Dead Island patch for launch

By Robert Purchese Published 6 September, 2011

A fleshy furlong of fixes.

Buggy horror-action role-player Dead Island will be patched this Friday at launch.

The fix-list, revealed by Destructoid, attends to nearly 40 problems. Everything from game instability, disappearing inventories and inability to finish side-quests are tackled - and plenty more besides.

Eurogamer turned up 6/10 in its Dead Island review.

"I suspect this will be one of those games that will be justifiably mocked by the majority for its many flaws but embraced by a forgiving minority, and passionately defended for its underdog status," wrote Dan Whitehead.

"Neither response will be entirely wrong. Much like gnawing on human flesh, Dead Island's clumsy horror-action role-player is the definition of an acquired taste."

  • Fixed map synchronization when player joins during map load.
  • Fixed saving player re-spawn position when playing in co-op mode.
  • Fixed occasional inability to complete sidequests in Laboratory.
  • Improved enemy awareness (zombies).
  • Fixed occasional bug with NPC's hands bend (IK)
  • Fixed spawning enemies in some quests after joining co-op game.
  • Fixed showing locations on invisible NPCs.
  • Fixed potential path blocker when quest "Knockin' on heaven's door" was completed before talking to Dominik during the "On the air" quest.
  • Fixed displaying gather rings near some doors.
  • Fixed enemy reaction to fire.
  • Fixed enemies' health and stamina bars in co-op.
  • Fixed filtering of games in lobby.
  • Volume of pickup's engine has been increased.
  • Fixed a number of issues causing game instability.
  • Fixed the switching of maps upon player death.
  • Fixed enemies unable to reach the player on some arenas.
  • Thrown items cannot be picked up by co-op players for five minutes.
  • Items from freshly opened containers cannot be picked up by other players for five seconds to prevent theft.
  • Fixed animation glitch when trading with team members.
  • More than one player can use a ladder at the same time.
  • Fixed stomping execution animation when target's attacked by a second player.
  • Fixed the infinite respawning of shooting enemies.
  • Fixed not hiding menu if players die inside a vehicle.
  • Fixed item level calculation when playing New Game Plus.
  • Added information about players requesting pause in co-op.
  • Fixed A.I. animation glitch after fast-traveling or using a map portal.
  • Added distinction between quest checkpoints and other types of saves.
  • Fixed bug causing all inventory to disappear.
  • Fixed reloading and kicking. After the clip goes in, the reload is a success.
  • Purna can gain bonus rage from both "Grim Inspiration" and "Inspiring Kick".
  • Only "Walker" type enemies increase the extra XP of the "Combo" skill from Xian's Survival skill tree.
  • Health regeneration is disabled during grabs.
  • Focus on items in shops not changing after selling or buying.
  • More HP for NPCs in escort missions.
  • Butcher enemies won't spawn at all during escort missions.
  • Fixed tracking after loading checkpoint.
  • Increased minimum vertical distance to count a waypoint as passed for NPCs (they no longer wander back-and-forth).
Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Mr_interesting_2011 #1 9 months ago

    Apparently the steam version released yesterday was a dev build! Hope we get the right one on Friday...

    http://www.deadislandforums.com/showthre...

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #2 9 months ago

    Well definitely not buying this for a few months then, stopping treating customers like beta testers, i hope EG will re review it when its finished.

  • SteveHolt #3 9 months ago

    "Fixed bug causing all inventory to disappear"

    Holy cow! That's a big one :/

  • Disco_Stu360 #4 9 months ago

    Classic Techland!

  • CaptainQuint #5 9 months ago

    I want this game.

  • ruslan74 #6 9 months ago

    "Thrown items cannot be picked up by co-op players for five minutes."

    Is this a fix or added feature? One way to prevent supa dupa weapons from being given to lower class players for 5 minutes?

  • DDevil #7 9 months ago

    These lists always make me think of Boiling Point and it's amazing list of bug fixes.

