Glitches

Please move bugs/glitches to their corresponding area.

PC related

Born to be Wild quest

There's a confirmed glitch in the PC release of the "Born to be Wild" mission during the server room firewall reset portion. After resetting all of the terminals, there is no waypoint to return to the security office and if you do, the guard tells you to go back and finish. There is a PC that is blue screened, but has no keyboard, but it doesn't require resetting in order to complete the side mission.

To get past the glitch, after resetting all of the computers (don't worry about the one without the keyboard), back track to the last mission (as if you are going to where the guard wants morphine) -- you'll have to jump over the desks and break the door glass to the dark hallway outside of the server room (don't worry, there won't be any zombies). This will "reset" the mission and it will see that you've done the computers, and instruct you to return to the security office, where the guy will tell you how to get to the parking structure. **Don't forget to hit the cash register in the concession area both times for a big payout - almost $2000 each time for me**

Alternatively, you can just kick the chairs around in the security office until the guard starts moving again. That got the quest to finish up for me (360).

The chairs appear to block the NPC, preventing the quest from completing. Kicking the chairs or hitting them with a weapon, so he is able to move a step, will trigger the next dialogue (PC version).

Paperwork quest

Sometimes the radio that is supposed to be on the floor next to Bill is in fact inside the floor. Still, it is possible to use it while crouching but it may take some time to aim it successfully.

Fast Travel

When fast traveling, sometimes you can't sprint for an undefined amount of time. It happens randomly, especially when you need to get away from danger but suddenly can't because the sprint key has stopped working. Some time later it returns back to normal. Also with fast traveling, you can only spawn at set checkpoints.

XP glitch

The "easy" method is after getting 666 Dev. Mod. This is the blueprint for the Left Hand of Glova. Creating the left hand of glova would require 5 Diamonds. Use the Left Hand of Glova to knock a Thug off its feet and follow up breaking an arm, but it would be recommendable to use your fists (or weak Brass Knuckles) to prevent quick death of the Thug. You will gain XP for every hit when target the top of his shoulder blade correctly. XP varies from player level and Thug level. A good place to do this is where you first enter the Parking Lot.

With Sam B and the skill Motivation, when you come across a Thug that has toxic fumes, you have the ability to use this glitch to the max as for a maxed skill with 30% return on stamina, you can deal low damage to the broken limb and never get low on stamina from punching with the broken Brass knuckles because the toxic fume which does low damage will activate the skill plus Rebirth (or below). An example if being done correct, at level 40 each punch should show 380–400 XP on each hit (depending on level of Thug). It is suggested not to use Bone Breaker as it will become a wasted 1-3 skill points.

The best boosting method of this Glitch, is having a friend (online player) to host a co-op game in which he is at the level cap. With help, you can go after lvl 44-49 Thug in their game to boost the XP faster, as for example a level 1 player with level 1 Knuckles hitting a level 46 Thug will grant them level 1–39, 40 if your kick critical does not become too high.

Resort beachball of death bug (PC Version)

Sometimes, in any chapter at the resort, if the Character kicks a beachball, that are located throughout the beach, the player will lose all health and die. This can also happen when opening a door. Unlike the PS3 variant of the issue it is reproducible at any chapter at the resort

PS3 Related

Disappearing throwing weapons

• When you throw a weapon and hit the front of a zombie, the zombie might fall face first into the ground and your weapon will go under the map.
• If you throw a weapon and another player walks in front of it, it might disappear.
• When you throw a melee weapon and hit the head of a zombie, after you cut the head the weapon can disappear. It may also bounce off them and disappear.
• If you drop a weapon on the pier at Moresby where Mowen's Boat spawns, it is possible for it to just go straight through the pier, causing you to loose it.

Truckbed Passenger Glitch

• When you ride in the back of the truck and look around to the front while the truck is moving, The game seems to freeze every time, especially when in multiplayer other players look at you and say you're moving perfectly.

Vehicle Glitch

• When someone equipped with a shotgun rides a vehicle and shoots it (either from the inside or outside), the vehicle will start to shake rapidly, and on rare occasions, will be launched a small distance.

Jungle Glitch

• Sometimes, when roaming around the Jungle, the player will suddenly die. After respawning, there is a small chance of dying again.

Chapter 1 Glitch

Sometimes, in Chapter 1, if the Character kicks a beachball, that are located throughout the beach, the player will lose all health and die. This can also happen when opening a door.

Handgun Glitch

• Often after firing once, the top slide of pistols and heavy pistols keep moving like they are shooting, making aiming difficult. The gun keeps moving and aiming down the sights is impossible, due to the slide constantly moving. The only way to fix this is to reload the game or possibly switch off the pistol and switch back to it again.

Xbox 360 Related

Cash Loss

When faced with death, the value of cash loss varies (showing the code for plylvl*death*moneyloss is broken, as it shows to be based on Inventory value), as well the skill under Xian skill tree is broken, as a player with 200K can die on Logan and will have lost 20K and up were as Xian will still lose a rough equal value (with a 3/3 skill).

Born to Be Wild quest

Bug affecting this quest similar to the one noted above for the PC save for the fact that I didn't have to walk all the way back to the security guard, but once I started back tracking, only then did I progress in the quest.

