Henderson is a city on the island of Palanai featured in Dead Island: Riptide. Unlike Moresby on Banoi Island, Henderson is a luxury city for the wealthy, themed after Mediterranean port towns. The city is a hot spot for tourists and also has a military base near the city. But after the monsoon hit, most of the city became submerged underwater, and to make matters worse, Frank Serpo saw this disaster as a chance to understand the lethality and interactivity of Charon's new mutant strain of the Kuru virus and released it in the most populated area of Henderson. As the military responded quickly and set up a quarantine zone, they still could not control the spreading of the virus and soon the base became overran - as did the rest of the island. With no other choices remaining, the military ended up abandoning Henderson and Palanai.
Locations[]
- Sylvia's House
- Sylvia's Parents' House
- Sea Market
- Military Base
- Villa Henderson
- Stan's House
- Nick's House
- Quarantine Zone
- Old Town Cinema
- Henderson Ferry Station
- Makeshift Hospital
- The Fort of Henderson
- Church of Henderson
Dead Zones[]
- Dr. "Scar" JJ Evans' Clinic
- Ogio "Blindspot" Moke's Laundry
- Motel "Safe Haven"
- Joel "Blackheart" Chubalba's Motel
- Frankie "The Scourge" O' Hara's Apartment
- George "Body Eater" Serero Apartment
- Geoffrey "Walking Carcass" Nape Warehouse
- Metzger "Skullcrusher" Sloat Hideout
- Infested Depot
- Infested House
- Infested Apartment
- Infested Basements
Main Quests[]
- The Ferry
- City Newcomer
- Front Row
- Militarized Zone
- Rescue
- Evacuation
- The Crash
- Quarantine Zone
- With the Tide
Zombie types[]
Tactics and Survival[]
Henderson is by far the nicest looking area of the game, with bright sunlight and colours. Compared to the slums of Moresby, Henderson is by far the nicer looking of the two. There are some good fast travel locations between safe houses to make traversing the place slightly less painful. Like all of Riptide, this area is far more horrible to traverse and a lot more difficult than the original game, a trend across all of Riptide. This is mostly to do with the new special infected introduced in Riptide, though the city layout is partly to blame as well.
The city layout is still rather claustrophobic in some areas, with tight corridors, blind corners everywhere and overhanging archways blocking your view. Quite often, you'll round a corner to see five Walkers, three Infected and a Screamer that you had no clue were there, all because of the blind corners of Henderson. Rams are far more deadly as a result. Unlike Moresby, where even through the streets were cluttered with vehicles, there was still enough room to dodge the Ram. In Henderson, the streets are so narrow that you physically can't dodge the Ram unless there's a joining street you can duck into to avoid it.
Also something to note, there are no vehicles in Henderson. This may not bother some people, as Moresby also had little vehicle access. The difference is that there were vehicles to jump onto to avoid the zombies, as well as a few vehicles you can use, just in very out of the way places. Henderson is very flat, with very few raised platforms you can use to your advantage. There are sheer buildings either side of the streets, giving very little room to get to higher ground in order to dodge attacks.
Sniper rifles are almost a requirement here. Because of their EXTREMELY high damage, they are a godsend when dealing with the new special infected introduced in Riptide, namely the Screamer. When you hear or find a Screamer, back away to a spot where you can still see it but it won't detect you. Take out your sniper and start to snipe away at it. You can take it out in three or so shots with a good quality, fully upgraded sniper while it won't come and attack you, as you'll be out of its detection range. Throwables are also useful, as there are a few tall wooden platforms that you can climb onto to get out of the range of zombies. When needed, you can climb up them and throw an explosive or other such weapon at the mass of them, easily taking them out. There's also a bunch of open balconies which are only accessible by ladder. There's usually workbenches at the top, as well as some mod items and possibly a collectable or weapon mod. Use them as pseudo-safe houses.
Notes[]
- Both John Morgan and Sam B have several stories or observations to make about Henderson as they traverse the city. John will tell of stories that happened in his past, while Sam B will equate various areas of Henderson to areas of New Orleans where he grew up.
- John Morgan, and most of his squad, had families living in Henderson prior to the outbreak.
Trivia[]
- As seen in an early screenshot of the game, there were plans to implement a day and night cycle in the city (as well as everywhere else in the game). This concept was ultimately cut due to time constraints.
- The map name for Henderson in the games files is bs_town.
- If you somehow manage to get underneath Henderson, you can find two Propane Tanks under the map.