History YMMV / DeadIsland

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Sam B is a very popular choice to play as. In singleplayer, it's all but mandatory to play as him, as his large health pool and damage reduction abilities give him the best survivability on his own. In multiplayer, he also has an aggro ability that lets him function as a tank and take the heat off your teammates. If everyone is up to it, you can go through the campaign as [[GameBreaker a four-man team of Sam B's]].

** Not quite a glitch, but a dangerously game-breaking form of SaveScumming. In the prologue chapter, when you are first introduced to the zombies, you’re supposed to run like hell from the level 60 Walkers and Infected. However, there is a bedroom you can lead the zombies into and you can jump on the bed to prevent them from hitting you. Start whaling on them and you’ll soon find yourself SOARING up levels since having a level 1 character kill level 60 zombies translates to massive xp for you. Simply reload your last save to get them to respawn, then rinse and repeat to your heart’s content. Theoretically, you can use this to get a level 60 character before you even start the game.

* DemonicSpiders: The Thug zombie. It has a good reach, swings somewhat fast, knocks you down and takes a good chunk of health off with each hit. It is also HARD to put down. If you encounter it while driving you have to run it over at least TWICE (if you're lucky) to put an end to it. Your only saving grace is that they're much slower than a Walker.
** It's worth noting here that the Thugs, after their initial appearance inside the lifeguard station, appear regularly throughout the rest of the game as a sort of roadblock. Thugs have a habit of showing up in front of quest objectives or in major intersections, where they must be defeated in order to progress. However, using the "Analog" controls makes them a little easier to kill, once you disarm them, and they can be detected by their loud roaring.
** Infected zombies are a pain as well. As if dealing with a mob of Walkers isn't enough, these little freaks will charge full speed ahead, swinging wildly and quickly whittling your health to zero. While they are easy to kill on their own, they also work in groups, which becomes problematic when playing alone.
*** The Infected are the reason you need to be so careful when going through Moresby. There's a certain section in the city where the Infected respawn indefinitely in multiple groups of two or three. Going in there is akin to a death sentence.
** Also, Butchers. [[LightningBruiser Ridiculous damage potential, runs faster than the player, takes a lot to take down and regenerates health]], while also having a knockdown attack that drains stamina, a [[TheBerserker rage mode]] ''and'' the ability to alert other infected? At least [[FragileSpeedster Infected]], [[MightyGlacier Thugs]], [[TacticalSuicideBoss Ra]][[AttackItsWeakPoint ms]] and [[GlassCannon Floaters]] have exploitable weaknesses, but the Butchers have absolutely no flaws whatsoever. Unless you have a damn good ranged weapon on hand, he will just tear you apart.

* GoodBadBugs: The weapon duplication glitch, which borders on GameBreaker territory. Not only do you no longer have to settle for anything less than your best weapon, you can casually throw it away when it breaks and pull out a new one! Or you can dupe a pile of weapons and sell them for loads of money. Unfortunately, it has been patched.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: The story, as noted above, is often regarded as being too depressing for gamers to really get into. However, the actual gameplay will still keep the player engaged with its [[SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer many sidequests]], lots of respawning zombies for LevelGrinding, and being able to freely explore wide open setting.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: The story, as noted above, is often regarded as being too depressing for gamers to really get into. However, the gameplay itself is still considered to be enjoyable, nonetheless. It certainly helps that there are a lot of [[SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer sidequests to help keep the player busy]], as well as a lot of respawning zombies if you want to do some LevelGrinding.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The games are really dark in their content with little if any hope, which may turn some gamers off.

* TheWoobie: Yerema and [[spoiler: Ryder White]].

** Most agree that the resort is the best part of the first game, with it's sunny, lovely coastal resort look jarring but meshing really well with the devoured corpses and general devastation, the resort really does sell your character SleptTroughTheApocalypse, once you reach Moresby it starts to sink into a more generic ruined city and deadly jungle maps.