Seek'n'Loot quest

While retrieving the Juice Packs from the gas station (where you find the petrol for the quest "Fluid Necessity"), it is possible that the thugs in the garage behind it will continually spawn as you're attempting to remove the blockade and turn off the power making it impossible to do so and forcing you to reload a checkpoint or die. Grabbing the item prior to the quest to have on hand to turn in the A.S.A.P, will cause the boxes to delete in the back of the truck. This happens on all platforms.

Soldier of Fortune quest

While looking over the fence near a work bench after the initial compound with Afran's Soldiers in, the soldiers and Infected appear and disappear rapidly. When going through the building after this, the soldiers and infected are all dead and their bodies glitch in and out of the floor.

Disappearing inventory items

After killing a zombie by throwing a weapon at it then retrieving it, reloading a checkpoint, dying and re-spawning, completing an objective, or giving items to Jin to store (taking a weapon out of storage, or traveling to a new area with weapons in her inventory), a weapon or weapons might instantly delete from the inventory it is located in. Full Inventories will not drop items from Jin, but delete the item (there are some cases when the item will drop to the floor).

Furthermore, sometimes when modding a weapon (any weapon/mod combination) at a workbench the weapon completely disappears and can not be retrieved. Ingredients still show as being used, however. Very frustrating if modding a rarer (purple or orange) weapon. This has occurred on multiple, seemingly random occasions in multiplayer mode with no specific combinations being more likely than another to make it occur.

Workaround: You must have space in your quick inventory for any weapons, then kill yourself.

NOTE: I tried this workaround and it does NOT work. You simply die and don't get your weapon back. This was playing alone on the latest patch.

During the quest where you get boat supplies for Mowen, go to resort, do a quest there, then go back, Jin will be gone and when you finish the quest, her voice will come from nowhere, and she will respawn when Mowen drives you to the resort.

Combat (Zombie Glitches)

• Occasionally zombies will freeze on their current animation, sliding along to the player (and still fighting behaving normally) albeit without any animation whatsoever.
• Zombies have an extremely rare chance to spawn entirely passive, idling where they are without any interest in the player's presence, only attacking if struck first. It is believed that this glitch is related to the "faking" zombies (the ones playing dead on the ground).
• Although zombies cannot avoid the mighty kick, it is possible for them to "teleport" beneath your leg and end up behind you. Zombies can also run through you and end up behind you when in combat with more than one zombie.
• When in close combat with more than one zombie, activating kick will often cause your character to repeatedly kick the zombie furthest away from you despite focusing on the zombie right in front of you.
• The kick on an Infected can sometimes do nothing at all.
• It appears that the zombies can't climb onto beds. During the prologue, the player can avoid the level 50 infected just by jumping on the bed and punching or kicking them to death (you may need to crouch). The zombies can sometimes glitch onto the bed, in which case it is a simple matter to kick them off again. Using this method to kill every zombie in the area, it is possible to leave the prologue as a level 9 character. Doing so can make the starting fight slightly more difficult due to the fact that the zombies will be higher levels than they would otherwise be.

Combat (Human Glitches)

• Sometimes after killing a human when others aren't around a few more might instantly spawn.

Throwing weapons

Weapons thrown into a Thug or Ram can sometimes be retrieved after the player character dies and can be found hanging in the air where the target was prior before it despawned from the game.

Reload Last Checkpoint

Choosing the 'Reload Last Checkpoint' function seems to not be consistent as to where you will end up and it is usually not where you were when you last reached a checkpoint. This has continued beyond the patch released for the Xbox 360. Reloading the last checkpoint also still appears to save any activity you completed after the last checkpoint indicating that the checkpoint function has nothing to do with the saving function of the game.

Player Spawning

An extreme danger present, particularly in the City of Moresby, is that a death in the city itself (and not any subsections, like the Police Station) can result in yet another death shortly there after due to spawning the player back into the game inside of an area currently infested with the living dead. Deaths in areas like the Quarantine Zone often wind up spawning the player in exactly the same location (within ten to twenty feet) or in an area right above.

Yet another re-spawning quirk is present throughout the Eastern beach of Banoi Island in Act I (and thus all Acts following). Several "blank" spots dot the map for re-spawning along the beach, at some points, a death sending the player back up to over 200m from their death's location.

This problem can be found any where with in and on the Island. If it is not a spawn directly into the AI that just killed you, you shall spawn randomly at a location on the map sometimes near a safe house.

Zombie Spawning

An instance of unusual or broken zombie spawning can be found in the City of Moresby in the Police Station. Once the Raskol gang members have been cleared from the Police Station, a Hero ascending a staircase has a fair likelihood of observing a soon-to-be rushing Infected Policeman snap into existence as the Hero nears the summit.

Character Behavior

Sometimes the characters might regularly start grunting and moving as though they are being hit by something/someone, but there is nothing there.

Shotgun Behavior

• Most evident in the "Short" variation of the Shotgun is the inconsistent spread, damage and distance calculations; a zombie caught in the HUD's crosshairs (and not down the sight) may not take any damage despite completely filling up the boundaries of the crosshairs in what would appear to be a "perfect" shot.
• The Shotgun's spread seems to have a "super critical" property; a critical strike on one zombie can carry over (or through, with skills allowing bullet penetration deep in Purna's Combat skill tree) to the other zombies nearby or behind. A single "super critical" has the potential to carve down a horde of the living dead should each of them find themselves caught by some of the shot. The bug (or perhaps even intended behavior) occurs when the first of the buckshot scores a critical strike on a target, despite those prior not having been critical; upon the first critical, any shot that is still "in flight" is treated as critical strikes (scoring the red text, Elemental damage, etc.).

