Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster? No Thanks, I'm Good

For me, Dead Rising (2006) was a damn near perfect game. It had everything I’d ever dreamt of wanting in a zombie game and even more shit I didn’t realize I needed. Earlier this year, Capcom announced Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster — a remake promising upgraded visuals and fidelity to the original game. They and others call it “a love letter to the fans” but from what I’ve seen in trailers and previews it feels more like hatemail.

I originally had a giant write-up for this addressing all kinds of arguments and going over every little thing that ended up scrapping for two reasons. Firstly, it was just too long. Secondly, no argument I make, no matter how reasoned and detailed, is going to convince the toxically positive community following this remaster that it’s just not as good as the original. Instead, I’ll just go over the concerns I have, give some props to prove that I’m a fair dude, and conclude with some word salad that’ll make me sound cool and wrap things up nicely.

List of Concerns

Before I get into it, I need to explain something. Any remaster or re-release is going to have to justify its existence against the original game. Since the original game isn’t going anywhere, we need a reason to play the remaster instead of just replaying the original. The previous remaster (they really were more like ports) justified itself by having higher resolutions, framerates, and being playable on PC despite coming with a few minor downgrades (censored textures, some bugs). So for me to want to shell out money for DRDR, it has to offer an overall improvement on the original’s formula — It has to justify itself.

Anyway so here’s the list in no order off the top of my bald spot:

Voices

• Every voice actor was replaced far as I could tell, including the iconic T.J. Rotolo who is the voice of Frank West as far as I’m concerned. There are a few reasons/excuses floating around like Capcom wanting to avoid unions or that it’s easier to replace everyone since they are voicing every line. Not really important to my decision because I’d rather play Dead Rising with Frank’s actual voice over a version without it.

• Most of what I’ve heard of the other voices sounds worse than the originals. Barring Adam who actually does a perfect job and Otis who was never originally voiced.

Visuals

These are subjective, obviously. This is my list of things that concern me. You can like all these things all you want — let’s agree to disagree.

• I don’t like the new graphics. While I think the REEEngine can look good for some of Capcom’s titles, I don’t think it does a good job here. Like I said it’s subjective, but I prefer the original graphics. Graphics are usually the big selling point for remasters, and I’m just not interested in the new look. And consider this an umbrella bullet point for a lot of things I’m not specifically going over with the graphics such as ugly water ripples, UI, skateboard bug, volumetrics, vibrancy, etc.

• I think Frank’s new model looks cartoonish and exaggerated. I know people will say “He was always supposed to be ugly, just look at the BETA!” but I didn’t fall in love with the beta — I fell in love with the release. And I can quote interviews too about how he was always supposed to a kinda schlubby guy you’d see “in real life”. The new model is too flanderized: all his ugly features are dialed to 11 and the combination of it all looks unrealistic. At the same time, all his features are sharp and angular. His face is chiseled and statuesque, almost heroically so. The original model used softer angles, and looked chubbier and more normal. The old Frank would blend into a crowd while the new one would stand out. On top of that they aged him up like 10 years for no reason.

• I like the new Jessie model by itself, but she gives off an entirely different vibe than the original. She was seemingly aged up a little too and now looks more like a hot late 30s elementary school teacher instead of a fresh-faced rookie agent. Just visually the new Jessie gives off a warmer aura while the original gives off a more cold and gaurded look matching her character. The new Jessie has more Nordic features and is a natural blond while the original has softer/rounder features and has dark roots. I’d wifey either of them in real life, but in Dead Rising I prefer the original since I think it better visually matches her in-game personality.

• Cliff no longer looks like Michael Rooker. Steven looks like they just fucked his shit up fam, and they gave him really red lips for whatever reason. Other models are mostly fine.

• Don’t like that you can see the eyes of the cultists. It looks less creepy and more stupid.

Gameplay and Difficulty

The original Dead Rising was already a bit on easy side in my opinion, so messing with the balance and making it easier is a big sticking point for me.

