Fans built Dead Island Riptide Rigor Mortis Edition, now let’s see what’s inside

Dead Island Riptide developer Deep Silver asked fans to vote on the contents of a special edition of the game. Now the firm has opted to reveal what the general public selected.

When Dead Island Riptide hits store shelves, prospective zombie killers will be faced with a decision: Spend $60 on the regular version of Dead Island Riptide, or shell out $80 for the game’s special, limited Rigor Mortis Edition. Big-name game releases like this one receiving multiple retail packages is nothing new, but the Rigor Mortis Edition is a bit different than your typical Collector’s Edition release. Instead of simply slapping together a bunch of miscellaneous crap tangentially related to a game’s extended lore and tossing the whole pile in an oversized box, developer Deep Silver polled the Dead Island fan community in the Fall of 2012 to see what those most likely to buy the Rigor Mortis Edition would like to see inside the box.

It’s been months since Deep Silver’s poll ended, and now the firm is finally ready to divulge what it’s fans claim to want. Have a look at the contents of Dead Island Riptide’s upcoming Rigor Mortis Edition:

In the haunting, superb-quality Rigor Mortis Edition, Dead Island fans receive their very own zombie hula girl bobble figurine, a bloody zombie arm bottle opener magnet and a bungalow key with a branded wood keychain.  In addition, the Rigor Mortis Edition will include a copy of the Dead Island Riptide Special Edition for console, packed with a treasure trove of extra DLC content and a helpful digital strategy map.  All of this is embalmed in the ultimate Dead Island replica suitcase — the most iconic item from the original Dead Island.

That’s at least partially underwhelming, but we’ll explain that in a few moments. First, as we said before, the Rigor Mortis Edition is scheduled to feature an $80 price tag. It’s being touted as a “limited edition” release and being sold on a first come, first served basis, so if you want to ensure that you’ll be able to snag a copy when Dead Island Riptide hits shelves on April 23 you may want to pre-order the thing sooner, rather than later. Then again, if you’d rather just skip the pre-order ordeal, odds are pretty solid that you’ll be able to walk into a Gamestop or Target a couple days after the game’s launch and just pull one off of the shelf; Gaming publishers have a baffling concept of the word “limited” and such things always end up being overproduced to meet a demand that never materializes.

With our crucial details established, let’s get back to the contents of the Rigor Mortis Edition. We won’t judge the DLC contents as we have no idea what they might be — extra weapons and new missions would be great; varying colors of paint for Dead Island Riptide’s in-game boats would be less great — but the physical components of this package don’t seem all that different from what you’d find in a standard Collector’s Edition game release. I’m sure there are fans who are keenly excited about the above revelation, but how many of you are actually going to get any use out of it? Even as display pieces, how would someone work a zombie hula girl bobble head figurine and faux bungalow key into the decor of any room? 

Actually, forget it. We just remembered that the only thing we really care about in Dead Island Riptide is that it lives up the immense pre-release promise of the first Dead Island. Y’know, back before anyone had a chance to enjoy its entertaining, yet obviously flawed nature. If Deep Silver gets that right, we don’t much care what else the company wants to jam inside the game’s packaging.