Truck Bed Item Loss

Having items in the bed of the truck such as Gas Cans and Juice Packs prior to the quest, will delete that item as soon as the quest is started.

Getting stuck in the bathrooms

There's some underground bathrooms in the pool area near the hotel where you can get stuck trying to come back up the steps. When you try to go up the stairs, the game slows you down when you get about 2 steps from the top some mysterious force pushes you back down the steps. It is possible to get out of there by crouching and walking up the steps.

All Platforms

Interacting with doors

Another glitch found is that sometimes when you open or close doors, sometimes even when you breach, you'll get instantly killed even if there's no one nearby. This seems to happen if you're too close to the door when opening/closing, and the game thinks you're getting squeezed between something, and responds in killing you as if you were to get hit in the head with a dumpster. But since there is no way to normally get killed in the game like this (traps, walls, falling objects etc.) the reason may be something else. Let's hope it get patched soon.

A possibility to this is that the zombies can attack and walk through some walls/doors.

Saving unwanted progress

Reloading a checkpoint previous to later activity seems to have saved all of that activity meaning that if something occurred, was lost or otherwise which the player didn't want, you will have no way to retrieve any save points prior to later action.

Saving multiplayer progress

A glitch has recently been found that occurs on the PC, 360 and PS3. This glitch makes the game not save your progress since the last time you activated online/cooperative mode. The game for some reason doesn't save your progress when you play with online mode enabled even if you're not, or never have played with another player. The only known fix to this on the 360 and PS3, until the developers patch it, is to turn off online mode as soon as you start playing. If not, make sure you do it when you're ready to quit. But since the game doesn't allow you to turn it off during gameplay, you can safely quit the game to the start screen (where you choose play, continue etc.) and turn it off, then enter the game again and play to a checkpoint, and then quit. Only then can you be sure your game will be saved. This works since the game data isn't reset/deleted until you quit the game entirely and shut off the 360/PS3. For a video on how to save the game properly on PC see video.

Nick's Hub bug

When accessing Nick's Hub for the first time to clear out Bob, using an explosive too close to the barricaded door can send the pipe out of place. If the pipe is moved out of place by an explosion, the player cannot finish the mission even after killing Bob.

Head stomp bug

Occasionally when using the headstomp technique, the zombie can occasionally get up prior to the final crushing stomp causing, especially if the zombie's head has clipped under other geometry or debris, or is the zombie is resting against a wall. Although this is technically a proper result given the location of the zombie's head, the player should not be able to target and preform the stomp.

Chapter 8 bug

Not really a glitch, but in chapter 8, when you're told to clear out the Supermarket that some punks have taken over after you've done that you can return to the Supermarket and re-loot it again for infinite money, as there's about 6 or 7 cash registers, each with around 1000-5000 dollars in them, which reset every time you leave the Supermarket (leaving to the sewers and going back in). This also works for all other cash registers, like in small stores etc. and places with other high-value stuff.

Also, after you leave city hall and after the Supermarket quest, there was a weird glitch. I opened a door at the top of the stairs (City Hall part 2) and it opened into the wall instead of closing, and I could still walk through the doorway. I didn't know if it was just my system, but I beat the game a few times and it still does that, regardless of time passed. It is where there are a few metal containers at the top of the stairs, right above where the Police Guy had a quest for you to find some alcohol. Don't worry, it happens to me too on ps3.

Spawning infected

On the second area follow the river down about half way there is a workbench on the left, go to the building to the right of it next to the river. There is a store there.

Using Molotov

When you kill a zombie with a Molotov and don't hit them with anything else unfortunately sometimes EXP won't be rewarded. This could be a glitch in the game where the fire is thought to be scenery and not from the player. Also, when thrown, if a Molotov hits a zombie, the flames will stay in the air. It should be noted that Molotovs burn in water.

Fast Travel

• When fast traveling, and you are close by a quest giver or other NPC related to a quest, an objective such as talking to the NPC, will be automatically completed. This can be troublesome, as fast traveling might cause you to complete a quest, and in turn, you will not receive a reward, like XP, blueprints, and weapons.
• Sometimes fast travel might not activate. You select the auto travel map and the "Use" button icon disappears, but the fast travel menu doesn't come up.

Non-stacking items

Occasionally a bug will occur in which items in the player's inventory that should stack will actually take up multiple spots. The most common occurrence is with Medium MedKits, in which the player can actually have two separate stacks, even without having the maximum number in a stack. Sometimes, the player can drop all existing versions of the item, and re-stack the items, although this can occasionally lead to an additional stack.

Disappearing weapons

Dead Island has a tendency to chew up the player's weapons from time to time. The most common occurrence will happen during weapon creation. If a player has a full inventory, and tries to create a new weapon (like the Molotov Cocktail) immediately after repairing or upgrading another weapon, the new weapon will replace the latter while erasing from existence the former within a primary inventory slot. It seems to happen with more frequency when creating throwable weapons that can stack in a single inventory spot.

Another instance, is where throwing a weapon will cause the weapon to land outside the main clipping area of the map whether embedding in a zombie or just strewn about. Occasionally, kicking the zombie can allow for the weapon position to be flipped around, and allow the player to regain the weapon.

Duplication glitches

There are also a couple duplication glitches in this game (confirmed on 360, PC, and PS3).