** Most agree that the resort is the best part of the first game, with it's sunny, lovely coastal resort look jarring but meshing really well with the devoured corpses and general devastation, the resort really does sell your character waking up LateToTheApocalypse, once you reach Moresby it starts to sink into a more generic ruined city and deadly jungle maps.

** Regardless of whether they like or hate the game, there's another split with those who think that Deep Silver has, at least at some point, spent too much time shilling the series as even better than it is. This is most apparent in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', the first game in its franchise to be published by Deep Silver - that series is certainly no stranger to ShoutOut[=s=], but when that series does a reference, it's a muted AffectionateParody of something from what it's referring to: a quote, a similar situation, a [[{{Expy}} character]], something that doesn't outright say what it's referring to, and doesn't need to for a good chunk of the players to get it. This is in contrast to the ''Dead Island'' references in the fourth game, which flat-out namedrop it and treat it like a triple-A media sensation on the same level as ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'', acting like it's good enough that Creator/KeithDavid [[ItsPersonal takes it personally]] that he can't play it anymore, or popular enough that a ''VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever''-style crossover between ''Saints Row'' and ''Dead Island'' is something fans of the series want.

* EarWorm: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo3NXDWBML8 Who Do You Voodoo, Bitch?]]", both InUniverse and out.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CzcOcBb_ms Take a guess.]]

* MostAnnoyingSound: Some of the responses to doing the continuous quests can become this with arguably Svetlana being the worst. SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR DAMN CHAMPAGNE!
** AH CAHN'T LAST LAWNG WITHOUT MUCH WATAH!
** I HEARD THIS SCOURGE CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
** "Where the hell did I put that? It's gotta be around here somewhere." is just begging for a tech-remix.
** The Infected's screams, when they're not scary.
*** To elaborate, since the start of the game, a group of undead, known as infected are the first set of zombies that started the outbreak due to the [[spoiler:Kuru Virus]], and when you start off they are fairly chilling, your heart will most likely jump out of your chest and you'll gasp out "oh god no, not these guys!" But by the time you make it to the [[spoiler:City of Moresby]] the biggest reaction they'll get out of you is "Oh god...not these guys..." *eye roll*, especially since their angry screams soon begin sounding like a raspy child trying to eat an incredibly huge sucker, and when they die they sound like a pig squealing
** The Thug's distinctive roar becomes this after awhile, especially if you know you don't even have to deal with them.
** Basically everything the side quest escort characters say. They constantly admonish the player to hurry up or stay near them, all while sprinting ahead like idiots and aggroing every zombie in their path, forcing the player to stop and kill things so the fool doesn't die, thus causing them to whine even more.

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoForHire Charon]], aka [[spoiler:Kevin]], real name [[spoiler:Kevin Barrister]] in the non-canonical ''VideoGame/EscapeDeadIsland'', is a [[TheCracker terrorist hacker]] for hire out to cause chaos. Imprisoned for working for countless criminal and terrorist organizations, Charon continues to work with an organization hoping to weaponize the outbreak. Operating behind the scenes, Chaon has the immune protagonists find Yerema to take the virus and advance it to more aggressive stages. When Dr. West insists on making a cure, Charon kills him and the other scientists by loosing zombies onto them. Charon tricks Colonel Ryder White into helping him by using his infected wife as leverage, convincing White and the others the strain is actually a cure. Framing White as a madman, leading to the immune killing him and his soldiers, Charon implies his intention to use Yerema to spread outbreaks around the world.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Charon]], aka [[spoiler: Kevin]], is an international [[PsychoForHire hacker-for-hire]] who is wanted for willingly working with many terrorists and criminal organizations, from [[UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden al-Qaeda]] to the {{Yakuza}}. During the zombie outbreak on Banoi, Charon intends to take a sample of the zombie virus and get rich by selling it as a bio-weapon. He [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates the immune protagonists]] against [[AntiHero Colonel Ryder White]], which gets White killed, and convinces them to obtain a bio-engineered super-potent strain of the virus. As it turns out, Charon also manipulated Ryder into betraying his country, using his infected wife as leverage, and after betraying Ryder, states that he should have killed him when he had the chance. When Dr. West insists on creating a cure for the virus, Charon kills him. Driven by {{greed}} and his indifference to human life, Charon cares not for the millions he puts in danger in the pursuit of money.

