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This is a list of references to other media in the Dead Island series. These references are generally pop culture references and other fun topics the developers placed into the game for the players to find, and which don't have any impact on the game's progression. They are also known as 'Easter eggs'.

General[]

  • License plates read "D34D 1574ND", which translates from leet speak to Dead Island. However, in the Definitive Edition, they were changed to normal plates.
  • On various bookshelves throughout the game, the player can find a book titled Dead Island: A True Story which is a reference to the real-world book Dead Island: The Book.
  • The challenge "YA RLY" is a reference to the popular internet meme "O RLY?".
  • In the beginning, when the player leaves their room and enters the one down the hall left of them, they will find the couple from the trailer — dead.
  • Beer machines all over the Banoi Island (many are found in bars in the Resort area) have the "Heineken" logo on them, but instead read "Dead Islander".
  • The Alcohol bottles in the game resemble Jack Daniels, but read "Carcass Lager Ale".
  • The player can find packets of tobacco scattered around the floor (many can be located where they have to find flares in Act I) that are clearly modeled after Golden Virginia brand rolling tobacco.
  • The Snacks and Extra Snacks have the name "Deimos" on their wrappers. This is a reference to the "Mars" bars, as Deimos is one of Mars' moons (the other being Phobos).
  • In the supermarket, there are freezer boxes that read "Spirit". These are clearly modeled after the soda Sprite.
  • A copy of "Fakt", the largest Polish tabloid, can be found in Act I. The headline on the front page says: "Ile ofiar zbierze zaraza?" ("How many victims will gather the plague?"). "Fakt" is known for publishing absurd articles, e.g. "I do not sleep because I'm holding the cabinet" ("Nie śpię, bo trzymam kredens") or "Quilt wanted to strangle me" ("Kołdra chciała mnie udusić").
  • A poster with the face of Adrian Ciszewski, producer of Dead Island, and sign "VOTE!" can be found in many places throughout the island, e.g. in Mohakin's cabin in Act III (the poster in Mohakin's place has two diving knives sticks in both eyes on the poster, both of which can be taken). In the Definitive Edition, however, all posters have been replaced by an unknown woman.
  • Nenja Samejon is tied to the bed in Act I in front of the cameras. If the player transposes the first "n" and "j" in her first name, and the "s" and "j" in her last name, it's Jenna Jameson.
  • A man named Ted B. is kneeling in a blood-stained pool next to Sinamoi's bungalow. He is a reference to the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy.
  • At all the gas stations that can be accessed, all the gas prices are 6.66, a reference to the number of the beast, 666. This has been changed to regular prices in the Definitive Edition, however.
  • The main quest Chasing the White Rabbit is a reference to Lewis Carroll's book Alice in Wonderland, wherein the protagonist Alice chases the White Rabbit into a rabbit hole and ends up in Wonderland.
  • The achievement/trophy "There and back again", where the entire island needs to be explored, is a reference to J. R. R. Tolkien's book, The Hobbit.
  • The main quest Titus Andronikus is a reference to the tragedy Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare.
  • One of the movie posters in the Henderson cinema is an image of what appears to be Cthulhu perched on top of a skyscraper.
  • In the Rending Claws Mod, it states the designer got the thought from a certain superhero. That hero is Wolverine of the X-Men.
  • The achievement/trophy "Crossing the Rubicon" is a reference to the Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar and his famous crossing of the river Rubicon, creating a civil war marking the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic.
  • The first quest of Ryder White's Campaign, The Eagle Has Landed, is a reference to the famous quote when the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), or simply Lunar Lander, touched down on the Moon on July 20th, 1969.
