Capcom’s slapstick zombie series Dead Rising is being reanimated, with a Deluxe Remaster version of the 2006 original launching for unspecified platforms at an unspecified release date.
Created created by Keiji Inafune of Mega Man fame, Dead Rising’s first outing took the basic premise of George A. Romero’s horror movie classic Dawn of the Dead – which is to say, zombies in a mall – and gave it a fresh spin with a ludicrous anything-goes approach to weaponry and undead hordes appearing in absolute multitudes.
Players – as photojournalist Frank West – were given three in-game days to investigate Colorado’s sprawling, zombie-infested Willamette Parkview Mall, the idea being to solve a series of cases before a helicopter picked them up on the final day. There’s more to it than that, but it’s probably best remembered for the fact pretty much anything found in the mall could be used as a weapon – and if you’ve never seen a man bash his way through a zombie horde with a mailbox, wearing nothing but his underpants and a Lego head, can you really say you’ve lived?
As of right now, there’s not a whole lot to say about Capcom’s newly announced remaster – which looks more like a full-on remake judging by the teaser trailer, but let’s not quibble over semantics just yet. The trailer indicates the game is coming to the “newest generation of platforms” – so PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC seem like a reasonable guess – but for anything beyond that, Capcom says to “stay tuned for more info soon.”
Eurogamer liked Dead Rising a lot when it released back in 2006 (and again when it got an HD upgrade for PC and consoles ten years on), slapping it with a classic eight out of 10 score. “It may not be licensed by George A. Romero,” wrote Tom Bramwell at the time, “but it was certainly inspired by him, and it replicates a lot of the feelings he inspired in the viewer. And as I plunge yet another sickle into someone’s neck and jerk their head off with my foot, showering myself in blood, I can’t help but think that he’d rather approve of it.”
