Deluxe Remaster. Is it really that “deluxe”?

Remaster is a word that is used in all possible ways in the gaming industry today. If a production from 15, 10, 5 or even 3 (oh my…) years ago has achieved a relatively decent success, you can be sure that sooner or later it will be refreshed. It is easy money, because it is cheaper to remaster a game than to create it from scratch. There is a reason why Dead Rising, which we are describing today, has already been remastered twice…

Remastered, even remade (although only theoretically – just three years after its premiere on the Nintendo Wii console), Dead Rising is the progenitor of a quite enjoyable zombie-slashing series, which has so far had 4 parts. But do such games still have a reason to exist in 2024?

Well, the landscape looks very different today. There are very few single-player games that can be completed in a few hours and forgotten. Every major publisher wants a game-service, or at least a game that can be updated for several years after the premiere, earning money from DLC and microtransactions. The concept of a game as a complete product has become very blurred today.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is one such product. After an atmospheric and somewhat lengthy introduction, the game throws us straight into the town of Willamette, where we arrive as a freelance photojournalist – Frank West – to produce the footage of our lives. Along the way, however, we will have to solve a few mysteries and, of course, save this small, provincial “world”.

Here I should probably write what progress has been made since 2006, when Dead Rising originally premiered. The problem is that I have no idea, because I’ve never played this part before. I’m pretty sure that most people reading these words feel the same way – or at best have completely forgotten about what happened 18 years ago. No wonder.

So let’s focus on the most important thing – is it simply a good game and worth spending your money on it (not a small amount, because Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster was priced at over PLN 200)?

Something new, something old

I have to admit that among the same old AAA productions of the last few years, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is a breath of fresh air. I don’t mean the formula itself, because we’ve had too many productions in a semi-open world focused on eliminating dozens of zombies.

The uniqueness of Dead Rising comes from the time limit of the plot – our hero has exactly 72 hours to return to the roof of the shopping mall. Therefore, we cannot run around the game world forever. Every action takes precious minutes – as does the completion of side quests. Apparently, the creators extended this limit significantly compared to the original, but we feel the pressure of time from the very first moments. In practice, this gives about 10-12 hours of fun – just right for me.

The gameplay mainly involves fighting your way through hordes of zombies. To eliminate them, we use literally everything – from teddy bears, through cash registers, to metal pipes and firearms.

The main character, as befits a photojournalist, will also take a lot of photos during the game, for which he will receive prestige points. They are the equivalent of experience points, so they allow you to advance to the next levels, as a result of which we will gain access to new abilities and attacks. And this opens up new possibilities in terms of eliminating opponents.

The gameplay is relatively dynamic, and the controls are relatively pleasant. You don’t really feel like you’re dealing with an 18-year-old production. The creators have put in a lot of effort to bring the game into 2024, and I have the impression that they’ve succeeded. Of course, the hero himself is a bit sluggish and clumsy (while constantly panting), but that’s more a result of the nature of the production itself, rather than any flaws.

The bigger problem are the NPCs, whom we will often take under our wing. In most cases, they behave irrationally and require *really* tender care. The same can be said about the enemies that are not zombies. You would think that they should show more cunning and intelligence, but well… sometimes they do.

Visually, the game looks really good. You can see that almost all the character models have been rebuilt – the new faces look decent. The entire soundtrack has also been re-recorded – supplementing it with new dialogues where they were previously missing. A lot is happening on the screen at one time, and thanks to the play of light, shadows and high-quality textures, it is a pleasure to look at. However, do not expect miracles here.

Remaster as you can see

For comparison, I turned on the first Dead Rising for a few moments to see the scale of changes in the remaster. I have to admit that it is huge. Virtually every element has been improved or completely rebuilt. The result is a really solid remaster that doesn’t give even a shadow of a reason to reach for the older version of this production again.

Of course, as a game, Dead Rising is a rather specific title – filled to the brim with strange humor and characterized by a certain peculiar atmosphere. Not everyone will probably like it. The gameplay itself is also quite clunky and in places irritating. The AI ​​of the side characters is scraping the bottom, and the time pressure will appeal to some, while others will only be irritated.

However, if you’ve been missing a zombie game recently that does it the “old style” way, look no further. We’ve got pretty much everything that’s typical for the genre here. And on top of that, it’s dressed in a visually pleasing, modern setting.