Weapon Duplication

Dead Island Tips & Tricks - Weapon Duplication Bug

Weapon duplication glitch video

To perform, hold the weapon you wish to duplicate, hold the throw button (so the character holds it back aiming for a throw) then hold the drop button (Y on 360, Backspace on PC, Triangle on PS3) and press Attack (RT on 360, LMB on PC, R1 on PS3), and you will throw the original weapon and also drop a duplicate. This glitch can be easily repeated as much as desired for infinite money (this can be done with all weapons, not grenades, Molotovs, firearms, and medkits). Logan's Boomerang can make this process a little bit longer, as you will only drop the item, not dupe it. Having Analog controls also make duplicating difficult because sometimes when the desired weapon is thrown there is a chance that instead of duplicating it another one of your weapons is dropped instead. This glitch was fixed in patch 1.04.

Another duplication is caused through trade. To perform, you have to be in multiplayer. First, equip the weapon you want to duplicate. Then, trade that same weapon with another person. The other person will get the weapon and yours will be still in your hands. Two people can perform this trick at once, too. For this variation both of you have to equip a certain weapon. Then, trade those two weapons, and the two of you get to keep both weapons. Unlike the other glitch, this one will work on grenades, Molotovs, and guns.

Another duplication method, involving precise timing, is to equip the weapon you wish to duplicate. Then open a storage, such a Henry Boyle, and before the storage loads, drop the weapon from your hand. If timed correctly, you can still put the weapon in the storage. Put the weapon in the storage and take it out again. Then when exiting the storage menu, immediatly open the inventory and drop the weapon. A duplicate of the weapon will remain in your hand and this duplicate can be dropped as many times as desired. You can even use it as a throwing weapon.

Item Duplication

Dead Island Tutorial for PS3 Cloning weapons in Singleplayer, Unlimited money and XP

Item duplication glitch video

While playing solo or co-op (best done on co-op), you have the ability to drop Diamonds, Brand Champagne, Flares, and any other value item on the ground or if a co-op player is local then you can trade. While doing this solo, you can place items you want copied on the floor in a safe area, then once done you must kill your self in the local area, once dead but before the spawn you must hit your guide button and go directly to your dashboard (Xbox). Re-load your game and load the player by going to Play not Continue. On PC, open the pause menu and load last checkpoint as the countdown appears during the dead screen. Up to 80 items can be duplicated at once.

In Co-op the method becomes easier, with a friend (online player) trade the items your wish to have copied. Once the trade is finished, go directly to your dashboard (Xbox) then reload the game by joining directly into the game. If done correctly, you will see the items you traded stays in your friends inventory and the items you just gave up will still be there in your inventory.

Equipped Alcohol

Kicking with Alcohol as your equipped weapon forces you to drink the bottle. This can lead to your character getting drunk and dying.

Respawning character

Sometimes, when doing the mission to locate a mechanic to reinforce the armored truck, the game will not register that all infected have been killed at the workshop, even if they have. This can usually be rectified by reloading the last checkpoint. However, sometimes reloading the last checkpoint will cause you to be respawned in Moresby, skipping all missions and cutscenes between that quest and Moresby, as well as making any quests (such as "A Voice from Above the Sky") impossible to complete, if this happens keep reloading the last checkpoint until you reach the proper area or start a new game. Another problem is when ramming the zombies in front of the shop with a vehicle it is possible to knock them through the garage door making them unreachable. In order to prevent this they should be run over from the sides and not rammed from behind into the door.

If you have a Molotov, you can throw it at the door and it will kill the zombie inside. 

Body in the Laboratory

In the lab, there is a body on an operating table. Normally, this body never has anything to pick up from it… but if you attack the body and move it, when the game resets, it'll respawn with money on it. Legendary weapons are also spawnable on the body.

Stamina

On some occasions, when activating sprint, your stamina bar will instantly drop to zero, even if you have full stamina or have rested recently.

This glitch needs to be tested to see if it's repeatable, but, while simultaneously having the stamina drop to zero, using a health pack, and having a zombie interrupt the restore health animation, the stamina bar dropped to zero and got stuck. The only way to reset it is to die.

Character's skills

There's a bunch of bugs for some characters' Skills; Purna: Jackpot (3 ranks) doesn't do anything, even when you mod both Values belonging to the Skill to 999999.0, you never get any orange or yellow or "special" Items dropped (one user reports successfully getting a battery and some engine parts, but only after opening over 100 containers and slaying twice that number of zombies).

Recovery (3 ranks): When shooting with a Firearm, a couple rounds, then throwing the weapon away gained me PLUS Ammo, whereas the weapon on the ground had NEGATIVE ammo remaining. With maxed out Skill, I was able to get more ammo than there is in the clip of the gun and thus 'dupe' each kind of ammo, this is due to Purna's skill that allows extra ammo to be looted, Although this isn't actually a glitch as when a firearm is dropped, ammo is looted from the gun.

Quests in the Laboratory

If you don't complete quests in the lab before it gets over run by zombies sometimes the markers will still show up as well as the scientist in one of the corner rooms remaining alive.

Pure Blood: Escorting Yerema

• Occasionally, Yerema will get stuck somewhere along the path back to the laboratory. If this happens, the Hero must either reload from the last checkpoint, or fast travel to separate location (outside the current map). Doing so may allow Yerema to respawn somewhere along the path, but can cause Infected to spawn in the lab's lobby.

