Deep Silver hasn't revealed anything about Dead Island Riptide beyond a title and a logo, but we already have a list of things we'd like to see in the game.

Developed by Techland, Dead Island shook up the survival horror genre with its open-world structure, RPG-esque leveling and loot systems, and four-player co-op. The game wasn't perfect, but it gave us plenty of reasons to get excited for another zombie apocalypse. Here's what we'd like to see in a sequel.

A Brave New World:
Much of Dead Island's success can be attributed to its titular location. The massive island of Banoi stood in stark contrast to the typical setting for an undead Armageddon, and the open-world format offered an equally welcome break from linear level design.

For Riptide, we'd like an even larger world to explore, along with more location variety. While we had a blast investigating Banoi's beach front properties, mucking about in the underground sewers was a monotonous, joyless pain. Finally reaching Banoi's city is an awesome experience, but few of the urban areas stand out. We hope Riptide's world features more unique locations, with more interior areas as well; give us the occasional creepy mansion or abandoned military base to explore.

We'd also like some new ways to interact with the environment beyond just looting abandoned suitcases. Let us create our own safehouses by barricading doors and windows in our buildings of choice, or set up environmental traps to take down zombies and looters alike. Let us learn more about the back story and its characters by simply exploring the world, beyond listening to scattered audio files. Also, throw in some greater weather variation and a day/night cycle to change up the gameplay.

Back To Survival Horror:
Thanks to its focus on visceral melee combat and deadly enemies, Dead Island felt more like a survival horror game than your typical run-and-gun action game. The Ryder White DLC tried upping the action quota, and was worse off because of it. We hope Riptide sticks to its roots, and places an even greater emphasis on the struggle for survival. Instead of assigning players random fetch quests to help out hungry NPCs, tie gathering supplies into the core gameplay loop by having them provide stat buffs or new items beyond the weapon crafting system. Give us a better reason to take care of NPCs beyond simple mission rewards.

Also, make the zombies deadlier; being immune to the infection is a copout, and reduces your undead foes to run-of-the-mill melee enemies. Incorporate the risk of getting turned into a zombie into the gameplay to give players extra incentive to work together (while simultaneously keeping an eye on one another for signs of infection). 

A Story That Matters:
Techland reintroduced gamers to Dead Island with one of the greatest trailers of all-time, but unfortunately, the story in the final game had nothing in common with the emotional CGI teaser. Poor voice acting and wooden character models were part of the problem, but the bigger issue is that everyone you interacted with only served as a quest dispenser. For Riptide, we'd like to see more interaction with NPCs, and a branching story based on our actions. Have those extra survivors accompany us on dangerous missions instead of just hogging resources back at the safehouse. More importantly, put the lives of our non-playable allies in our hands, and provide missions with multiple solutions and outcomes. Perhaps then Riptide's gameplay will pack the same emotional weight as Dead Island's early teaser trailer.