Until not too long ago, it seemed unlikely that Capcom would be reviving the Dead Rising franchise anytime soon, and though the wait for a new mainline instalment in the zombie-slaying franchise continues, it is making a comeback that seems to be worth paying attention to. The series’ original outing is set to return in revamped and enhanced form with the upcoming Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, and ahead of its looming release, here, we’re going to pinpoint some of the key details that you should know about it and how it intends to improve and modernize the original experience.
ENHANCED SKILLS
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is making a host of quality of life improvements, one of which will see skills being revamped. How exactly? Well, the improvements here are going to be targeted at their general usability. In short, in the Deluxe Remaster, skills are now much easier to perform than they were in the original. Meanwhile, entirely new skill books have also been added in.
DURABILITY CHANGES
Another key change has been made to the durability mechanics- not so much in how they work, but at least in how the game presents them. In the original, players were required to mentally keep track of how many hits had been dished out with an item before it broke, but in the upcoming remaster, you can now simply check a meter that tells you what sort of shape your weapon or item is in. Meanwhile, several weapons also last much longer than they did in the original.
AI IMPROVEMENTS
One particular area where fans of the original will want improves is the AI, and it seems like Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is making significant improvements in this area. At least as far as the survivors that accompany players are concerned, previews have suggested meaningful improvements, from general pathfinding upgrades to characters being much more capable of holding their own against enemies if necessary (to a degree, at least). Characters now also each have specific food preferences that provide boosted healing.
PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES
Photography was an important part of the Dead Rising gameplay loop – Frank West is a freelance photojournalist, after all – and it, too, is seeing several upgrades in the Deluxe Remaster. New options include being able to tilt your camera while you’re taking a picture, while – same as using guns – you can now also move and aim simultaneously. There’s also a new auto-focus feature that can come in quite handy, and even camera upgrades to seek out throughout the game.
PRESTIGE POINTS
Prestige Points (or PP) are how you level up in Dead Rising, though this is another area where you can expect some noticeable balancing changes in the remaster. Specifically, as per several previews, the rate at which you earn PP has been drastically sped up, especially when you’re earning it through the photos that you take using Frank’s camera. How that will affect the general progression and difficulty curve throughout the length of the experience remains to be seen.
FAST FORWARD
Time management is a core component of the Dead Rising gameplay experience, and the Deluxe Remaster is going to provide players with additional options on this front, too. For instance, players will now have access to a new fast forward feature that you can use at save points whenever you want. Looking to skip the optional content and just do a quick playthrough of the main story? The fast forward option will let you do just that.
MORE QOL CHANGES
That’s not the extent of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster’s quality of life improvements. Among other tweaks and upgrades, the game will now also feature autosaves – an abundant amount, according to previews – which means the penalties for dying won’t be quite as harsh as they used to be in the original. Meanwhile, the remaster also features a new on-screen compass that guides you to both main and optional objectives.
INFINITY MODE
Dead Rising’s 72-hour mode is a fan favourite for good reason, but for many, Infinity Mode is another excellent way to experience the game- and it sees some changes in the remaster as well. Most prominent among them is being able to save mid-game and quit out without losing progress, which should help make things much more easygoing. Meanwhile, item drop rates from zombies are also lowered, encouraging a more aggressive style of play.
CLASSIC AND STANDARD CONTROLS
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is also making plenty of changes to how the game is controlled, though those who want to experience it the way it was supposed to be experienced when it first released will have the option to do so. The new Standard controls will be tweaked and modernized, from letting you remap things as you see fit to allowing you to simultaneously aim and move. Classic controls, meanwhile, will eliminate those tweaks and revert to the way the game was played back on the Xbox 360.
CROSSOVER COSTUMES
Players can also look forward to a host of new costumes that are borrowed and lifted from other Capcom franchises. Available with the deluxe edition (and also purchasable individually), this includes costumes from Resident Evil, Mega Man, Capcom fighters, and more. Of course, in an ideal world, all of these would be available as unlockable skins in the game itself rather than only as paid DLC.
FRANK’S NEW VOICE
Terence J. Rotolo portrayal of Frank West throughout the Dead Rising series has to be one of the most iconic portrayals of the beloved character, though Rotolo isn’t reprising his role in the Deluxe Remaster, after also having sat out 2016’s Dead Rising 4. Instead, in the remaster, the character will be voiced by Jas Patrick (known for his work on Octopath Traveler 2, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and more).
VOICE ACTING CHANGES
Frank West is one of several characters that sees new voice over performances in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, but why exactly did Capcom decide to make these changes? Speaking in an interview with IGN, the remaster’s development team revealed that though it would have preferred to use the original game’s voices as is, changes had to be made due to the original’s age and the new version’s specific requirements. “Based on fans’ wishes and our own developmental wishes, we wanted to use the English voiceover from the original game without making any changes,” the developers said. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to move forward with this plan because the contract for the 18-year-old game was outdated. Another one of our goals for Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster was to make the game fully voiced, so we made some changes to the cast of voice actors. We’ve all been very pleased with the new actors’ performances.”
ORIGINAL’S MUSIC RETURNS
One area where Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is going to be able to replicate the original’s audio experience as is is with its music. Dead Rising’s soundtrack used a bunch of licensed music, which can be a bit of a logistical nightmare for developers and publishers to handle with re-releases, but Deluxe Remaster is confirmed to be bringing back the original game’s soundtrack, including its licensed music.
PC REQUIREMENTS
System requirements for the remaster’s PC version are largely pretty reasonable, as you would expect. On minimum settings, you’ll need either an i7-6700 or a Ryzen 5 3400G, along with either a GeForce GTX 1060 or a Radeon RX 580. On recommended settings, you’ll need either an i7-8700 or a Ryzen 5 3600, along with either a GeForce GTX 1070Ti or a Radeon RX 5700, though to run the game at 4K and 60 FPS, you’ll need either a GeForce RTX 3080 or a Radeon RX 6900 XT. Meanwhile, no matter what settings you’re playing at, you’ll need 16 GB of RAM.
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