• Mobile aiming. It isn’t too bad - basically a backported feature from the sequels. However, Dead Rising 2 and those sequels were designed around it while the original game and its bosses were designed around stationary aiming. It’s not like it was a technical limitation or Capcom couldn’t figure it out back in the day — stationary aim was an intentional design choice just like with Resident Evil 4. It creates tension and incentivizes the core melee combat the game is focused on. The firearms, excluding the handgun, were always a bit OP anyway, so there is no need to buff them with this change.

• Autosaves undermine the design of the original save system. The original save system was very intentionally designed to be a core part of gameplay. You had to plan your routes around bathrooms breaks and the loss of progress was punishment for failure. It was undermined slightly in the port with the addition multiple save slots — you could roll back poor decision-making, but that was counterbalanced with the nice ability to have multiple runs saved, and it ultimately didn’t change the in-game moment-to-moment dynamic. Autosaves completely remove saving from the gameplay loop; saving and saving locations are no longer things the player has to be mindful of. Just check out this answer from an interview with Keiji Inafune about saves in Dead Rising:

“This is not a technology issue. It is an issue of differing views on game design. American designers do not view the save system as part of the gameplay experience. In Japan, the save system is viewed as part of the game. It is a feature. In previous generations, designers took what should have been a negative for the game due to technical limitations and turned it into a gameplay positive. For instance, in Resident Evil, part of what makes the game fun is knowing there might be a zombie between you and the save room. It adds tension to the encounters. If you could save anywhere in Resident Evil, it would not be the same game. Manipulating the save system is one of the many details that Japanese designers take very seriously. For instance, with Dead Rising Japanese gamers would be turned off by the save anywhere approach. They would feel that the game is not challenging, that it isn’t really a game. Knowing your status, what kind of weapon you have or how far away the restroom save point is integral to the tension and fun of Dead Rising. Some people understand this and enjoy it, others do not.”

• Experience (PP) gain has been increased. This will make the game easier. I never felt the original Dead Rising’s pp gain was too slow. In fact, you can get pretty close to max level on a fresh run by just doing scoops, saving survivors, killing zombies, and photographing things.

• Skipping dialog will make recruiting survivors easier since you won’t leave yourself open for attack as long and won’t have to ward off the zombies as much.

• Being able to do things while answering a transceiver call removes it as a gameplay element like autosaves do to saving. In the original you had to be aware of your surroundings and make a decision on whether it was safe enough to answer. Now there is no reason not to answer — it is no longer a gameplay choice.

• People say the survivors are a bit sturdier and better at defending themselves. Also, Capcom added a feature that I guess buffs survivors if you give them their favorite items. This might make escorting too easy, but I’m just going off of things I’ve heard from trailers and previews about this one.

• Capcom are adding the cut Rocket launcher to the game. This could mess with balance if it’s integrated poorly and too easy to obtain. It’s just a slight concern. Ideally it is a rare drop from the special forces.

Photography

The “erotica” photo category was removed from the photography minigame. This has implications for both story and gameplay.

• I’m against this on principle. Like I’ve been saying, I think the game is just about perfect so removing something like this from the game is a big ask. I don’t think the explanations/reasons given by Capcom and the community are enough to justify its removal. It’s part of the original’s identity whether the supposed fans applauding its removal like it or not.

• Erotica was silly and played for laughs. Like much of the humor in the game it was something absurd to juxtapose with the seriousness of the story. It’s funny to see frank being a pervert while the game and story takes itself seriously It’s not meant to taken too seriously, so don’t.

• The photography mechanic as a whole gamifies the photo/media industry. The rating system can be interpreted as the application of Franks values or the media’s values or maybe even both. Turning the very real value systems of the industry into a minigame is absurdist satire. It’s silly that the game will tag and give you bonus points for taking pictures of very horrifying things. When you look at it in the context of real life, the notion that you could rate, value, and profit off of images featuring violence, death, and sex is a chilling and pretty fucked up. Removing erotica makes that satire less truthful.

• The removal of erotica had the knock on effect of necessitating changes to Kent’s scoop. When originally he showed you his “sexiest” shot, in DRDR he shows you his “funniest” shot. Instead of having to capture a photo with a high erotica score you have to take one with a high outtake score. This doesn’t really make sense in terms of Kent’s original character.