    Fixed: Jaguars floating at tree height.
    Fixed: No longer able to destroy the moon
    Fixed: No longer able to collapse police station with crossbow bolt.

  • Nephirion #8 9 months ago

    So the retail code is just a beta then?

    Printed on the disk " Rest of the game to follow "
    Edited by Nephirion at 06/09/11 @ 10:25

  • rockavitch #9 9 months ago

    @GamesProgrammer I doubt EG will re-review it and to be honest they don't need to as they reviewed the version the company deemed fit for the public.

    They want better reviews then it's best they do better work on their games.

  • Cappy #10 9 months ago

    That's shocking.

    At this point in the release cycle these must be bugs that they were aware of from Q&A and should have fixed before the game went gold. Who knows how many more bugs will crop up after release, or how many they haven't bothered to fix.

    They simply don't seem to care.

  • The-Jack-Burton #11 9 months ago

    Bethesda would be proud

  • Goodfella #12 9 months ago

    Classic Techland!

    I can't help but imagine Alan Partridge saying that.

    I don't know if this patch is a good thing. Good that they're patching the game but is it good that it needs so many fixes on day one?

  • Doctor_What #13 9 months ago

    No, the jaguars still float in Dead Island: that'll be fixed next time.

  • carlitoswagon #14 9 months ago

    The hype surrounding this game is akin to visiting Spearmint Rhino only to have a massive cock waved in your face.

    Edited by carlitoswagon at 06/09/11 @ 10:49

  • GitSomE_UK #15 9 months ago

    This is a real shame, I had high hopes for this. Shocking list of bugs there... will be waiting for the budget bin for this and then only maybe if I have nothing else to do will I buy it.

  • Primatori #16 9 months ago

    That is a shocking list of bugs alright, i am still buying the game on Friday but i am expecting a second patch within 3-4 days of release.

  • Tryhard #17 9 months ago

    haha they said this a Fallout type zombie game.They must have been talking about New Vegas bugs.

  • TruSmiles #18 9 months ago

    Bugs and glitches really are an art form in their own right! Would have loved to have seen some of the Boiling Point ones :D

  • rojjer #19 9 months ago

    I'm sure a large majority of you read or watch reviews on other sites to compare them before making a decision to buy the game right? Eurogamer is one of the few that rates this lower than the average - check out the video reviews on ign or gametrailers, it does look like a lot of fun imo. Plus its good that they're patching stuff from the off. Quite a few other AAA companies would let some of that shit slide..

  • maxb #20 9 months ago

    At least it is a day 1 patch and won't effect anyone planning to get it.some bigger publishers should learn from this!

  • Darren #21 9 months ago

    Dead Island is definitely starting to look like one of those games where it is better to wait several months before buying it so they can fix all the bugs. Might actually turn out to be good by Christmas! ;)

    Sadly, this seems to be an all too common occurence these days, more so on the PC than the consoles due to the added complication of billions of different combinations of hardware/software. I'm actually at the point where I wonder if it is worth buying PC games as soon as they're released anyway; that I should perhaps be buying older patched games instead! :(

  • WeakOrbit #22 9 months ago

    Didn't it take Obsidian about two months to patch New Vegas after the glitch that wouldn't allow the strip to load unless you were wearing McRearys hat or something like that? Now for anyone not in the know entering the Strip in NV was essential to every factions quest. ( at least with the PS3 version)

    Now to my point. If Dead Island is getting a patch so soon at least the developer knows that there are bugs to fix and has taken on the criticism and are working to achieve a relatively stable launch product (well for europe) and that they will continue to rectify these mistakes. However annoying these bugs in the game are they are by no means a deal breaker if you want to get the game.



  • Biker_Bob_1971 #23 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 16:59:10 06-02-2012

  • Spunkweazle #24 9 months ago

    by the time this reaches the £17.99 price point it will be all patched and DLC'd up, thats where i come in

  • FTM #25 9 months ago

    I am still getting it..I think there will be much fun to have when playing with friends

  • FTM #26 9 months ago

    the wierd thing is the reviews are all over the place

    some are very unforgiving , but others seem far more positive.

