make it to the shores of Australia, they learn the plan of an elitist survivor, Frank Serpo, to harness and weaponize the Kuru zombie virus for malicious intent.
Riptide portrays the tension between lethal human threats caused by greed and power and an escalating virus with no defined cure. Players must master conservation, adaption, and vigilance more meaningfully to ensure survival on new Australian shores. With factions of power-lusty anarchists and evolving variants of zombies from Walkers and Drowners to Mutated Scientists and specialized Infected zombies, gamers must stay keen.
Every Playable Character In Dead Island: Riptide, Ranked
When it comes to hacking and slashing zombies, some characters in Dead Island: Riptide are a lot more effective than others.
8 Spiked Brass Knuckles
Zombie Mash, Or Human vs Human Defense?
The spiked brass knuckles come with the Assassin’s Poison and Rending Claw mods, adding a heavier Bleed and Poison effect to the melee weapon. This adds some extra punch (pun intended) to this simple weapon.
For gamers looking for close contact fights with zombies and humans alike, the spiked brass knuckles are effective for the first several blows — until the user gets tired, lowering energy levels. Blunt force can be effective, but in this survival horror series, energy conservation is key, and there are better weapons players can use in this regard.
7 Stun Gun
Zombies Aren’t The Only Entities To Fear
As fact can be stranger than fiction, humans can be much more menacing than any zombie foe in Dead Island: Riptide. The stun gun requires its own ammo, and does minimal immediate damage while dealing some electrical damage overall. It can be helpful when knocking out human enemies and does little for zombie foes.
Keep the stun gun in a scavenging pack for quick minute electrical damage hits and low-key attacks. The stun gun ranks as a low-level melee weapon type for quick-draw close combat scenarios.
6 Magnum
Stay Ready
Getting one’s hands on guns or sharp weapons is essential for staying at the top of the food chain of both zombies and fractured humanity. Having a handy magnum is essential to maintain authority in an apocalyptic situation like the one in Dead Island: Riptide.
The slow, heavy-duty revolver requires pistol ammo with a decent magazine capacity. In some of the denser locations of the massive island, a magnum becomes a lifeline during such explorations and scavenging.
5 Claws
Live The Ultimate Apocalyptic-Wolverine Fantasy
The claws are great for stylish defense in the wave of hand-to-hand combat weapons. However, there’s a kickback after landing the first few blows on a zombie enemy. There are a handful of different mods that increase the effectiveness of this spiked knuckle weapon. This melee hand weapon deals medium damage.
However, its lack of range, tiresome blows after the first couple of hits, and the potential to get stuck in a foe on impact place the claws lower on the list. For any Marvel fan, the claws definitely call to mind a Wolverine-esque style attack.
Best Mods For Dead Island: Riptide
Dead Island: Riptide is certainly showing its age by this point. Luckily, the following mods can help freshen up the experience.
4 Molotov Cocktail
Lean Into Anarchy
Nothing screams chaos like tossing a Molotov, and an apocalypse is an appropriate time to unleash the inner anarchist with a targeted purpose. These deadly cocktails can be found at various merchants throughout the game.
Players can unleash a fiery onslaught with these projectile weapons, causing up to 150 damage per second. The slow-burning fires caused by this projectile make for instant attacks that leave maximum damage to temporary enemy bases. They’re great to use on larger hoards of zombies as a finishing move.
3 Sonic Pulse Grenade
Head Top Mania
Players can send a devastating sonic pulse shockwave across a solo enemy or hoard of zombies with the sonic pulse grenade. Exploding the headtops of the intended target, the sonic pulse grenade can be used on lower-level zombies and fellow humans. This weapon is located across different regions with various merchants with moldable mods that enhance the efficacy of the sonic pulse grenade. A player can clear larger areas, buildings, and protected Boss Zombies, speeding up more intense battles.
As Riptidegives gamers more open-world exploration for scavenging and encampments, there are tons of unknown crevices on the island, making a mass-destructing weapon like the sonic pulse grenade an essential item. The slow-motion shot of the bright white pulse as it implodes the heads of targets is a wicked gory angle for horror game fans.
2 Exploding Meat
A Slop Top Bomb
In keeping with the theme of gore, the exploding meat weapon is a top tear back-pocket tool to lure zombies into instant and pre-meditated traps. Although this weapon requires obtaining the Wrist Watch, the exploding meat is a fun and bloody butchery that requires a tough stomach.
Gamers construct their meat grenade with slabs and slivers from Infected Zombies for instant attraction to the gore trap. This weapon does fall on the higher end of the price range at $50, and utilizes more materials than a simple sharp weapon with mods. Yet, the exploding meat weapon is a lethal tactic against a foe and a supreme meat bait weapon.
1 Burst Rifle
Survival of The Smartest
Ranking as an elite gun weapon, the burst rifle gives Dead Island: Riptide survivors a chance at controlling human and zombie populations in strikes. In three rounds of fiery bursts, the burst rifle has multiple mods from the Detox to Shock and Pride rifle mods, sharpening stealth and increasing impact damage.
The burst rifle holds a large capacity for magazines, aids in conserving regular and rare ammunition types, and can destroy higher-point enemies such as Floaters. Using such a unique and powerful tool in Dead Island: Riptide could mean the difference between life and the alternatives of human capture or becoming zombie chow.