  • The achievement/trophy "Wow Very Ninja Much Sneak" is a reference to the internet meme 'Doge' where an image of a Shiba Inu dog has wording on it such as "much wow" or "very great".
  • The side quest Ashes to Ashes comes from a phrase from the Book of Common Prayer used in burial services: "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
  • The name of the side quest Lazarus Rising is a reference to the biblical story of St. Lazarus of Bethany. Jesus restored St. Lazarus' life after he had been declared dead four days earlier.
  • The Heads of Cerberus side quest trilogy given to you in Moresby by Garett Grant is a reference to the three-headed dog named Cerberus from Greek mythology.
  • The side quest Deus ex Machina comes from a Latin phrase, roughly translated as "god from the machine". This phrase is commonly used to refer to a situation where something completely new is suddenly and unexpectedly introduced to a story to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem.
  • The achievement/trophy "Out of honey? Chew bees!" is reference to the internet meme "Courage Wolf", specifically this image.
  • The achievement/trophy "First Do No Harm" is a reference the the Hippocratic Oath that doctors must swear by.
  • The Escape Dead Island achievement/trophy "Deep One" is a reference to the Deep Ones created by H. P. Lovecraft, with the achievement/trophy picture strongly resembling the creature created by Lovecraft.
  • Snapshot 44 in Escape Dead Island has the description "Remember the Alarmo!". It is a reference to the famous phrase shouted by Texan soldiers during the Texan Revolution, "Remember the Alamo!" The cry was revenge for the Battle of the Alamo, where the surviving Texan troops were killed by the Mexican leader after they surrendered to him.
  • The Dead Island: Retro Revenge achievement/trophy "No Cat Left Behind" is a reference to the common unwritten military phrase and creed "No Man Left Behind".
  • The achievement/trophy "School of hard knocks" is a reference to the phrase of the same name, which is a phrase that refers to the experience and education gained from surviving bad experiences, in this case it's a zombie apocalypse.
  • In the Definitive Edition, many groups of books can be found on shelves. One of these books is titled "Career in Gamedev", whilst another is "Polish History". These are references to Techland, the developer of Dead Island, being a Polish game development studio.
  • The Dead Island 2 achievement/trophy "Break a Leg" is a reference to the idiom of the same name, which is an idiom used to wish performers good luck before they go on stage to perform.
  • The achievement/trophy "Git Gutte!" is a reference to the internet slang phrase "Git Gud" which is used to mock new players.
  • The achievement/trophy "Friends Like These" is a reference to the phrase "With friends like these who needs enemies?"
  • The achievement/trophy "Dr. Reed, I Presume?" is a reference to the famous quote "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
  • The achievement/trophy "But Doctor, I Am Butcho" is a reference to the Watchmen comic series, where the character Rorschach is discussing the character The Comedian and says "But Doctor, I Am Pagliacci"
  • The achievement/trophy "Not Even My Final Form" is a reference to the internet meme This Isn't Even My Final Form.
  • The achievement/trophy "Variety is the Spice of Death" is a reference to the idiom "Variety is the spice of life".
  • The achievement/trophy "Wilhelm" is a reference to the well known Wilhelm scream, which is usually used when someone falls from a great height.
  • The original name of the main quest Serengeti Siren, Justifiable Zombicide, is a reference to the concept of justifiable homicide.
  • The name of the collectible Journal Hot Feet is a reference to the phrase cold feet, something commonly used to describe someone pulling out of marriage at the last minute.
  • The name of the collectible journal Hell or High Water is a reference to the common phrase 'Come hell or high water'.
  • The name of the collectible journal For Whom the Nell Tolls is a reference to the 1939 novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls".
  • The name of the Dead Island 2 side quest The Death of the Party is a play on the idiom "The Life of the Party".

