Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Review – Classic Carnage Returns

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Review

Killing zombies is pretty fun, it turns out. It’s so fun, in fact, that there’s a whole genre of games dedicated to the activity. Dead Rising is one of the genre’s best, a glorious romp through fields of bloody carnage. The Deluxe Remaster has amazing new visuals and upgraded controls, although there’s still room for improvement. While this version looks and sounds amazing, the mechanics still feel very 2006.

To be clear, the controls have gotten better. They used to be more like old Resident Evil games, aka ‘tank controls.’ That’s no good. Moving and shooting is much easier, though certain skills feel like they’re fishing for a specific hitbox before they activate. The scythe, for example, needs to be aimed exactly right or else it fails to go off. Meanwhile some hungry undead dork is now gnawing on your flesh. Zombie attacks also feel both floaty and magnetized at times. It’s very weird!

A Smashing, Slashing Good Time

On the other hand, mowing down armies of zombies feels awesome. If you turn on aim assist, you can even shoot them sometimes! Really though, melee is where the fun lies. Using a chainsaw, park bench, or baseball bat to smash these stumbling ghouls into bloody paste is just wonderful. It’s so easy that you need to kill 50 of them to earn any experience. Sort of annoying, but again, it’s a pretty joyful activity. You’ll carve up 50 before you even blink.

Remasters don’t always do the character models justice. Some faces were never meant to be seen in 4K. Thankfully the Deluxe Remaster doesn’t have this problem. Frank West looks fantastic in this version. The rest of the survivors and psychopaths have all been beautifully rendered. Clothing is highly detailed, faces are expressive and crisp, even the zombies look good. You do get clones of certain zombie models from time to time. There’s only so many types wandering around. Still, it’s weird to see four of the same plaid-shirted knife-wielding ghoul in the same hallway.

Slay ’em Your Way

Progression is remarkably open and flexible. Engaging with any of the survivors and psychopaths is totally optional. You can fill all your time with major missions and zombie murder if you’d like. You can also restart your game at any time, all while keeping your stat/level progress. This is great news for me, as I found most of the side content pretty frustrating.

Survivors are simple enough. Convince a stranger to follow you to a second location, and don’t let them get eaten on the way. It’s the psychopaths I couldn’t stand. Mostly because good weapons are hard to come by. I really missed the crafting system from the second game. Garden tools are no match for a clown double-fisting a set of chainsaws. Your weapon selection does eventually get better, but it’s a pretty rough road until then.

Although the game takes place within one shopping mall, it still feels huge. Unfortunately, this effect is achieved through gatekeeping and backtracking. You do so much running back and forth through the same handful of areas. Plus, the zombies respawn instantly. This rules when you’re level grinding, but it makes getting anywhere a huge pain. Having the elevator be full of zombies every time you open it is honestly exhausting. On the other hand, if you’re diligent about killing them, you level up relatively fast.

Ridiculous Respawn Rates

The writing has a potent B-movie vibe, which actually fits Dead Rising perfectly. No one involved in making a zombie game should take it too seriously. Frank is shockingly chill about the whole undead thing, though everyone else reacts like you’d expect. Dude acts like this is his fifth zombie outbreak. The dead walking the earth is a huge deal, Frank! Otherwise the narrative feels like a good fit. Tons of people get eaten, gun-toting maniacs are coming out of the woodwork, and there’s a mystery to be solved. I liked the plot well enough, but it mostly serves as a vehicle for delivering undead carnage.

A good remaster should preserve the original game while shining it up for modern audiences. In this case, I could’ve used a few more mechanical upgrades. The graphics have been majorly upgraded, which rules. And I appreciate having two different control schemes to switch between. But certain moves and skills still feel floaty and/or magnetic. Worse yet, there are core design elements that can’t be smoothed over with a remaster. To be clear, this is the superlative way to play the first Dead Rising. But honestly, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is still the weakest entry in the series, at least for me.

***A PS5 code was provided by the publisher***