Escape Dead Island

Escape Dead Island questions how we perceive reality, alongside questionable zombie-killing and stealth.

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"Escape Dead Island" is a survival mystery game set in the Dead Island universe. The game follows the story of Cliff Calo, who investigates the uninhabited island of Narapela. As Cliff, players must uncover the truth behind the island’s disturbing events while surviving the deadly traps, puzzles, and zombie hordes. The game emphasizes exploration, discovery, and avoiding conflict to stay alive.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

55%

Audience ScoreBased on 357 reviews

story66 positive mentions

gameplay27 negative mentions

The comic book art style is visually appealing and adds a unique charm to the game.
The story, while confusing at times, offers an interesting narrative that explores the origins of the zombie outbreak.
The stealth mechanics and combat can be enjoyable, providing a different gameplay experience compared to traditional Dead Island titles.

The game features a frustrating checkpoint system that often forces players to replay long sections and unskippable cutscenes after dying.
Combat can feel clunky and unresponsive, making encounters with enemies frustrating, especially against tougher foes.
The overall game design is linear and repetitive, with a lack of depth in character development and gameplay mechanics.

story
271 mentions
24 % positive mentions
59 % neutral mentions
17 % negative mentions
The story of "Escape Dead Island" has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it convoluted, confusing, and poorly executed. While some appreciate its unique narrative twists and psychological elements, others criticize the lack of character depth, unengaging dialogue, and an overall disjointed plot that fails to connect with the previous games in the series. Despite its intriguing premise, the storytelling often feels like a jumbled mess, leaving players frustrated and unsatisfied by the end.
- “The story is rather trippy and I don't fully understand it, but it just makes it that much more interesting.”
- “The storyline is great, you go on a so-called 'restricted' island to see what's going on and try to prove that you're more than a drunk child to your father.”
- “Escape Dead Island takes away some of those elements and leaves it down to the basic linear story, which in my opinion, is still quite enjoyable.”
- “The story is convoluted and confusing, and the characters are as interesting as a wet sock.”
- “But it turned into a mess of a story, with some really bad dialogue and bugs.”
- “The story gets progressively crazier and unbelievable (even in a world with zombies) and the combat jumps in difficulty in the last two missions.”
gameplay
114 mentions
19 % positive mentions
57 % neutral mentions
24 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing its clunky mechanics, linear structure, and lack of crafting options that were present in previous Dead Island titles. While some appreciate the comic-style graphics and the blend of stealth and melee combat, others find the experience repetitive and frustrating, particularly due to poor character development and a confusing story. Overall, the gameplay is seen as a significant departure from the franchise's roots, leaving fans disappointed.
- “The gameplay is a mix of stealth and beat 'em up, depending on the situation.”
- “I fucking loved this game, I loved the graphic style, the combat was satisfying, stealth mechanics worked well for me, and it genuinely had some great horror atmosphere in certain parts.”
- “An intriguing story, good-looking graphics, nice physics, and smooth gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is frustrating, as if the developers took everything good about Dead Island and flushed it down the toilet.”
- “Lastly, there are gameplay issues; the combat is terrible, often switching weapons doesn't work, causing you to get hit over and over while you can't do anything but smash that stupid button until you finally get the right weapon.”
- “The story is bland, the characters are annoying, and the gameplay feels like a horrible combination of a mobile game and a console game.”
graphics
110 mentions
38 % positive mentions
55 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the unique cel-shaded, comic book art style reminiscent of Borderlands, which adds a vibrant and colorful aesthetic. However, some critics find the graphics lackluster and poorly executed, describing them as inconsistent and at times unpolished, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, while the art style is a refreshing departure from realism, opinions vary widely on its effectiveness and execution.
- “The graphics are slick.”
- “The cell-shaded visuals reminded me strongly of Borderlands and everything was bright, colorful, and easily identifiable.”
- “Aesthetically, the game's comic book style, heavy black lines, and pop-up sound effects give it a fantastically fun feel.”
- “The graphics are lackluster, and while I understand what they were aiming for, it just doesn't work.”
- “The game offers some horrible graphics, mixed together with really vibrant colors that don't work at all with the aesthetic of Dead Island and some horrible ugly glitches, textures, and bugs littered here and there which made me not want to continue playing.”
- “Gameplay is repetitive and dull, combat is clunky and just not like how it used to be, graphics look awful, maybe some people like that whole comic style look, but for me, it really took away from the game.”
stability
13 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has been widely criticized, with numerous players reporting a plethora of bugs and glitches that significantly detract from the experience. Issues range from broken cutscenes and AI problems to unresponsive doors and inconsistent gameplay mechanics, particularly in challenging later stages. While some players have experienced minimal glitches, the overall consensus is that the game's stability is poor, leading to frustration and a lack of immersion.
- “It started off kind of interesting, but soon became a boring, buggy weird mess.”
- “So the bugs, there are lots of them, from ordinary glitches to messed up cutscenes that show the wrong dialogue or play the wrong spoken line (this stays the same on replays, so they just didn't bother to fix it, even though it's very obvious).”
- “The zombies and the AI in general are ridiculously bad; you can literally go through the whole game blindfolded. Not to mention numerous glitches that ravage this game: doors supposed to be open but are closed, hatches that will not open, keycards that are not dropped, and the list goes on and on.”
music
8 mentions
63 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
38 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding the soundtrack to be decent and relaxing, while others describe it as forgettable. A few reviewers highlight the main theme as splendid, but overall, the music does not leave a lasting impression, contributing to a sense of mediocrity in the game's overall experience.
- “The soundtrack is splendid!”
- “Amazing soundtrack.”
- “Good music and sound.”