Fury Weapon

To get a fury weapon:

1. You need a full inventory, full fury meter, and a dead zombie with a weapon spawned on it.
2. Stare at the zombie until it shows "hold" to take/drop weapon.
3. Activate fury.
4. Take/drop the weapon and you will drop the fury weapon.
5. Wait till the fury is over.
6. Take the fury weapon.

(It has been patched since 1.3.0)

Another technique found by Dead Island speed runner Nord is by carefully timing the fury activation command and weapon drop command. In order to do it, you must activate your fury, and approximately a second later, drop your weapon. If timed correctly, the hero should drop their fury weapon instead of their held weapon. The timing is very precise, so it may take a few tries. The weapon with the highest damage in the weapon wheel is equipped during the fury, allowing you to deal much more damage.

Fury item carry

With precise timing, it is possible to pick up items such as Propane Tanks as you enter fury. To do so, active fury and immediately after pick up the item. With Xian Mei, this can offer very fast movement while transporting quest items.

Car bug

Very occasionally when you try to get in a car and someone is already driving and they reverse through you it won't show the possibility of getting on. When this happens the stamina bar disappears completely allowing you to run without a break, as well as having the zombies run away from you.

Running over Infected bug

Sometimes Infected will not be affected at all by being hit by a car. This tends to happen more frequently at low speeds but instead of taking damage or being knocked over, the infected will instead teleport onto the bonnet or roof of the car without taking any damage, only to run back onto the floor and attack the hero through the door. The same happens when trying to reverse onto an Infected and they will instead teleport into the rear bed or onto the roof again, without taking damage or being knocked down. This is likely caused by the game not registering the car as a moving object that can cause damage due to how slow it's driving, so the game thinks the zombie has gotten stuck and so teleports it to an open space which happens to be the car roof. This can happen with any zombie or special infected including Thugs and Butchers but is most noticeable with regular Infected due to how fast they run.

Clipping/Falling off-map

When traveling between Bunker 02 and the bungalow where Svetlana gives her quest, if you try and run through the water directly from the bunker, it is possible to fall directly through the bottom of the ocean floor. You can still kick and fight, but there is no way to get back to the surface. Staying closer to the bungalows and walking under the piers prevents this from happening. Also, it could be caused because you left the playable area.

Also, at the Southwest gas station in the resort area, there is a car that explodes and knocks a billboard over. If you are standing where the billboard is going to fall, you will be pushed through the bottom of the map, and must drop out of an online game or load last checkpoint to get out.

Within the City and Sewers, while climbing ladders if hit at a correct location you will glitch and be pushed through the floor. As well, if Rams catch you on a wall they can also push you through the map.

While in co-op, a player can drive a vehicle into another player pushing them along, the player being pushed can drop through the floor and or be pushed through a wall to glitch off the map.

While in the Jungle, there are many images of trees and rocks that are thorn and/or missing the bottom half, showing nothing but a blank flat ground. By jumping or using a vehicle you can force yourself through this part of the image being broken, and go off the map.

Near the hotel Bungalows in the underground restrooms, when searching some of the garbage cans within the stalls, if you are too close to the wall you will fall underneath the restrooms and not be able to get back up.

Fists in Inventory

Sometimes after throwing a weapon or trying to attempt duplication, your fists will either move to your inventory or disappear. Eventually, you will see the fists in your inventory, and can easily move them back to your quick inventory. Although the fists are listed in your inventory, they don't fill a slot, so is a way of "free" transportation.

Infected clipping through Prison walls

During the side quest Painful Insanity, there's an Infected that spawns on the other side of the back wall of the doctor's office where the medicine is located. However, this Infected has the inane ability to clip through the back wall and run at you from no-where. This happens every time and on every platform, both in the original game and the Definitive Edition.

Freezing Friends

On PC there is a fatal glitch often making the game unplayable online, the glitch causes your friends to freeze on your screen while they're moving on theirs.

Definitive Edition Banoi Herald #33

In the Definitive Edition of Dead Island, Banoi Herald Excerpt #33 is impossible to get due to it being in an inaccessible part of the Laboratory.

Missing wall in the Prison

Floating text on wall

In the Definitive Edition of Dead island, where Roger Howard's body is found, in the prison hospital, he can be found with faint text on the wall above him reading 'Death is a better choice." However, upon nearing the text or looking at it from an angle, you can see that the text is actually floating off the wall and is not actually attached to the wall. This also happens in several other places across the game with other wall texts.

The entire missing wall

Missing walls/misaligned geometry in the Prison

In both the original and Definitive edition of Dead Island, when going through the Prison, various walls are not quite aligned properly, and if you turn off your flashlight you can see the white void shining through. This is especially prevalent while travelling in the latter half of the prison and the prison hospital. White void can be seen where walls were not lined up properly and in one stairwell, an entire wall is completely mission, allowing you to see into the void and also see Yerema and Jin waiting in the corridor before you are gassed in the elevator.

Duplicate Infected White body

In the Definitive Edition of Dead Island, if you kill Infected White near the helicopter, when the cutscene plays you can sometimes see two bodies instead of just one. There will be the one placed down for the cutscene, but another one will randomly be on the floor in a different place, likely the one you killed, sometimes not far from the cutscene placed body.

