Well, I certainly didn’t expect this one! Capcom’s slapstick zombie game is remastered for the second time, bringing photojournalist Frank West to an ew audience.
Dead Rising hit consoles back in 2006, giving players 3 in-game days to investigate a massive mall overrun with flesh-hungry zombies. It was basically Dawn of the Dead but with a lot more comedy, letting players do things like run zombies down with a mower, wield a katana, battle a killer clown and generally do crazy shit.
While having a 6-hour time limit, in which characters would actually die if you didn’t get to them in time, didn’t work for everyone, Dead Rising was a hit, managing to shift 3.3 million copies. It did well enough to spawn multiple sequels, but eventually the development team was shut down. Since then, we’ve had no word of a Dead Rising 5.
Dead Rising was remastered in 2016 for PC, Xbox One and PS4. It was a barebones effort though.
This newest version is going to be called Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. It is being marketed as “an updated release with a brand new look.” it’s not just limited to looks however, because the brief teaser trailer seems to feature a new voice actor for Frank West, replacing original actor Terence James “T.J.” Rotolo. It’s unclear why Capcom has opted to bring in a new actor, but it does open the door for new dialogue and content. Quite a few fans aren’t too happy about the change in the comments section of the teaser trailer, but otherwise the reception seems great.
The teaser doesn’t provide any solid release date. It doesn’t actually specify what platforms the remaster will be released on, simply saying that its “Coming to the newest generation of platforms.” Presumably, that means PS5, Xbox Series and PC.
I have to admit, I’m quite excited about this. I did replay Dead Rising a few years back and found the gameplay quite clumsy at times, but apart from that it holds up well. And, of course, there’s always the chance that if this remaster does well enough Dead Rising could rise from the dead.