Review: Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Is Timeless

It is difficult to believe that Dead Rising is 18 years old at this point. It’s not just because the recent Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster makes the game look gorgeous, all while retaining the style and aesthetic of the original. For an 18-year-old game, the gameplay loop and various zombie-killing and photography mechanics feel as fresh now as they did back on the Xbox 360.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster opens up with photojournalist Frank West traveling by helicopter to the quaint town of Willamette, Colorado. He intends to cover breaking news of the rumored riots occurring at the town. Upon his arrival, Frank witnesses some strange violent scenes, but encounters no riots. He discovers that the reason behind no information coming out of the town is a military quarantine put in place by the US National Guard. After making a deal with his pilot, Frank descends on the helipad of the Willamette Parkview Mall, with only 72 hours to find out the truth and be the first to get his hands on the scoop. It doesn’t take long until a horde of zombies breaks into the shopping mall, attacking anyone and everyone in sight. With both his life and the truth on the line, Frank takes it upon himself to help anyone he can, maybe take advantage of the situation, and snap a few photos that might look nice on his Pulitzer-winning story.

Initially, Frank doesn’t come off as a nice person. He starts as a self-interested and aloof man that’s only in Willamette to further his career at the expense of other people’s suffering. It is only through witnessing the horrors brought upon by the zombies and the people behind the outbreak that he steps into an active role helping the survivors of the shopping mall, and even makes friends with the DHS agents working the case. Even though some of the psychopath boss characters might come off as goofy or comedic, most of them are treated with a degree of understanding and are rarely used as the butt of the joke.

It is usually in the aftermath of the fights that Frank gets to see how the sustained trauma and stress of the zombie outbreak has affected these people, disrupting their lives in drastic ways and making them hold onto extreme and distorted versions of reality in order to cope with the circumstances. While Dead Rising is a comedy horror game, the game takes the subject matter and its characters seriously. The first game in the series is particularly poignant in the way it lays out a critique of rampant capitalist consumerism and its relationship with military imperialism, particularly regarding to America.

The gameplay is where most of the comedy shines through. During the course of the 3-day story mode, Frank needs to balance rescuing survivors, fighting zombies, taking photos, and completing each main case. Doing so will provide with Prestige Points (PP) that increase his overall level and unlock different stat upgrades and skills. The level up rewards are somewhat randomized, with some being available at the lower level pools and some available on higher levels. Escorting survivors has been noticeably improved from the original game, with the companion AI being much better at evading zombies and following Frank. There’s still some level of friction when helping friendly NPCs, but it’s part of what makes playing Dead Rising thrilling. The survivor escort quests in general have received an overhaul, with characters having favorite items and becoming more responsive and better at following Frank if you give them the weapons or food they enjoy. NPCs can also offer hints, point to hidden PP photo ops, and even tell where secret weapon stashes are.

There are countless ways to kill zombies in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. From a variety of more traditional melee weaponry and guns to sports equipment, home appliances, and even benches and anything in the environment that Frank can interact with. Combat is as simple as picking up a weapon and whacking a zombie until it stops moving, which can take from a single hit to a few depending on the effectiveness of your tool. One of the most notable quality of life changes in the remaster is the inclusion of an updated control scheme. While the original 2006 game is great, it doesn’t control as smooth as some might remember. The modern controls make Dead Rising feel amazing. Special moves are mapped to the right bumper and a face button press, and the zombie grab reaction is assigned to the face buttons.

However, killing zombies isn’t all there is to life. As a journalist, Frank also needs to stay on top of his game and take photos of anything and everything that might offer some value in his story. This means striking images of drama, brutality, horror, or comedic outtakes. It’s important to note that the erotica genre is missing from the Deluxe Remaster. However, this isn’t a massive loss and it doesn’t meaningfully change the way the photo mechanics works. New to this remaster are also the different camera upgrades are available throughout the mall. Some include a flash option as well as depth of field settings, and they are a neat addition.

Another new addition to Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is an expanded dub. Now Frank and every NPC speaks during gameplay and side missions. Although this comes with a downside. The original English voice cast has been replaced by a new one. Terence J. Rotolo doesn’t return as Frank’s voice actor. I generally liked Jas Patrick as Frank, even though some of Frank’s most iconic lines sound a bit off coming from someone different. The iconic licensed music tracks return to DRDR with an option for streamer mode that disables them to avoid copyright issues.

On a final note, RE Engine makes Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster look beautiful. The lighting in particular has seen a massive upgrade compared to the original game, which looked flatter in comparison. It is clear by looking at both games side by side that there has been a massive upgrade. However, the new remaster left me convinced that the this is how the original game looked liked back in 2006. The new character models are fantastic, and while Frank doesn’t look exactly the same and his new design ages him a bit, I think he looks the part. In fact, I’d say that he looks exactly how his original promotional design depicts him.

Dead Rising was great in 2006 and it continues to be great as Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. The tension of going through the main story cases, escorting survivors to safety, and trying to complete all side objectives all while managing your in-game countdown is as exhilarating as it was 18 years ago. Perhaps the most impressive thing this new remaster achieves is making me believe that this is how the original 2006 game played. The QoL additions are a game changer and I can’t imagine going back to the original control scheme. Unfortunately, some characters in the new English dub don’t sound as good as the original cast. On the brighter side, that is probably the only sore point I can find in the remaster.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will release on September 19, 2024 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC via Steam.