* AnticlimaxBoss: After the enormous amount of build-up he gets, the mass murderer known as the Butcher of Banoi turns out to be the same as a regular {{Mook}} and goes down in just one or two hits.
** After the latest patch, the Butcher of Banoi has been made into a noticeably tougher enemy, about on par with a special zombie like a [[GiantMook Thug]] or [[LightningBruiser Butcher]]. He's still not as tough as [[spoiler:[[BonusBoss Jason]]]], though, even with the latter being somewhat {{Nerf}}ed by the same patch.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CzcOcBb_ms Take a guess.]]

** Not quite a glitch, but a dangerously game-breaking form of SaveScumming. In the prologue chapter, when you are first introduced to the zombies, you’re supposed to run like hell from the level 60 Walkers and Infected. However, there is a bedroom you can lead the zombies into and you can jump on the bed to prevent them from hitting you. Start wailing on them and you’ll soon find yourself SOARING up levels since having a level 1 character kill level 60 zombies translates to massive xp for you. Simply reload your last save to get them to respawn, then rinse and repeat to your heart’s content. Theoretically, you can use this to get a level 60 character before you even start the game.

** Believe it or not simply the ability to jump up on a car. Best seen in the Quarantine Zone, doing so as soon as you hear the Infected causes them to not know what to do, then they get mad and rush the car in waves of thirty or more. Since for the most part they cannot reach you they can be easily dealt with via molotov, firearm, or any weapon with decent range.

* IReadThatAs: "Level 12 [[ADateWithRosiePalms Wanker]]."

* BrokenBase: The games themselves, as well as the trailers. Some think they are well crafted, others think, "Why is there a dead girl...oh my god so not cool," and yet others go for a mix of the two, seeing them as technically brilliant but upsetting.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: The story, as noted above, is often regarded as being too depressing for gamers to really get into, but the gameplay itself is still considered to be enjoyable nontheless.

* ThatOneLevel: [[spoiler: Chapter 14.]] If you thought DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist, be prepared to lose almost all of your money and most of your weapons on this level (as well as some of your sanity). While it may be winnable under the right circumstances, unprepared players will die most of the time (not even counting the times [[spoiler: the Shaman]] gets killed because of their incompetence). However, recent patches make it far easier to deal with, especially if your weapons are fully upgraded

* CerebusRollercoaster: The first ''Dead Island'' has a decidedly uneven tone, with (for example) things such as the grim scenery of survivors crying in desperate anguish being mixed in with your character gleefully lopping off zombie heads with an electric katana and spouting one-liners. It's as if the developers weren't sure if they wanted to create ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' or ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' and just ended up with a slightly awkward mix (the heart-wrenching trailers are further evidence of this). For the record, though, if the first trailer for ''Dead Island 2'' is any indication, they seem to be sticking with the wacky route going forward.

* CerebusRollercoaster: The first ''Dead Island'' has a decidedly uneven tone, with (for example) things such as the grim scenery of survivors crying in desperate anguish being mixed in with your character gleefully lopping off zombie heads with an electric katana and spouting one-liners. It's as if the developers weren't sure if they wanted to create ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' or ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' and just decided on a slightly awkward mix (the heart-wrenching trailers are further evidence of this). For the record though, if the first trailer for ''Dead Island 2'' is any indication, they seem to be sticking with the wacky route going forward.

* StopHelpingMe: This trope is in play almost anytime you pick up an equippable item, and the game conveniently equips it for you right away. Not bad if it's a real upgrade, annoying if it's a weaker item, and really, really, really horrific if you grab alcohol, forget to unequip it, then when a zombie jumps you, you take a swig of booze instead of swinging your weapon at them. The fact that there's no function to turn this off makes it more annoying.