Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Looks Better and Plays Better Than Ever

Unlike its Capcom sibling Resident Evil before it, Dead Rising took an unconventional approach to zombie-slaying action when it first released as an Xbox 360 exclusive back in 2006, favoring sandbox-style gameplay that could get very goofy if you desired. So you can imagine my surprise when Capcom, out of nowhere, decided to not only revive the series, but it just so happened to be a rebuild of the first game from the ground up. After spending time playing the first two days of 72-Hour mode, I am confident that Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is shaping up to be everything I could have wanted in the long-awaited return to one of my favorite franchises. Yes, I did say “rebuild,” but let’s clear the air: Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is not a remake but a remaster. As such, protagonist Frank West’s story remains unchanged. Indeed, you are still Frank, a fearless freelance photojournalist who heads to a small Colorado town and must survive three days in a zombie-infested mall, all while trying to uncover the truth of what caused the outbreak. Yet, unlike Dead Rising’s HD re-release in 2016, the Deluxe Remaster has been revamped using the RE Engine, providing more realistic lighting, better facial animations, and expressions, not to mention significantly more detail throughout the mall. Dead Rising, specifically the first two games, was known for the Ying-Yang contrasts of putting players in vibrant, massive playgrounds infested with hordes of undead. These modern adjustments of adding detail to environments and especially the implementation of realistic lighting breathe new life into Willamette Parkview Mall, so much so that I could not help but stop myself every now and then and really take a closer look at all the new changes to familiar places that were made to warrant this remaster. A Better Quality-of-Life Fortunately, behind a big shiny coat of paint and realistic lighting, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster also provides a massive quality-of-life update to virtually everything about the gameplay. Combat has been overhauled to make it a more fluid experience – most notably, the ability to move while aiming. This proves especially useful if you are using one of the small handful of firearms available in-game. I could not help but stop myself every now and then and really take a closer look Of course, you cannot always play offense against the undead. Sometimes, they will grab you. In the moments that they do, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster has made it easier to get a zombie off of Frank. When a normal grab occurs, you mash a button instead of twirling the thumbstick to get the zombie off of you. When you unlock certain melee moves like Kick Back, which Frank can unlock to allow you to counterattack a zombie grab, those moves will come with a different button you will need to mash. The skills in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster have also been revamped, providing easier execution to perform them. One adjustment to the skills I was happy to see was for Flying Dodge, which lets Frank evade a large group of zombies without getting hit. It is significantly easier to perform by pressing the specific button while moving than pushing the left thumbstick rapidly, like in the original. The new control scheme still takes some time to get used to. I still found myself in the old habit of pressing the button from the old controls when trying to perform actions like picking up an item. Fortunately, if you really miss the old control scheme, there is an option in the settings menu that allows you to revert to the “Classic Controls” that mimic the 2006 original. Naturally, though, it comes with the same restrictions found in the original version, such as the inability not to move while aiming. My personal favorite in the new gameplay changes is how Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster addresses item durability. Instead of having to keep tabs on how many hits you have until your item breaks, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster introduces an item durability bar. This small blue bar is displayed every time you place an item in your inventory. Meanwhile, firearms are a lot more useful in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, especially the handgun; a well-placed shot to a zombie, even lower levels, will kill your undead target with one bullet. And with great aiming, you can shoot a zombie’s head clean off with the pistol. AI has also improved greatly…mostly. While I did not get a chance to play the entire 72-hour mode, the boss battles I encountered felt like the AI was still a bit dumb. Fortunately, the AI in survivors you can rescue has improved immensely, making it a lot easier to escort survivors. No longer do you have to babysit them after every two steps hoping they don’t get grabbed or attacked by a zombie, even if you give them a weapon to defend themselves with. Not to mention that the entrance to the air ducts and into the security room now includes steps, making it easier for survivors to get up to the platform and into the ducts. Free to Be a Zombie Slayer Dead Rising has always been known for the freedom it provides to players. You could go and do the main story mission, you did not always have to follow that specific path. You could do that while also trying to do all the side-quests and saving as many survivors as possible. Or you can simply skip the story entirely and just run around the mall killing zombies and maybe doing the side missions. The AI in survivors you can rescue has improved immensely, making it a lot easier to escort survivors. Most side missions still come from Otis, who will contact you on the transceiver. Veterans of the first game will know how annoying it was in the original. Answering a call from Otis would leave Frank vulnerable, and if you are attacked, the call would end abruptly, only for Otis to call back and get annoyed. While you still have to answer calls from Otis in DRDR, you can now let the call play uninterrupted by pressing a button to skip the dialogue. This sped-up dialogue option also translates to interactions with NPCs, especially some survivors who have long-winded conversations with Frank before they decide to follow him back to the Security Room. Lastly, the Photography mini-game has been tweaked immensely. You can still move while aiming your camera, but there are some additional changes, such as an auto-focus button and the ability to tilt the camera. More importantly, Frank can upgrade his camera. Throughout the mall, you can obtain new parts that unlock new features, including a flash. Based on my time with the game, Prestige Points (PP) distribution has also been tweaked, allowing for more opportunities to gain experience points and thus further incentivizing players to use the camera. The most notable is taking pictures of the PP stickers found throughout the mall. Originally, you could get up to 1,000 PP points if you max out your accuracy on the photo. In Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, you can get up to 5,000 PP points for getting 100% accuracy on a PP sticker photo opp. I found myself more compelled to use the camera than any of the over 20 times I played the original Dead Rising combined. I managed to get up to level 16 in my hands-on preview, and I gained most of that experience primarily from taking high PP point photos. A Frank Assessment As mentioned previously, I could only play the first two days of 72-Hour mode. But it feels all but certain that the other two moves, Overtime and Infinity mode, will be available. What changes Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster makes to those remains to be seen, but with that in mind, the 72-Hour mode has changed how time elapses. While you can still follow the same in-game clock, there is a new feature where players can fast-forward. This can be triggered by heading to a save location and pressing the prompt. You will have to choose from fast-forward options, And this seems like a nice touch for those who only care solely about completing the main story and less about the additional side missions. While I was upset that I could not play the entirety of 72-Hour mode, my time with Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster gave me all the information needed to feel confident that Capcom just might have knocked this more-than-a-remaster, not-quite-a-remake right out of the park. I am especially eager to see the changes, if any, made to Overtime and Infinity Mode and I look forward to playing the final build when Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster releases to digital storefronts on September 19. If you’d like a physical copy, you’ll have to wait until November 8.