Here all the notices should be facing the player so they can be read, however they are all mirrored incorrectly

Incorrect mirroring

Likely for ease and quickness, several of the objects in the game world are just mirrored to make the process easier to do. For example, the armored truck in the Definitive Edition has its front grille mirrored from the middle to avoid remaking the same grille again. However, several of these objects have been mirrored but then not flipped back to appear the correct way when facing the player. While noticeable on the armored truck when looking at the writing on the grille, it's more noticeable on noticeboards found in several safehouses and structures across the world. If one was to attempt to read the notices on the notice board, one would see that the notes are all mirrored and so illegible at first glance when a simple remirroring of the object to have it face towards the player again would fix it. This is also seen in Dead Island: Riptide, most memorably in Dr. Kessler's Biosphere.

Visible void in the hotel

If you crouch at the elevator shaft where you are introduced to Mike Davis and look up at the elevator doorway above the one he is in, you will be able to see the black void behind it. This is likely due to the developers not placing any sort of backing wall behind the doorway, leaving the void visible through it.

Cabinet having no collision

When you have access to the Hotel Control Room during the main quest Born to be Wild, you get access to the server room. In the first room of it (where the first computer is located), there are two metal cabinets against the back wall. These have no collision assigned to them, allowing you to walk into them freely.

Suicider blast killing through walls

On all platforms, it has been noted that if you are not sufficiently far away from a Suicider when it explodes, it will kill you even through walls. Even if you turn a corner, if you are too close to the Suicider blast, the radius will ignore the wall and still damage/kill you, despite you having no line of sight to the Suicider.

Suicider intro cutscene vehicle glitch

If you, for some reason, decide to enter the cutscene where the Suicider is first introduced in a vehicle, it will create a vehicle glitch. The game will remove you from the vehicle in order to play the cutscene, but still render the vehicle in said cutscene but without collision. Sam B will walk through the vehicle as if it wasn't there.

Mute Thobey Givens

In the Definitive Edition, if you enter the Bloodbath Arena and make your way to Thobey Givens, his mouth will move and subtitles will appear on screen, however none of his voice lines will play. This glitch is exclusive to the Definitive Edition, as the voice lines would play in the original game.

Invisible propane tank at the Lifeguard Tower

After clearing out and securing the Lifeguard Tower in the main quest Exodus, the survivors move there and the interactive propane tank out the front of the tower will disappear. However, if you walk near to it, it will still have collision, despite no longer being interactable or targeted. For all intents and purposes, the propane tank is gone, however for some reason the collision meshing remains.

Dead Island: Riptide

Clipping ammunition in Henderson

Across Henderson in Dead Island: Riptide can be found various boxes of ammo on tables out in the open, designed so that someone can easily get more ammo for their firearms. However, many of these boxes actually clip inside the tables or boxes they are placed on so that their interaction hitbox is clipped inside the object, making them unobtainable. By crouching and clipping the camera inside the tables or box it is possible to obtain the ammo by briefly getting close enough to interact with them, though this does not work for all of them. Various other items can be found clipped into floors or walls making them unobtainable across both Riptide and the original Dead Island but it's most noticeable with the ammo boxes in Henderson, especially in the Definitive Edition.

The skybox visible through the doorway in the Motel

Visible skyboxes

In several areas of the game, the skybox can be seen due to a prevention measure not being in place (or improperly placed) that allows you to see into the skybox or 'void' of the map. Two notable areas can be pointed to as easily seen and obvious examples of this. The first is in the Japanese Tunnels, where upon entering the main area with the radar, if you simply look up and out of the large radar doorway in the sky, you can see the skybox. Moving your viewpoint around it will layer images rapidly over each other, which is typical of this type of glitch, as the skybox has no visual properties. The second is in the Motel "Safe Haven", where one of the doors on the right hand side of the entrance corridor is not properly placed in the doorframe. By looking through the crack in the door and doorway (and in a gap between the boards), you can see into the skybox behind it, and from some angles you can see the L shaped corridor which leads to the laundromat.

Ram stuck in the fountain

Outside of the Old Town Cinema in Henderson, a Ram will typically spawn there once the building has been secured as a part of the main quests City Newcomer and Front Row. A large fountain and water feature is also found at the front of the cinema in the courtyard. However, said Ram can sometimes spawn inside the fountain, leading to it being stuck in there as the sides are too tall for it to walk out and it can't jump.

Escape Dead Island

The glitch

Ground not loading

At the beginning of Mission 5 - A Fighting Chance, when going through the cave system at the beginning of the mission, before getting to the GeoPharm Labs, there is a chance that the ground will not load at the lowest point of the cave. Along with this, the ladder will also not load. The ground is partially solid, but after going a short way into the unloaded area, you will fall down and die to a kill plain.

A lovely look at the underside of the world!

The same thing happened during Mission 4 - Marathon during one of my New Game + games. I doubled back up the ladder leading to the beach and again ground/scenery/walls had not loaded. You can walk into the gap and fall through the world. I believe this happens when you return to an area that the game isn't expecting you to go to, or when you travel too quickly to a location and the game hasn't fully generated the world, but I could be wrong.

Missing scenery in the freight elevator

The completely blank room in the freight elevator, after you walk over to the wall

Near the end of Mission 6 - Stories of the Dead, you need to take the Freight Elevator to the Helipad to collect security keycard 2. However, upon first entering the freight elevator area before entering the elevator itself, if you walk over to the wall next to the doorway and look into the room, all the boxes and scenery inside the room will disappear, including the elevator doors, allowing you to see the elevator and a completely clear room. This is temporary, however, as if you walk away from the wall they will load back in, but it's like the game unloads all the assets inside the elevator room when you're against the wall, only to place them back when you walk away from it.