  • Monsieur_Blade #27 9 months ago

    They deserve credit for a day one patch but wouldn't a better idea have been for the game to have been delayed a couple of weeks so it could have been properly finished?

    I was quite put off by the EG review yesterday but I've just read the Games Radar review and it made me really want to play the game! Like EG, it also said there were plenty of bugs but that the game was too entertaining and original to let them spoil the experience. It sounds like the game lulls you into a false sense of security and then changes everything! Plus they said it was genuinely scary - It got a 7/10.

    I think if a few patches are brought out that fix 90% of the major bugs then Dead Island might be superb! I haven't got time to put 25+ hours into Dead Island at the min so I'll prob pick this up around Xmas time for £15 or so.
    Edited by Monsieur_Blade at 06/09/11 @ 14:00

  • Womble9 #28 9 months ago

    Hell, that's one heck of a list of crudness!!

  • TelexStar #29 9 months ago

    EG's review of this read a bit too much like a snob critiquing a child's drawing against the Mona Lisa. I know reviews are subjective things by their nature but at least try and make it sound like you approached the subject with some objectivity.

    Personally, I'm still getting the game but will be heading in with suitable reservations and my expectations set accordingly. Too many other reviews have indicated that despite the bugs and problems, this is still lots of fun to play - especially in co-op. As post #1 said, surely that's the whole point of games?

  • amfamaster #30 9 months ago

    I also think eg's review is too brutal, i checked other websites for score and i made up my mind - I am buying this game
    Especially since its around 15 pounds (steam edition!)

  • mattk84 #31 9 months ago

    After seeing the original trailer I like most people was looking forward to this but then I saw some gameplay footage and saw it was a poor mans L4D. Add this news into the mix and it disappears from my radar completely. How do games go gold when so much is unfinished? Smacks of that they know it will tank and the only decent sales window is this month so have rushed it.

    Playr gave it quite a favourable review though saying that co-op was where its at.
    Edited by mattk84 at 06/09/11 @ 16:05

  • Mr_Brown #32 9 months ago

    I agree reviewers and gamers have too high expectations on all games. I'm sure reviewers and gamers expect every game to be released to be better than the best games in their genre. Not every game can compare to 10/10 games, its an unrealistic expectation. Especially from a company with a much lower budget and experience and it's why publishers force early launches and mistakes like this happen.

    I understand why people are annoyed that they are releasing an unfinished product, but at least they are fixing it day one. I'm still getting this day one as I fully expect to enjoy this immensely. Red River had a similar reaction and I really enjoyed its all the way through, especially on coop. It didn't try to out do everything else in its genre and concentrated on creating a fun co operative experience.

    There has been another story stating it's triple A titles destroying innovation and I disagree. In my opinion its reviewers and gamers attitude and simply not giving a game a chance or at least some slack. If a game doesn't reinvent its genre or isn't perfect in every distinction it gets a 5 or 6/10. Then every gamer cancels their pre order and waits until its 'cheap' or 'pre owned' and the developer loses money and the franchise dies. Even if the game is solid. I have not played the game, so I don't know for sure if it will be fun or not, but I find it ridiculous how many people won't even take a chance on it despite it not getting terrible reviews. Pathetic.
    Edited by Mr_Brown at 06/09/11 @ 16:29

  • itsfuzzy #33 9 months ago

    I know this many bugs should not happen, but maybe they rushed it out to not collide with all the major titles coming up? Well at least they have the patch out at launch. Thats something

  • johnson81 #34 9 months ago

    The game looks fun and I can play any old shite. As long as the bugs are not gamebreaking and I get a few hours enjoyment out of it I'll be happy. Just another 5 hours before I can play it. Roll on 5pm.