Dead Rising remaster will make Frank West less of a creep

Capcom’s upcoming remaster of slapstick survival horror game Dead Rising is changing a lot, with updates to the game’s voice acting, a big boost to the game’s visuals, and tweaks to elements of the game that might not hold up in 2024. One of those changes includes the removal of “Erotica” points that players could earn by taking photos of women’s body parts amid a zombie outbreak.

In a video released Thursday, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster producer Kei Morimoto and game director Ryosuke Murai walked Dead Rising fans through some of the changes coming in the new version. Those updates include new facial motion capture and fully voiced dialogue for Frank West and other characters — including a voice for Otis, the mall janitor.

One character, Larry Chiang, the Psychopath butcher, has also been noticeably redesigned. His new appearance presents him as less of a racist stereotype, as seen in the image slider below.

Image: Capcom and Image: Capcom

There are many quality-of-life changes too, including the option for a dynamic UI, an onscreen indicator for weapon durability, and a streamer mode that plays non-licensed music to prevent copyright strikes. (And yes, Lifeseeker’s memorable song “Gone Guru” will return for Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster.)

Not returning, however, in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is the Erotica score that players could earn by taking photos with Frank West’s camera. That’s according to a story from Famitsu, which says that the bonus points players could earn by taking provocative photos of female survivors and zombies will not be present in the remaster.

In the original Dead Rising, players’ in-game snapshots earn them Prestige Points (PP), based on certain thematic elements (Brutality, Drama, Erotica, Horror, and Outtake). Erotica PP were awarded for snapping pics of women’s cleavage, bare midriffs, and underwear. If a certain photo had a high enough Erotica PP score, Frank’s nose would bleed, indicating he was sexually aroused. The Erotica score was sometimes played for laughs; if Frank tried to take an upskirt shot of an older woman, Natalie, the player would be awarded Horror PP instead. (In the remaster, Natalie no longer wears a skirt. She wears pants.)

Capcom made similar changes with last year’s Resident Evil 4 remake. In the original version of Resident Evil 4, developers made a joke of the player (as Leon) looking up Ashley’s skirt. That was altered for the remake, in which Ashley wears shorts and attempts to ogle her are blocked by smarter camera angle choices.

The Erotica PP score in Dead Rising had limited impact on gameplay. In a few side missions, known as Scoops in Dead Rising, the player can meet certain objectives by taking photos with high Erotica scores. One mission, “Cheryl’s Request,” tasks Frank with snapping multiple provocative shots of a woman who’s modeling for him. Players receive the Erotica PP bonus for getting pictures featuring her face and cleavage.

Polygon has reached out to Capcom for comment on how the removal of Erotica scores impacts these missions and any other parts of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. This post will be updated when the company responds.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will be released for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on Sept. 19. Capcom will also release a physical edition of the game for PS5 and Xbox Series X on Nov. 8.