• They changed Kent’s character. When he delivers the line in both versions he smacks his lips and goes “uh-huh uh-huh” and acts as if he is showing you something dirty. So him showing zombies with servbot heads in DRDR doesn’t make sense. Kent is supposed to be sleazy and the “sexiest” line is supposed to show this and hint at his darker side. Him showing his “funniest” shot just makes him seem corny. Kent is supposed to play foil to Frank and be the darker side of the profession, this change diminishes that somewhat.

• There is a scoop where a survivor asks Frank to take photos of her doing poses that rewards erotica. I’m assuming this will need to be altered.

• Various sources have said you get more PP from photography than the original. This would compound with the higher general PP gain to make the game easier.

Other Changes

• In the original game the Vietnam veteran boss Cliff calls the player “Vietcong” and “Communist”. In DRDR Cliff calls the player “mole” and “animal” instead. This is completely ridiculous and makes him sound more like an angry gardener than a veteran. I know “mole” can mean spy, but generally a mole in an organization would be someone you know not someone you just met. Also, spies are uncommon in combat roles because of how they could easily end up dead and the flow of information and disinformation would stop. I doubt Cliff would call anyone that instead just saying “Vietcong” or even just “spy”. I’ve seen some silly justification like “modern audiences don’t know about Vietnam, making it generic helps everyone understand” which is nonsense. First of all, a lot of people would hear “mole” and think he means the animal, if you wanted universality just “spy” makes more sense. Secondly, you can’t decouple his design from the Vietnam War. He literally uses jungle warfare and guerilla tactics against the player while fighting with a machete. He fights like the Vietcong presumably from seeing their tactics used on his comrades. His character doesn’t make sense if you transplant his backstory to any of the more modern, desert-based conflicts. Lastly “Vietcong” and “Communist” aren’t racist terms like people in comment sections will pretend they are. Overall this is a shitty, stupid change.

• Larry Chiang’s model was completely redone over concerns of racism. I’ll admit he was a caricature and wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to change if they kept his character mostly intact. However, it seems Capcom overcorrected completely and made him look like a white guy. Yes his last name is still Chiang and he is still Asian, but sorry, you are blind or disingenuous if you can’t admit it’s not immediately clear at first glance. He looks like my fat uncle! And remember in trailers we only had short glimpses of him. Some people will cry racism and point at the eyelids as if it was obvious. Fat or old people’s brows sometimes hang over like that and cover their eyelids. That’s sort of what Larry’s eyes look like to me. If I look real hard, I can tell he’s Asian from his eyes and other features but let’s not act like it’s so obvious. If you have to refer people to a website to look at his last name then it isn’t.

• Anyway the bigger issue with Larry is that his design looks like it has been completely Americanized. Whether you think he still looks Asian, you have to admit he definitely looks like a red-blooded “I’m just here to grill and fish” American now. Which is an issue because it steps on the irony of Carlito, a foreigner who hates fat lazy Americans for their overconsumption, being killed by another foreigner who is exploiting that same consumption for profit. They could have kept his design as a first generation immigrant without being offensive and without stepping on this aspect of the story.

• They changed achievement names “Frank the Pimp” and “Zombie Genocider”. Again completely unnecessary.

Infinity Mode

I know a lot of people didn’t like Infinity Mode and wanted it completely changed. I’m not one of them. They got their wish I guess but why not just keep the old version of the mode as an option for those of use who actually liked it? You already have the code; it’s more work to change it than it is to preserve it.

• Fast Forwarding undermines the entire point of Infinity mode as an endurance challenge. It also steps on the realism of it. In an actual zombie apocalypse you’d have to manage the downtime when you are just subsisting on food. This is one of the aspects of it I really enjoyed. Back in the day I’d do other things while babysitting the life bar like watch movies or read books. I realize they added it for speedrunners of the timeskip mod but there is no reason that they couldn’t have given players the option to play an “endurance” mode that retained the classic design. DRDR is supposed to be faithful so Capcom should have tried to preserve this unique mode.