Cliff... holding the air?

Invisible weapon glitch

If you get Cliff to perform an attack while he's in the animation of putting on the gas mask, he will sometimes cancel the animation of putting on the mask and attack like normal. However, the mask will still appear on his face but his weapon will be invisible. Rather, it's still on his backpack like he's not currently using it, despite the fact you can attack, deal damage or destroy things.

Cliff in the cutscene with his hands holding a weapon but nothing actually in his hands, as the club is not there.

Invisible weapon glitch via a different means

There is another version of this glitch which happens earlier in the game but requires New Game +. New Game + adds in a few new things but the thing to focus on is that the katana is available on the boat during Mission 1 - Smooth Sailing. This gives you a melee weapon far earlier. Over a normal playthrough, your first melee weapon is the makeshift club which is acquired at the beginning of Mission 4 - Marathon so all the cutscenes are designed for Cliff holding this weapon. However, if you do not take the makeshift club and continue through the mission, at the end after killing the Shamblers, a non-pre rendered cutscene plays which usually shows Cliff holding the club while freaking out over the zombies with his friends. However, if you didn't take the club and just use the katana, Cliff's model will be holding a weapon but with nothing in his hands, as the game doesn't expect you to not have the club and there's no variable for the katana, leaving his hands blank but in the weapon holding animation.

A good example of the glitch showing the zombie's head completely turned but their body remaining facing one way, while also not attacking

Pacifist zombies

Occasionally, zombies can become pacifist. It's unknown what causes this, but upon being spotted by usually a special infected such as the Butcher or Siren, they will spot you and run at you, but upon reaching Cliff, they will just... sit there. They won't attack while there and if you walk away, they will run after you but not attack. This does not happen every time, however, it appears at random and for an unknown causal trigger. You can circle the zombie, but their body won't move, only their head which can now rotate 180 degrees either way, causing a glitched neck. You can still attack them, but they won't retaliate. You also can't stealth kill them if you go behind them, due to the fact that you're spotted.

Using the camera to look through the wall in a cave system. The cave wall is the dark bar in the middle of the image, with the playable game world on the left and the outside of the map on the right.

Camera glitches

Thanks to the third person nature of the game, there are multiple instances where the camera (not the camera item, but the normal, visual camera) can be used to see through the map, through zombies or other such glitches. It's not particularly game breaking, but it's most prominent to see in cave systems or tight, enclosed spaces, where there's a lot of geometry or walls that you can press against to get the camera to look through the walls and see parts of the map you shouldn't be able to see.

Lever axe skin glitch

If you're playing with the Underwater Labs DLC, you get skins for all the existing weapons in the game bar the katana. The lever axe is one such weapon, and it changes the weapon to have a red body with skulls on it. However, when you use it to open a barricaded door, the weapon will default back to its normal skin while in the door opening sequence, even if you have the DLC skin equipped. This happens every time, regardless of if it's the primary melee weapon selected over the katana or if it was in your hands upon starting to open the door. The axe will revert to having the skin again upon exiting the door opening sequence and things will have returned to normal. It only changes while on the door opening animation.

The serum during the cutscene that's floating and moving as if Cliff was holding it, but he's just standing in one place (off-screen during this part)

Frozen Cliff

During the cutscene at the end of Mission 10 - Faith, there's a chance that Cliff will be stuck in place during his idle animation. Not sure what causes this, but I went up the left staircase at Emory Crown's Office rather than the right when it happened. When I went right it didn't do it, but did when I went left. Because the cutscenes are not pre-rendered, the characters in the game world can affect them. In this case, Cliff was stuck in his idle animation and wouldn't move, even though the other characters during the cutscene moved (Devan grappled Cliff from behind and did the biting animation, but he just went right through Cliff) but Cliff just stood there. The serum also moved like he was holding and moving it, but Cliff remained idle.

Invisible orb

Towards the middle of Mission 11 - Deliverance, you end up in a deeper part of Cliff's mind, where you have to start destroying orbs. If you destroy the first orb, a bridge appears leading to the second orb. If you shoot the first orb before triggering the save point near it, the save will report the first orb as already destroyed and make it invisible. If you die or save quite before hitting the next save point, you respawn at the first orb site without the bridge being extended, and the orb to trigger the bridge is invisible. You cannot shoot it anymore, however the invisible orb can still be destroyed with your melee weapon, causing the bridge to spawn and allowing you to proceed.

The Katana floating on Cliff's back where it should attach to his backpack

Floating Katana

During New Game +, the katana can be accessed from the very beginning inside the boat cabin behind a previously locked door to the right. However, since Cliff is meant to only have a weapon when he has his backpack to attach it to, the katana just floats in the air where it would attach to the backpack. At the end of the mission, this glitch is fixed as Cliff puts on his backpack and the katana is sitting properly.

The floating rock

Floating rock

At the helipad when first introduced to the Butcher, a bunch of rocks will appear at the end of the small introduction splash. However, after these spawn in, if Cliff dies and then respawns, one of the rocks can appear floating in mid air. The rock has no collision with anything, whether Cliff walks into the rock, attacks it or if the Butcher walks/jumps into it. It's unknown why this happens but the rock can appear floating. The glitch fixes itself if the game is quit and then reloaded or if the Butcher is killed and the area is reloaded that way.

