Dead Island Wiki
Dead Island Wiki
Dead Island Wiki
Official wiki
4,109
pages
in: Content

References to other media

Edit

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[]

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.
  • There are multiple references to the Half-Life series across the franchise:
    • The Shocking Crowbar Mod was originally called the Gordon's Revenge Mod, Gordon refers to the series main character Gordon Freeman.
    • The Dead Island 2 weapon Rise and Shine features the text "SLAY TO BE FREE, MAN!" written on it, which is also a reference to Gordon, specifically his last name of "Freeman".
    • The name of the crowbar may be a reference to a famous line spoken by the G-Man from the series, which is "Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman."
      • The crowbar is also just a general reference to the series, as confirmed on the Dead Island website.[1]
  • 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.
    • This is due to the Definitive Edition reusing a lot of assets from Dying Light, which includes the coach models and liveries.
  • 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!"
  • Prior to Patch 1.3, the Pick-and-Ohm Mod was known as the "Pick-a-Choo Mod", which is a reference to the well-known Pokémon Pikachu.
  • 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 Slayer Jacob references the franchise several times in the form of the phrase "redshirt". Redshirts are characters in the series who often die shortly and easily after being introduced.
  • 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[]

References[]

  1. ↑ Pros reward list: Dead Island 2 on the Dead Island Website: "Forged in the iconic hues of Half-Life, it's your ticket to kicking undead tail in style."
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms