Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Looks Better and Plays Better Than Ever

ign.com:

Unlike its Capcom sibling Resident Evil before it, Dead Rising took an unconventional approach to zombie-slaying action when it first released as an Xbox 360 exclusive back in 2006, favoring sandbox-style gameplay that could get very goofy if you desired. So you can imagine my surprise when Capcom, out of nowhere, decided to not only revive the series, but it just so happened to be a rebuild of the first game from the ground up. After spending time playing the first two days of 72-Hour mode, I am confident that Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is shaping up to be everything I could have wanted in the long-awaited return to one of my favorite franchises.

Yes, I did say “rebuild,” but let’s clear the air: Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is not a remake but a remaster. As such, protagonist Frank West’s story remains unchanged. Indeed, you are still Frank, a fearless freelance photojournalist who heads to a small Colorado town and must survive three days in a zombie-infested mall, all while trying to uncover the truth of what caused the outbreak.

Yet, unlike Dead Rising’s HD re-release in 2016, the Deluxe Remaster has been revamped using the RE Engine, providing more realistic lighting, better facial animations, and expressions, not to mention significantly more detail throughout the mall. Dead Rising, specifically the first two games, was known for the Ying-Yang contrasts of putting players in vibrant, massive playgrounds infested with hordes of undead. These modern adjustments of adding detail to environments and especially the implementation of realistic lighting breathe new life into Willamette Parkview Mall, so much so that I could not help but stop myself every now and then and really take a closer look at all the new changes to familiar places that were made to warrant this remaster.

Fortunately, behind a big shiny coat of paint and realistic lighting, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster also provides a massive quality-of-life update to virtually everything about the gameplay.