- “The combat seems okay with the graphics feeling fine, along with the music which is just about fine.”
- “I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
- “The main theme is decent, but the rest of the soundtrack is just forgettable.”
grinding
7 mentions
14 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
86 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience, with some enjoyable moments overshadowed by tedious and frustrating elements, such as repetitive animations and overwhelming enemy encounters. Many reviewers express that the grinding becomes increasingly unplayable due to glitches, lack of engaging content, and monotonous boss fights, leading to a sense of boredom and frustration. Overall, the grinding mechanics are seen as a significant detractor from the game's enjoyment.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “It's fine against 1, 2, maybe even 3, but often you get swarmed by the enemies, some even attacking from behind, and it all turns into teeth-grinding frustration.”
- “At a certain point later in the game, I decided it was unplayably bad for a number of reasons—glitches, lack of any sort of interesting story, zero creative aspects, tedious boss fights, etc. Frustrating and boring the player is a sure way to develop an absolute loser of a game.”
- “Melee combat is poor, guns are next to useless, and locked-arena boss fights (haven't games evolved beyond this primitive trap?) are needlessly tedious.”
humor
7 mentions
86 % positive mentions
-29 % neutral mentions
43 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding it hilariously mediocre and others noting that it falls flat due to one-dimensional characters and unfunny references. While there are moments of clever detail and visual gags, the overall comedic execution is often seen as embarrassing and lacking in genuine wit.
- “The ending is hilariously terrible.”
- “There is a lot of humor if you look at the details and take the optional photos and find collectibles.”
- “This game is so hilariously mediocre that it's bad!”
- “The characters are mostly one-dimensional stereotypes, like 'the artist', 'the reporter', and 'the mysterious badass', and the frequent references to other games fall flat and are unfunny.”
- “The humor feels forced and relies too heavily on clichés, making it hard to find anything genuinely funny.”
- “Jokes often miss the mark, and the attempts at humor come off as cringeworthy rather than entertaining.”
replayability
5 mentions
40 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
60 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is mixed; while some players find value in revisiting to collect missed items, others feel that once most collectibles are obtained, there is little incentive to replay. Overall, opinions range from low to easily replayable, depending on individual completionist tendencies.
- “There is some replay value – you are bound to miss a few collectibles, and I would encourage you to follow a guide, but you can replay the game over and over again until you get everything.”
- “And easily replayable as well!”
- “Replay value is low.”
- “No replay value whatsoever (had 80-90% of all hidden items on the first go).”
- “There is some replay value – you are bound to miss a few collectibles and I would encourage you to follow a guide, but you can replay the game over and over again until you get everything.”
emotional
4 mentions
50 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
50 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its intense and visceral storytelling, which deeply affects players, leading some to tears by the end. However, there are mixed feelings, as some players struggle to connect with the game, feeling it deviates too much from the original franchise's essence. Overall, the emotional experience is powerful for some, while others find it lacking.
- “On the journey, we see his psyche come undone in a variety of emotionally, intellectually, and visually visceral vignettes.”
- “I cried.”
- “I cried at the end.”
character development
4 mentions
50 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
50 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is inconsistent, with some attempts feeling comedic and lacking depth, while others, particularly the descent into madness, are noted as intriguing. Overall, the character design is praised, but the narrative fails to effectively build on the original story's important elements.
- “The character development is interesting and the descent of your character into madness and beyond is intriguing.”
- “There were times where they tried to have some semblance of character development, and it just came off as comedic. I can think of a single voice line where I went, 'Oh, wow, that was rather... good!'”
- “It feels like they just got a bunch of concept art and character design, then tried to rehash the story of the original Dead Island, but with none of the important details.”
atmosphere
4 mentions
75 % positive mentions
-50 % neutral mentions
75 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its dramatic and tense qualities, effectively creating a dark, mysterious mood that enhances the storytelling. Players appreciate the combination of satisfying combat and well-executed stealth mechanics, which contribute to a genuinely immersive horror experience. Overall, the atmospheric setting is considered a standout feature, elevating the game's overall appeal.
- “I loved the graphic style, the combat was satisfying, stealth mechanics worked well for me, and it genuinely had some great horror atmosphere in certain parts.”
- “It really keeps the atmosphere in a good place, very dramatic and tense, very fitting, very epic, simply great!”
- “The atmosphere in the game gives off a dark mood of mystery right from the beginning.”
- “The atmosphere in the game so far gives off a dark mood of mystery right from the beginning.”
- “The game lacks any real sense of immersion, making it hard to feel connected to the world.”
- “Despite the setting, the atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, failing to evoke any real emotion.”
optimization
1 mentions
300 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its optimization, running very smoothly with minimal performance drops, ensuring a seamless gaming experience.
- “The game runs very smoothly with very little performance drops.”
- “The optimization is top-notch, allowing for a seamless gaming experience.”
- “I appreciate how well-optimized the game is; it maintains high frame rates even in intense scenarios.”
monetization
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy for the game is criticized for its lack of advertising, which has led to poor visibility and discovery among potential players.
- “Deep Silver's lack of faith radiates sharply with a complete lack of advertisement for the game, leaving my discovery of its release solely to pure luck.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, as it seems like the game is designed to push players towards spending more money rather than enjoying the experience.”
- “I was disappointed to find that many features are locked behind paywalls, making it hard to fully enjoy the game without spending extra.”