All Dead Island Games in Order

Dead Island offers zombie-based action-RPG gameplay as players attempt to survive an infested open world. With the recent arrival of Dead Island 2, players may want to use that as an opportunity to dive headfirst into the entirety of the franchise. Here are all the Dead Island games in order.

All Dead Island Games in Release Order

The Dead Island series consists of four currently playable games, one of which is a spinoff of the series. As the franchise’s story moves forward with each installment and no entry serves as a prequel, it is best to play the series in release order. The order is as follows:

• Dead Island (2011)
• Dead Island: Riptide (2013)
• Escape Dead Island (2014)
• Dead Island 2 (2023)

There’s not a whole lot of legwork required to get into Dead Island. Following the first game, Dead Island: Riptide offers a continuation of the story centered around the same four survivors we met previously (plus a new one). It was not an official sequel, however, as the official sequel would not arrive until a decade later. Furthermore, Dead Island 2 takes place in an entirely new setting of California (as opposed to the first game’s Island of Banoi) and centers around an entirely new cast of characters.

Meanwhile, Escape Dead Island is merely a spinoff set between Dead Island and Dead Island 2 that goes for a third-person perspective as opposed to the typical first-person point of view. The characters you play as do not appear later in the series, making it a title you can skip if you’re uninterested. Generally, if you want to play the newest entry without playing any of the previous ones, you should be able to, but completists will be glad to know there are only a few games they need to play.

Keep in mind, though, while the numbered entries are both available on current platforms, Riptide and Escape Dead Island have not been re-issued for consoles in the eighth generation or beyond. If you are so compelled to try these games out, you’ll have to break out that old Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 to make that happen.

That’s all the Dead Island games in order. With Dead Island 2 finally seeing its release nine years after its initial announcement (thus making this article possible), check out our look at 10 other games we’d like to see resurface from development hell.