Video Games[]

  • The Achievement/Trophy "Right 4 Life" is a direct reference to the VALVe's video game series Left 4 Dead ("right" being the opposite of "left" and "life" being the opposite of "dead" ("death")).
  • Likewise, the Achievement/Trophy "Together in the Light" is a direct reference to the series Alone in the Dark ("together" is the opposite of "alone" and "light" is the opposite of "dark").
  • The Achievement/Trophy "Ah! Spoiled Meat!" is a reference to the Blizzard's video game Diablo. The Butcher was a boss early in the first game of the series who said "Ah! Fresh Meat!" when the door to his chamber was opened, and dropped a unique item called "The Butcher's Cleaver".
  • There is a Legendary Weapon called Assassin's Greed, an obvious reference to the Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise.
  • The Portal icon on the map/radar resembles the Aperture Science logo from VALVe's Portal series.
  • The Achievement/Trophy "No Raccoons in Here" is a reference to Raccoon City from Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 as it too was overrun by zombies and was eventually destroyed by a nuclear explosion.
  • The Achievement/Trophy "Somebody set up us the bomb" is a reference to Zero Wing, a poorly translated video game that spawned the popular internet meme "All your base are belong to us".
  • The side quest Big Daddy, Where Are You? is a reference to 2K Boston's BioShock game series.
  • Calling herself "Annie" and having a teddy bear named Teddy, Anne Snider possibly could be a reference to the game League of Legends.
  • In the Prison, there is a prisoner who wants medicine for a strong man and in the conversation he says, "He could rip your head off and shit down your neck". This is a reference to Duke Nukem.
  • The Shocking Crowbar Mod was originally called the Gordon's Revenge Mod, Gordon refers to the Half Life series main Hero Gordon Freeman.
  • The continuous quest Weeds might be a reference to Resident Evil as you use herbs to heal yourself.
  • The "Blood Letter" throwing knife is a reference to the Diablo II weapon of the same name.
  • The logo for Rehab Island in Grand Theft Auto V was based on the Dead Island logo.
  • The city of Harran, the location of Techland's zombie game Dying Light, can be found as a destination on a tourist coach in the Resort in the Definitive Edition of Dead Island.
  • The achievement/trophy "It's Super Effective!" is a reference to the Pokémon series of games, which often use environmental effects such as fire, water and electricity for the Pokémon moves. When they get a critical hit in battle, the text will read 'It's super effective!'
  • The achievement/trophy "Gotta find'em all" is a reference to the Pokémon series, who's catchphrase is "Gotta catch'em all!"
  • The Escape Dead Island achievement/trophy "Praise The Light!" is a reference to Dark Souls where a character in the game, Solaire, will often raise his arms above his head in a Y shape accompanied by the words "Praise the Sun". This is further reinforced by the achievement icon being a person doing that exact gesture to a sun in the background.
  • The achievement/trophy "Karma-geddon" is a reference to a driving game series called Carmageddon, in which a point of the game was to run people over. As a result, the game was well known for it's violence against pedestrians, and was censored in some countries so the victims were zombies or robots.
  • The achievement/trophy "Zombie Genociderer" is a reference to an ongoing in-joke between various zombie games and developers within the industry
    • Originally this achievement started in Dead Rising Zombie Genocider Kill 53,594 zombies. (53,594 was the population of the fictional town)
    • One year later, Valve releases Left 4 Dead with achievement Zombie Genocidest Kill 53,595 Infected.
    • Dead Rising 2 responded with achievement Z-Genocider 2: Genocide Harder Kill 53,596 zombies. Two more games also has similar achievement Prototype Trail Of Corpses Kill 53,596 infected. and Rock Band 3 HOPO-cidal Maniac Kill 53,596 Hammer-ons and Pull-offs.
    • 53,597 zombie kill achievement appears in 2 more games: Dead Nation Genocidiary Kill 53 597 Zombies and Dead Rising 3 Master of Massacre Kill 53,597 zombies.
    • Dead Rising 4 has the achievement "Z-Genocider 4: The Return" which has the player kill 53,598 zombies
    • With the newest update to Left 4 Dead 2, a achievement called Z-GENOCIDEST 2: EPISODE 2 was added, this achievement asks for you to kill 53,599 zombies
    • It's been rumoured the idea of this achievement is to kill all the zombies and the player of the previous zombie game.
  • Snapshot 70 in Escape Dead Island has the description 'If you wanted a person to roll this barrel, preferably midair, how would you phrase the request?'. This is a reference to the internet meme 'do a barrel roll', the original video of which came from the 1993 Nintendo 64 game Star Fox 64.
  • The cake featured in Snapshot 47 in Escape Dead Island is a reference to the cake featured in the game Portal, as it is the same design as the cake featured in that game.
  • The Dead Island 2 achievement/trophy "This is My Weapon" is a reference to the Team Fortress 2 "Meet the Heavy" short.
  • During the Dead Island 2 main story quest Bel-Air Brawl, when the Slayer goes back inside of the house after closing the gate and killing the remaining zombies, if playing as Jacob, he asks Andrea "Where's the last of us?" This is a reference to the video game series The Last of Us.
  • During the Dead Island 2 main story quest Blood Drive, after the Slayer uses the blood sampler and collects their blood sample, Dr. Reed jokingly asks the Slayer if there are "worm-like things" wriggling in the blood. This is a reference to the Devil Worm parasite featured in the first-person shooter Back 4 Blood, a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead by Turtle Rock Studios.