• Zombies having a chance to drop food, paired with FF, basically changes it into an entirely different mode. The original Infinity Mode was on a schedule and only a limited amount of food spread between survivor/boss drops and stores was available. There is a limit to how long you can last — it isn’t infinite. Presumably with this change, you may last forever based on your relationship with the rng gods. Also depending on how they implemented zombie drop rates, ignoring the survivors and bosses to farm zombies might be all you need to survive forever. It might be a neat mode to play, but again, it should not come at the cost of the original mode. There is no reason not to have both and make everybody happy.

• They added saving to infinity mode. This could be not a big deal if they implement it as self deleting exit saves only. The ability to have multiple saves or redo choices goes against the spirit of Infinity mode. But an exit save would be comparable to just leaving the game paused and keeping the application running which is trivial today and could be done back in the day (like I did multiple times).

• I actually don’t think this mode will excite either camp. People who hated infinity mode think they want this but ultimately the gameplay of killing zombies isn’t gonna change, and they could just as easily play 72 Hr Mode while ignoring the cases. Speed runners probably won’t like that the limit on food is removed and now runs are dependent on rng food drops. And of course people who want the original will still be sad it’s gone and been replaced by something so different.

The Vibrant DRDR Community

It bothers me that you have all these people who will jump on you for not boarding the hype train. I’ve been seeing all sorts of name-calling and insults being thrown around like fake fan, tourist, grifter, bot, alt account, hate brigade, troll, racist, bigot, pervert, creep, sexist, and even necrophiliac. A lot of them will come at any criticism you make with seemingly scripted, disingenuous arguments and that’s *if* they address your post at all. A lot of times they’ll just leave a smug and dismissive reply ignoring anything you said.

So fuck them. Being called a pervert for not wanting erotica removed or a racist for thinking the new Larry looked white when I first saw him, makes me not want to support DRDR because these assholes support it.

I would like to point out there are still plenty of fine people in the community who aren’t scumbags and are just excited for the new game. I have nothing against these people.

Bonus: But MODS Will Fix It!

This is not a good mindset to have when considering buying a game. First, because there is no guarantee the mods you want will even get made or that they are even possible. Secondly, because this gives developers a pass on poor decisions and mistakes made in design. This is the kind of thinking that gets us games like Starfield (admittedly I didn’t hate it) that come out half-baked.

Throwing DRDR a Bone

I’m not a complete asshole. I do think DRDR does some good things and even makes some changes that are for the better. It’s just that balancing everything on scale, the good doesn’t outweigh the bad in my opinion. DRDR doesn’t justify itself enough to warrant my money.

• I think it’s a legitimately good thing if they fixed survivor AI bugs like they claim. I don’t want escorting to be trivialized, but there were various legitimate bugs with the pathfinding that often got survivors stuck or caused them wig out.

• Otis and all text lines being voiced is neat.

• Most of the other character models I’ve seen look okay

• I agree with nerfing damage on the 1 handed chainsaw against bosses.

• I don’t mind fast forwarding in 72 Hr Mode since you only deprive yourself by using it in my opinion. It is kinda silly that back in the day the big knock on the game was people thought the time limit didn’t let them just goof around and have fun in the sandbox. Now people are complaining that the spans of time that do exactly are “too boring” and want to fast-forward through them. 🙄

• The camera upgrades are neat.

• The restored cut content is neat.

• DRDR has an option for classic controls. Keeping the option to play something in the original way is always good.

Conclusion

Well that is just about it. While DRDR offers some neat additions and a few good changes, it ultimately hasn’t convinced me it’s worth playing over the original. As a fan, a lot of the changes Capcom made in this remaster feel like a slap in the face. I love the original game warts and all — I don’t want its warts sanded down for people who maybe only “liked” the original game but hated all these things about it and wanted them changed or thought playing the original was a chore.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster doesn’t feel like it’s made for the fans of Dead Rising. It feels like it’s made for new players, or players who wanted a smoother & lighter experience, or speed runners, or beta collectors. People who maybe like the idea of Dead Rising but not the execution. DRDR just doesn’t feel like it’s made for me — So I’m not going to buy it anytime soon.