The player is drawn into the world of Dead Island on the brink of a mysterious epidemic that suddenly, and without warning, breaks out on the fictional island of Banoi. As a guest of the Royal Palms Resort, the player's stay was supposed to be a dream holiday; a luxurious getaway to the beautiful beaches of a tropical paradise. But faced with the reality of a zombie apocalypse, there is only one thing left to do: Survive.
This is Dead Island... a paradise to die for.
Dead Island combines first-person action with a heavy focus on melee combat, character development and customization of a vast array of weapons. All of these gameplay features presented in a dark story inspired by classic zombie movies with a gritty and engrossing campaign that can be played with up to 4 players in co-op mode.
Source: The Publisher Website.
Dead Island will feature open world gameplay, played from a first person perspective, with up to four-player co-operative play. The focus will be on melee combat, incorporating customizable weaponry and RPG elements.
There is an experience system and a skill tree system. There is also a stamina bar, meaning that after a set amount of action with a weapon, the character will need to stop to regain their stamina before continuing to attack. It has also been confirmed that there are "special class" zombies, which are more powerful than the standard enemies.
The zombies have fully-modelled layers of meat and muscle rendered onto their bodies, meaning they have a multi-layered damage system with real-time injuries.
Source: Wikipedia, "Dead Island", available under the CC-BY-SA License.