Aaron insta-kill

At the end of Mission 11 - Deliverance, you fight a shadow version of Aaron Welles in an arena. It is possible for Aaron to get stuck at the bottom of the left stairs, in turn dying after a little while. The best way found to make this glitch occur is to wait at the top of the stairs, towards the outside edge. Then move towards the arena side of the stair's top while Aaron passes the center hole.

No clip

During reaction animations, the player loses collision with the environment at most locations. If the player aims their character in a way that the animation will take the player though a wall or object, then the player can pass through said wall or object after the animation.

Rope/ladder jump

When climbing up a ladder, just after reaching the top, Cliff will walk slightly backwards, thus clipping into the ladder. Depending on how far the ladder extends above the platform it is positioned against, this means the player can jump off the ladder or the ledge against which the ladder is positioned. The same can be achieved when climbing ropes however a zombie is also required. When a zombie is at the top of the rope and the player climbs up, then the player may be pushed slightly off the rope attachment point. When this happened, the player can jump off the elevation.

Cutscene movement

Much like no clip, during a cutscene, the player loses collision with the environment. Although the player cannot move typically, the player may slide backwards if the player was positioned on a slope prior to the cutscene. The easiest example of this behaviour is achieved during the camera pick up cutscene during Mission 1 - Smooth Sailing. To cause this glitch, the player must run and dash towards the camera and continue walking into it while spamming to pick it up. The glitch may also be triggered during any respawns animation, allowing for many game breaking out of bounds to be reached, would the player die on a slope.

Gun walking

While aiming down sights, Cliff has increased grip while walking backwards. This allows him to climb over edges and slopes which he normally should not be able to. The grip provided with this trick is frame rate dependent. At certain frame rates the trick fails to work completely. Combining this trick with the fact that dashing backwards while holding a melee weapon preserves much of the players height, allows for many possibilities to explore the out of bounds areas.

Dead Island 2

Double jump

By pressing the jump button and the Overhead Smash at the same time, it is possible to execute the overhead smash mid air. The overhead smash is accompanied by another jump thus sending the player to great heights.

Fury shockwave on demand

By switching the fury skill slot card while in Fury Mode, a new shockwave is released. This can be repeated for new shockwaves when desired.

Corrupted save game

For an as yet unidentified reason, save games can randomly corrupt and no longer load when booting up the game. The reason for this is unknown, and it will make the save game unusable, regardless of if you transfer it to another system. The only way to avoid this is to make regular backups of your Dead Island 2 save games, and if your current one corrupts, to then delete it and replace it with a copy of the backup save, and continuously backup your save after each play session.

Zombies falling through floors

Zombies could occasionally spawn, or fall, through floors. This more often occurred when knocking down the zombie with something like an explosion or Drop Kick, though it could also occur with zombies which freshly spawned from the floor. In general, zombies would glitch and sink into the floor, rendering them difficult to hit due to it usually being just their head/high upper torso visible, but also often immobile, preventing them from moving around, though they could invariably hit you. Killed zombie bodies could also glitch through the floor and fall through the map, though this is of no consequence due to any loot being dropped directly on the ground rather than on the body.

Zombies failing to spawn/spawn correctly

Zombies could fail to spawn or incorrectly spawn, usually in relation to a quest, rendering the quest incompletable until reloading the game. In certain instances, for an unidentified reason, zombies could fail to spawn whilst completing a quest, resulting in the quest being softlocked. In these instances, it's during a section of the quest where you need to either kill all the zombies, or fight off waves of zombies until an end point is reached. By a zombie failing to spawn, it therefore means the game believes a zombie is still alive somewhere, preventing the quest from updating and moving on. Reloading the save game will fix the issue, causing an earlier checkpoint to be loaded and the zombies to be freshly spawned again.

Wall clipping after vaulting an obstacle

On rare occasions, it's possible to clip through a wall when vaulting up an obstacle at a certain angle. I managed to clip through a wall in Monarch Studios by vaulting up a dumpster accidentally, clipping through the wall of Sound Stage 5 and dying to the kill plain under the map. However, I am led by this to believe that it's possible to have happen with any vaultable obstacle which has a wall against it.

Moon launch

For an unknown reason, it's possible to be launched upwards at a great height, or in a certain direction with great force. Being flung upwards does not incur fall damage upon landing, and the direction and length is often random and greatly varied. It is possible to be launched outside of the playable map into a normally inaccessible area, which usually ends up with a softlock due to being stuck without a way to get out. Reloading the same game will place you back inside the map at the last checkpoint.

The full error message

Unsupported spawn bug message

Randomly at any zombie spawn location, a bug error message can just appear as floating text in the world. The bug itself appears to be an error message with regards to zombies appearing out of the floor/undergrowth that the game believes, in that location, to not be a supported zombie spawn location. The bug is harmless in regards to actual gameplay, as it does not prevent other zombie spawns or otherwise break the game, however the text will remain there until the map is either reloaded or the save game is reloaded.

Weapon durability glitch

After the first Dead Island 2 patch, a bug was introduced which messed with the weapon durability. Whilst using a weapon, there was a high chance for the weapon to not take any damage for a long while, even after killing zombies with it. This resulted in weapons losing no durability, even after long fights, and not requiring repairs at a workbench.