New, Original ‘Dead Rising’ Game Reportedly In Development, Stars Frank West And Is Set In Giant Hollywood Movie Lot
Capcom is, according to sources, working on a new Dead Rising game. After the success of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, the next title will be all-original; starring Frank West and set in a Hollyood studio’s giant movie lot.
Purportedly backed by their unnamed sources, the claim was made by MP1st and “partially” corroborated by VGC‘s own contacts. MP1st stresses that game development is “ever-evolving,” and that this alleged information could change. Nonetheless, said development of this new Dead Rising game — code-named “Rec” — began in 2023.
Protagonist Frank West will notably be returning, and “all signs point” to it being a direct sequel to the first game- last seen in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster– and before the events of Dead Rising 2. Nonetheless, MP1st adds “we have not been able to confirm this latter detail officially, so you may want to take it with a grain of salt.”
Frank was voiced by Jas Patrick in Deluxe Remaster, and originally Terence J. Rotolo.
This new Dead Rising game will take place in Hollywood, “primarily within a massive, enclosed movie studio lot.” The main villain is an “extravagant and deranged film director” forcing Frank and others into “various trials” to film his “perfect movie.”
Psychopaths will also return, but rather than just bystanders who have finally snapped from the stress of a zombie outbreak, some are working for the director. One of these underlings is the director’s “right-hand man.” Despite being saved by Frank early in the game, he has been tasked with filming everything, while a bomb is strapped to him.
One can easily speculate areas and bosses will be based on popular movie genres, and inspire plenty of set-pieces and weapons.
Another surprising return character is Isabela Keyes, initially an antagonist in Dead Rising, but seeking to help Frank by the end of that game, and other protagonists in future games. She will help with “what appears to be a new type of zombie virus.” How a new virus could help is a curiosity, though the character has made repellents and cures.
There will also be other important survivors, including actors and a girl looking for her sister.
On the gameplay side of things, some expected features do return. Alongside taking photos, there are still time limits. This comes from the director making threats- such as threatening to blow up the entire studio- if the survivors don’t follow his orders.
The Dead Rising series has always had the ability to rescue survivors to some degree, and while there is a “strong presence” of survivors, the scale of how the mechanic will be implemented is unknown. As aforementioned, Frank does rescue the director’s right-hand man early on, which may suggest that is a tutorial for rescuing survivors.
Fans will have to wait, as MP1st reports the release date is estimated to “still be a considerable distance away.”
We would like to speculate — based on leaks becoming more frequent when an announcement is imminent — that the game may be revealed with a CG trailer at The Game Awards broadcasting December 11th. Then again, if it’s very early in development, Capcom may wish to wait until they are more committed to the project, and how it looks.
Capcom is likely have high faith for the franchise. MP1st points out a survey back in September 2024 asked if fans were interested in a remake of other Dead Rising titles. Though MP1st theorizes more than one game could be in development, it may also be Capcom felt fans wanted new games in the series, based on the feedback.
They have shown a keen interest in reviving old IPs, based on an April 2024 survey, and admitted so in December 2024 after announcing new titles for Onimusha and Okami. Despite all this, Capcom have been tight-lipped about how well Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster did. Our closest barometer is SteamDB’s monitoring of all-time concurrent players on the platform; nearly 6,500 on launch.
