Chrome Engine 5 logo
The Chrome Engine is a 3D game engine developed by Techland and is what Dead Island, Dead Island: Riptide and the Dead Island Definitive Collection are built on.
Overview[]
The Chrome Engine debuted in 2002 with the game Pet Racer, though is far more well known for being the engine for the subsequent game Chrome in 2003. The engine was in use until 2006, however the Chrome Engine 2 debuted only a few years later, first being used for the game Xpand Rally in 2004 and used until 2010. Chrome Engine 2 was an enhanced version of Chrome Engine 1, most notably featuring DirectX 9.0 support. The Chrome Engine 3 released in 2006 with the game Call of Juarez, featuring DirectX 9.0c and 10 support, plus high-dynamic-range rendering (HDR), shaders and bump mapping. Chrome Engine 4 released in 2009 with Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, and used for just four games until 2012. This version only supports DirectX 9.
Chrome Engine 5 released in 2011 with Call of Juarez: The Cartel. The engine was also only used for four games, however after Call of Juarez, Dead Island made use of this engine also in 2011, and Riptide continued to use this engine in 2013 whilst also using a lot of the same assets of Dead Island. The final game to make use of this engine was Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, also in 2013.
After Techland left the franchise following the release of Riptide in 2013, it appeared that the Chrome Engine would only be used for two games in the franchise due to it being proprietary to Techland. This changed in 2016, however, when Techland returned to make high-definition remakes of Dead Island and Riptide in the form of Dead Island Definitive Edition and Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition. The Definitive Collection, as it was known collectively, used the Chrome Engine 6 which had been used to develop Dying Light in 2015.