Back in the mid-00s heyday of Xbox Live, there wasn’t a chilling abundance of brilliant games available at your fingertips. I was a broke pre-teen at the time, so I would download every Xbox 360 game demo as soon as it was made available, regardless of what it was. Understandably, my gaming palate became so much richer during this period — it’s how I discovered inimitable games like John Woo’s Stranglehold, Lost Planet, The Darkness, and, of course, Dead Rising.
Capcom’s acerbic gore-laced satire of American consumer culture where you can melt a zombie’s face with a frying pan whispered sweet nothings to my malleable kid brain. The constantly-looming time limit, brutal consequences and awkward AI implementation led to soul-crushing failures and memorable victories, so much so that in adulthood, I now regard Dead Rising as an underrated masterpiece of tension and release game design. It’s also a work of immediate, gratifying humour that I’ve returned to (and thoroughly enjoyed) multiple times.
Alas, almost 20 years and a dip in franchise favour later, Capcom has reanimated the opening shot of its sixth most successful intellectual property, hopefully so that you forget about the much-maligned Dead Rising 3 and, god forbid, Dead Rising 4, whatever that was. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is a beauty-first refresher that basks in the omnipotent glow of the RE Engine, with its subtly-stylised but lifelike character models and gorgeous capacity for lighting. Frank “I’ve covered wars, you know,” West looks as painfully average as he was always intended to be, with his massive cheese block of a head and sunken eyes weathered by years of freelance (hear you there, buddy).
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster certainly looks the part
The Willamette is a victory lap of screenshot-baiting ambience, if you can spare a moment to breathe it all in amongst the bigger and better hordes. Zombie models get a huge upgrade, too, though Capcom has shown admirable restraint in adjacent departments, maintaining the stun-locking animations and cumbersome platforming that defined the 2006 original. Dead Rising simply wouldn’t be the same without this controller-launching jank — it’s what made it so deliciously challenging and rewarding — and the sequels suffer as they slowly strip it out. Sometimes less can mean so much more. Seeing Frank’s legs bend at impossible angles as he leaped and kicked through the air summoned a warm nostalgic feeling.
But that’s not to say everything is the same. There are a few major changes in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster that I can take or leave, but the choice of a ‘Classic’ controller configuration is available for the die-hards. Perhaps the biggest break is the ability to aim while moving — the original was more like Metal Gear Solid or the original Resident Evil 4 in this regard. It’ll undoubtedly bolster the uptake of newcomers, lest they give up entirely as soon as they reach the game’s first ranged boss battle. However, it definitely cheapens quite a few of the game’s greatest fights, which can now be over in half a minute if you know what you’re doing. Overall, this one gets a shrug from me, I’m not sure Capcom could have avoided it — though I could have done without the new yellow arrows painted in crucial platforming spots, as that feels a bit egregious.
There’s also an auto-saving checkpoint system now, which is broadly for the best, but will definitely bin off a few 100% runs if you’re used to the bathroom-only save point system touted by the original. Yet even if it took my younger self ages to figure it out, it was always the intention in Dead Rising for players to fail in spectacular fashion and slowly get stronger on repeated playthroughs until they can fully complete its cases. With that in mind, the auto-save (as well as the boosted XP accrual and ability to accelerate time) will launch new players into that fun friction sooner rather than later.
Survivor AI is still faithfully janky in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster
We’ve also got new upgrade magazines in the mix, as well as cool camera upgrades, hilarious Capcom-themed costumes, and my god, a staircase on the Rooftop so you don’t have to watch furious as your survivors desperately try to climb the ledge. Like beating General Radahn pre-nerf in Elden Ring, I’m going to be telling my kids about what that was like from the comfort of my rocking chair as I slide gracefully into senility.
Capcom has made a fuss about a broader betterment of the Survivor AI, but I haven’t noticed much of a change, and I think that’s fine and faithful. They’ve definitely got a few more brain cells, but only a few, so don’t expect them to be erstwhile sidekicks that can defend Frank in a pinch. I gave Bill Brenton a dumbbell while I was running on the treadmills in Al Fresca Plaza, and sure enough, he carelessly attacked an approaching zombie shortly after, and, for lack of a better description, exploded the brain of a fellow survivor in the process. Just like old times.
I did enjoy the addition of affinity mechanics for survivors, though. In Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, you can give survivors certain weapons or foods to bolster their survival. They’ll also call out scoops you haven’t encountered yet as well as PP Sticker locations while you drag them around with you, marking them on the HUD for easy access.
It’s the same old Dead Rising, finessed for a new generation of players
Crucially, the new vocal performances stick the landing, and a slew of fluidly-animated remastered cutscenes help to sweeten the pot. There are tonal changes where there definitely needed to be, and some where it was marginal, but it doesn’t threaten the vibes or broader visual direction of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. Don’t You worry, Frank’s famous ‘Over here!’ and ‘Come On’ barks will be seared into your brain once more, just with slightly different intonation this time.
It was so easy for me to slip into satisfying old habits here, like min-maxing September 19’s psychopaths and survivors to get a headstart on the following day. But what I liked most about Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is how much it still made me trip up, in similar and different spots that I was expecting, forcing me into some on-the-fly lateral thinking that often resulted in pools of zombie viscera. In that sense, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is a roaring success of a remaster, one that only exemplifies the awkward genius of the original.
I sincerely hope a new generation of players latch on and get behind it, in the hopes that we’ll summon another game that channels the restrained brilliance of the original. Like a sad old man plundering the haze of his youth, I beamed with glee as my Frank (in his Frank West 2006 costume), hopped over the Colombiana Roastmasters canopy for the first time, and found that reliable katana I’d used to cut down so many lumbering zeds and cult members in the years gone by. Here’s to many more.
