The Dark Furie

The beast appeared in front of me as I cautiously climbed the staircase. All I'd seen was a blur to my left and, already jumpy from near constant attacks, I turned towards it. What I didn't know at the time is that the blur was the creature running towards me. It slammed into the wall mere feet from me sending dust and loose brick shards flying, then turned to face me.

My own height and half again, this creature was a wall of muscle. I knew for certain that those powerful arms could tear me to shreds like paper if they were given a chance. Luckily someone had seen fit to wrap them tightly to its chest in a gigantic straight jacket. Those jaws, hungry for my flesh, were likewise held in check by a huge muzzle. As the Ram turned towards me it struck me that someone had intentionally created this plague and engineered these creatures as weapons of war.

The Ram roared behind its muzzle, perhaps sensing I was closer to the mystery of its existence, and then it resorted to the one weapon left available to it - it charged at me.

Day Two

I spent the first part of the day checking out a crashed helicopter, meeting a new friend and a new enemy at the site. The rasping laughter of what I've come to call the Suicider is the bane of my existence now. In a world where firearms are about twenty times rarer than melee weapons like nailed boards and barbed wire wrapped around a bat, a creature that explodes when it's hit or gets too close to you is a nightmare on legs. I try to keep a handgun on me at all times for that reason but I've also mastered the art of throwing melee weapons at these creatures and ricocheting them back into my hands. Not only that but I've started using Suiciders tactically, using them as bombs to take out nearby zombies and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Of course, this means that I'm more open to a surprise attack while my focus is on the creature but there's no way I can tear my eyes away from the undulating mass of tumours. The thought of it touching me or exploding on me is simply too much.

After helping out as many people as I could in the hotel and surrounding resort, I headed inland to the city of Moresby. My first port of call was the church as I figured most survivors would head there in times such as these. I wasn't wrong and soon met a group of zealots lead by Mother Helen, a nun who has everyone convinced this is the End of Days and that demons and devils are walking the earth. I can see that leading to some pretty bad situations in the future, especially if a cure can be found and people have to face up to their actions.

There is no way in hell that religion and that many guns can lead to anything good.

---

The small group of survivors in the church decided to send me out into the city to perform errands for them. It's here that Dead Island shows its pedigree as it's obvious that the city part of the game was created first. Missions seem more focussed here, and more elements are introduced. Guns are a little more plentiful, but the main way to get them is to kill the gangs of looters who have taken over much of the city. The sudden change of pace to human enemies who are armed as well as you can throw you the first few times but it's a welcome one that stops proceedings getting boring.

The city is full of new threats beyond the looters and the claustrophobic streets combine with a mess of alleyways and doorways to make attacks just as unpredictable, but defending against them a little harder. The beasts come in greater numbers now too and are harder to kill. Regular old Walkers are fewer and farther between and the Infected (who like to scream then leg it at you like something out of a nightmare) are more prevalent. Besides the looters and the rise in Infected, there are also new creature types in the city. Some zombies have some sort of toxic smoke coming out of them that can poison and paralyse if exposure continues (okay, it's an assumption but I'm not taking the chance), so these are best dealt with from a distance and quickly. And then there's the Ram which you read about at the top of this entry. That wasn't my first experience with him, and I escaped by hurling myself into a sewer to the side of the staircase. He throws himself at you, demolishing all zombies and survivors in his path and only stopping when he hits a wall or runs out of steam. Typically he is best damaged from behind, taking only miniscule bits and pieces of damage from the front, and tends to show up with a mess of zombies to get in the way of an easy tactical manipulation of his positioning.

Yeah, this is probably the worst position to be in right now.

---

My day was spent dealing with these new threats and setting up the survivors in this area with as much protection as I can. I'm eager to leave, partly so Mother Helen doesn't notice the bite marks and decide I need to be burnt at the stake, and partly because the main storyline is calling to me more strongly now. I know another district of the city has been sealed off and I have the opportunity to get there if I want but there are still people to help here and things that I may have missed.

I'll likely be here all the way through day three as well so I'll probably write more on day four unless something important happens.

Wish you were here...