When it was first released way back in the ancient days of 2008, Capcom’s Dead Rising became a legendary survival “horror” franchise, spanning many sequels and even movies. When Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster was first announced there was a lot of confusion about what it was, looking a lot closer towards being a full-on remake in the same vein as Capcom’s other entries like the phenomenal Resident Evil 4.  However, what we have is exactly what is stated, a high-quality remaster and one that sets a new bar for games like this one.

As you may already know by now, Dead Rising stars Frank West, a photojournalist looking for the next big scoop. He goes to the Willamette Parkview Mall in Colorado upon hearing about its sudden lockdown, trying to figure out what’s been going on. He then finds out a zombie outbreak has been going on inside it, and he must survive for three days in it before rescue arrives. Even if he’s there to do his job as a scoop hunter, he’ll eventually uncover a story much bigger than what he could have ever imagined.

This is still very much the same Dead Rising experience. You have 72 hours to explore the mall to rescue as many survivors as you can, deal with murderous psychopaths ,and complete case files to uncover the truth. If you’ve played the original game, this is the same experience. The story is simple yet effective, and Frank is a lovable protagonist.

The strict 72 hour time limit is a defining feature of Dead Rising, and having it intact in the remaster put a smile on my face; it keeps you on your toes. I’ve come incredibly close to reaching the timer on multiple occasions, with the possibility to fail quests depending on my action or inaction. It’s also possible to fail the entire game, giving you the worst possible ending, but that doesn’t end the game either. It’s a wonderfully challenging and reactive system that makes me feel like I’m having a huge impact on the game world. I wish more games would try to implement something like this as the wonderful balance between time limits and fun. It’s entirely possible to do everything if you are quick enough and still have time to kick back and kill some zombies.

For the most part, the story, gameplay, characters and map design are a 1:1 identical recreation. There are no major changes at all here. All the same stores are in the same locations, and the timing is the same as well. If you have a good memory of the original release, then that will serve you incredibly well in this remaster. However, if you were hoping for the original Dead Rising with some remixed elements or more on top of what was already there, you may be disappointed. This very much fits the remastered title, and there’s nothing really added outside a fresh coat of paint. Even the different parts of the mall are still segmented with loading screens.

Just about everything in the mall can be used as a weapon, from random signs lying around, bowling balls, skateboards, and more. Certain shops will stock more powerful weapons; gunshops, and katanas. Combat in Dead Rising is about using whatever you can find to deal with huge hordes of zombies. It’s functional, but can still be pretty janky, even with the improved controls.  You will also come across psychopaths, and these are arguably the defining parts of the Dead Rising experience. All of them have returned, and for better or worse, are exactly the same. Mechanically, these are the same as before, often relying on cheap strategies.

As a whole, the gameplay is still just functional; you will have those awkward moments where Frank doesn’t do exactly what you want. Boss fights can be awkward and the controls just aren’t the smoothest. Regardless of this, Dead Rising is still an absolute blast to play. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and the unique ideas are still different enough to make it stand out today. If you are a long time fan or someone who has never played the original then this may just be worth a shot.

The biggest changes in this remaster are mostly down to the wealth of QoL improvements scattered throughout. Improved quest tracking is a huge addition, the waypoint has been changed to a compass and whilst still not perfect, it does work well enough. Melee weapons now have a health indicator, meaning you can just throw weapons away without those panic moments when one breaks. Levelling is also much quicker, as well meaning you will get the bigger and more impactful skills earlier.

Even the survivor AI will make an effort to follow you, however, they of course will still get stuck on the enviroment. Frank can now give simple commands telling them to move to specific points. This helps fix some of the awkward issues with the original survivors and certainly allows you to prevent them from getting in the way whilst you clear a path for them but it’s not perfect.

From any save point, you will be able to fast forward time to potentially skip any down moments and allow you to progress the story at your own pace. Not a feature I used. Then we have the autosaving feature which is the biggest change from the original. Everytime you load into a new area an autosave. This is certainly a timesaver mechanic but it removes a lot of the dread of losing to a psychopath knowing the game will let me just try again immediately. These last few changes bring a more casual element to Dead Rising and the more hardcore fans won’t be too fond of them. There’s no real penalty for dying, so the threat is lessened.

Unlike other remasters out there, this isn’t just an updated lighting with an increased FPS cap. There’s a lot more going on here than usually. The game was recreated in Capcom’s wonderful RE Engine, in pretty much every aspect. The psychopath cutscenes are wonderfully done, with great character models and animations. Seriously, those psycho cutscenes are absolutely glorious now and makes me wonder what a new Dead Rising might look like if the franchise ever decided to go back to its roots. 

However, it does lose some of the charm. Lighting can come off as a little bit flat, exterior segments don’t feel as atmospheric, with flat fixed lighting that makes the world feel more lifeless especially compared to the wonderful upgrades inside the mall itself. Also, as zombie hordes get bigger, you will end up noticing a lot more pop-in from very close range. Not a big deal, but something that will take you out of the experience a few times. Even the dreaded yellow paint has made itself into Willamette.

Sound similarly saw some massive changes. Previously a lot of dialogue and radio chatter wasn’t actually spoken dialogue and was just on-screen text. That’s no longer the case with a fully voiced cast from start to finish. However; this has had the drawback of losing TJ Rotolo (The original Frank West) who brought so much charm to a beloved character. Personally I didn’t have the same attachment to Frank as some people but without TJ the character is missing something. As far as I can tell the rest of the sound design is very similar to before.

That’s not to say Jas Patrick doesn’t do a great job as Frank, because he does, and replacing a beloved voice is some tough shoes to fill, so I commend the effort being put in here. Being a long-time Resident Evil fan, I’m used to Capcom characters being voiced by someone else every few years. Elsewhere, the rest of the cast is mostly okay, with a few exceptions that just come off as annoying. Overall sound design is a mixed bag; some changes work, whilst others don’t.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is a very interesting remaster, keeping the same core gameplay whilst deploying vastly better tech that allows a much greater level of detail. It’s not perfect, and I would have liked to see a few more changes to Franks’s adventure, but as the title suggests, this is still nothing more than a remaster, with not that huge of a budget. Regardless, this is a great addition to the series, and perfect for newcomers. Hopefully, this leads to some bigger Dead Rising projects at some point.

Graphics: 7.5 Remade using RE Engine, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is certainly a step above over remasters but I’d say it did lose a tiny bit of its charm as a result of the less janky visuals.	Gameplay: 7.0 Some rough edeges are retained but Dead Rising still plays well.
Sound: 6.0 A new voice cast doesn’t quite hit the same charm but does a good enough job regardless.	Fun Factor: 8.0 Still a unique and engaging experience with a few rough spots.
Final Verdict: 7.5

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is available now on PC, Xbox Series S|X and PlayStation 5.

Reviewed on PC with an RTX 4070, Ryzen 7 7800X3D and 32GB RAM.

A copy of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster was provided by the publisher.