Music[]

Films[]

Television[]

  • Two survivors, Jack and Bob, both reference the "Star Trek" series, specifically the famous catch phrase of Leonard H. McCoy.
  • The Oceanic Flight 1012 plane crash and the opening of the hatch in the Lifeguard Tower are references to the TV Series Lost, where Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on a tropical island. Other TV shows also use the Oceanic Airways name.
    • The entire side quest Nighthawk given by Monica Goldberg at the Lifeguard Tower is also a reference to the TV show, with an Oceanic Flight aircraft crashing on a tropical island, leaving no survivors.
    • The Escape Dead Island achievement/trophy "Live Together, Die Alone" is also a reference to this show, referencing the title of the series 2 finale episode.
  • The achievement/trophy "Everybody lies" is a reference to the catch phrase of Gregory House from the television show House.
  • The challenge "It's WAY over 9000!" is a reference to the Japanese manga series Dragon Ball, specifically a meme spawned from Dragon Ball Z.
  • In an abandoned house in Moresby, there is a door leading to a room full of undead. Next to the door the words "Don't Open, Dead Inside" are scrawled on the wall. This is a reference to the first episode of AMC's The Walking Dead, when Rick Grimes is in the hospital (itself a reference to the original comic). Also, Walker is the common term used by Rick Grimes' group for zombies in that series.
    • This reference reappears during Ryder White's Campaign where, during the main quest It's a Trap (which in and of itself is a reference), a toilet can be found in a death row cell which has the same words written on the lower half of the toilet which is filled with blood and has a hand in it.
  • The name of the Dead Island 2 main quest Boardwalking Dead is also likely a reference to The Walking Dead.
  • At the marina in Escape Dead Island, you can find a pizza on the roof of the storage room. This is a refence to Breaking Bad, the second episode of season 3, where Walter White throws the pizza over his shoulder after being turned away by his wife who found out he makes meth. The pizza lands on the roof of the house.
  • Whilst descending the rope from the Locker Rooms in the GeoPharm Labs during Mission 7 - Beauty and the Beast in Escape Dead Island, a totem of bodies can be seen in a room with a model train circling it. This is a reference to the TV show Hannibal, specifically Season 1 episode 9 where totems of bodies are found.
  • The description of snapshot 61 is a reference to Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons and his catchphrase of 'Worst. [BLANK]. Ever.'
  • The achievement/trophy "Max Headroom" is a reference to the character of the same name from the 1985 television series Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future.
  • The achievement/trophy "Make it So" is a reference to the famous catchphrase of Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek.
  • The achievement/trophy "Lawn and Order" is a reference to the well known American police and legal drama Law and Order.
  • In Monarch Studios, a sitcom titled Friends Without Benefits was being filmed and produced at the time of the outbreak. The show is an obvious parody of the 1994-2004 sitcom Friends.

Gallery[]

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