Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster (2024)

For better or worse DRDR doesn't fundamentally change anything about the original. While it does clean up aspects that would drive me away completely these days (namely the save system), it can still be an intensely irritating game to play due to its wonky mechanics. While I don't regret seeing it through (especially as I realised I never got the proper ending back in 2006/7), by the final hours my ratio of fun to exasperated sighs had slid way too far to the wrong end.

My biggest criticism would be that the clock, at 12x real time, is way too fast. I actually really like the idea of a fixed, limited time to do what you need to do, where (unless you're very good) you pretty much have to choose what you want to do. It's a cool idea massively underexplored in games. But it's so quick that I found myself actively discouraged from ever exploring or messing around, because I didn't want to miss a story mission and have to reload an earlier save or restart. I get that the point is to play the game multiple times, but the stuff I missed just isn't interesting enough to sign up for another full 6-8 hours.

I like to take my time in games, so I recognise that this may never have been the game for me. But I think a timer where it was hard but reasonable to do/see everything in one playthough—rather than something only crazy people try—would have made for a much better paced game.

"Replaying Dead Rising would be cool, I haven't played it since it was new. No need to buy the remaster though, I'll just play the original, I already have it on Steam" - Me

I played it for 90 minutes, died, lost about an hour's progress, and immediately bought the remaster.

It's good! I can buy the argument that the unforgivingness and clunkiness is part of what made the original interesting, but 18 years later (jesus) I really appreciate having some of those rough edges sanded off. In fact if all they'd done is added autosaving I still think it'd be an enormous improvement. It's not like it's a walk in the park either, it just feels more respectful of my time.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is a curious release.

It goes above and beyond on being more than just a typical rerelease. The graphics have underwent a serious overhaul, a better control scheme has been included, quality of life upgrades have been added here and there and, luckily, the survivor AI has been improved a lot. There's also new voice acting which is a double edged sword. I really liked the original Frank VA so it's sad to lose his performance but the new one isn't too shabby and now all characters in the game are voiced. The soundtrack seems to be the same. Fortunately. It would have been a tragedy to lose Gone Guru.

On the other hand, the game meticulously follows the original in its overall gameplay and feel. At heart, it's still the same charming, creative and clumsy game as it was originally. It's less frustrating this time around, though, since there's really frequent autosaves and a better gameplay but mostly it's the same stuff as before. I kinda like this approach but I'd also like to see Capcom give Dead Rising a true reboot that takes what was great about the original and ditches what was not.

Still, it's hard to fault a game for not being what it's not meant to be. This is very much what it says on the tin: Deluxe Remaster.