Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster fixes almost everything that was wrong with the original

While Resident Evil has risen from the dead, Capcom other Zombie franchise Dead Rising has been in decline since 2016. But a new version of the original Rise dead promises to breathe new life into the series – and could mean Capcom is ready to take its crazier brand of zombies seriously again.

The new version, Dead Rising Deluxe Remasteris sharper in some ways and softer in others, based on a handful of hours with a preview build. The original’s quirky bones are still strong, but Capcom and developer NeoBards Entertainment used the remaster to address a long list of complaints that plagued Rise deadfrom the restrictive storage system and austere presentation to the incompetence of the AI-driven survivors of the zombie apocalypse.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster sends the player, as bumbling photojournalist Frank West, to the small town of Willamette, Colorado to investigate a mysterious military quarantine. After witnessing multiple violent incidents during a helicopter flight into the city, Frank and pilot Ed DeLuca land at Willamette’s Parkview Mall helicopter landing pad, which serves as an open-world playground filled with survivors of a mass infection, zombies, and hundreds of weapons and tools to combat the undead. Frank has 72 hours to unravel the mystery of Willamette and survive the zombie plague.

The key to Frank’s survival is the sheer amount of stuff scattered everywhere Rise dead‘s mall: food, weapons, vehicles, clothing, and more. Frank can use almost anything he finds as a weapon, from store signs to gasoline-powered chainsaws to motorcycles. Much of the fun — and Rise dead‘s brand of slapstick survival horror comedy — comes from experimenting with the game’s weapons, which range from deadly to hilariously useless. The game also has some great visual gags, like how Frank can plop toy helmets onto zombies’ heads, effectively blinding them and rendering them no longer a threat.

One of the biggest changes in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is the complete visual overhaul of the game. Powered by Capcom’s RE Engine, running at 4K resolution and up to 60 frames per second, the remaster comes close to matching the graphical splendor of the publisher’s recent Resident Evil games. The new Dead Rising doesn’t try to replicate the near-photorealism of the Resident Evil 2 remake, but everything looks much more detailed than in the original, from the characters’ facial animations to the beautifully redesigned Willamette shopping mall.

Thanks to these various upgrades, the characters you meet and interact with will become Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster feel much more alive than their 2006 counterparts. Characters like Otis the janitor are now fully voiced, and non-player characters who need rescuing in the mall follow Frank more realistically and overcome obstacles during rescue attempts. In my first few hours of play, I felt much less frustrated trying to guide survivors through the flesh-eating zombie hordes.

That didn’t help Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster overly easy in any way; I’ve lost my fair share of survivors, but mostly through carelessness. What has playing Rise dead Technically, the actual gameplay changes are simpler, including the ability to move while shooting — Dead Rise 2 added that much-needed feature to the franchise — and the ability to use in-game objects as shields. Capcom also addressed the annoyances of the original game’s transceiver, which Frank would use to communicate with Otis but which also disrupted gameplay. Frank can now move freely and fend off zombies while receiving radio calls from Otis.

There are other welcome quality-of-life features, including a more streamlined (and now dynamic) user interface with an easier-to-read, compass-style direction indicator that points to objectives, and the option to fast-forward time by glancing at Frank’s wristwatch. All of these tweaks serve to weaken the original Rise deadthe game’s rougher edges, largely in ways that enhance the experience rather than detract from its unique quirks.

Capcom has made more sensitive changes elsewhere, removing the “Erotica” scoring system for photos that would reward players for taking lustful snapshots of female characters. The company has also renamed the “Frank the Pimp” achievement, which is awarded for escorting a certain number of female survivors at once, to remove the trophy’s unpleasant implication. The psychopath — yes, the human boss characters are still called that — Larry Chiang has also been given a makeover, no longer seeming like an offensive stereotype.

Much of what makes Rise dead so interesting, unique and often silly is still intact in Capcom’s Luxury remasterIt’s simply been made more player-friendly, integrating nearly two decades of gameplay improvements and modern expectations into a game that now feels dated. Rise dead Luxury remaster feels like a small step forward for the franchise, and hopefully a harbinger of more Dead Rising games to come.

Dead Rising: Deluxe Remaster will be released on September 19 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was previewed on Windows PC using a pre-release preview code provided by Capcom. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You may additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.