Dead Rising Remaster Locks Classic Frank West Behind A Pre-Order Paywall

When Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster releases later this year, fans will have to play as a new, different-looking Frank West. This “improved” version of the character hasn’t been well received online, so it’s nice to hear that Capcom is offering a different model based on the OG Frank West in the remaster. However, there’s a catch.

The original Dead Rising was released in 2006 on Xbox 360 and later ported to other platforms. The game stars Frank West, a photojournalist who has covered wars before, and his investigation of a massive zombie outbreak in and around a small-town mall. In June, Capcom surprised fans with an announcement that it was remastering the original game. But that first teaser featured a new look and voice for Frank West. Fans weren’t happy about it. And Capcom, who probably predicted such a reaction, has an offer for those fans: Pre-order the game to get classic Frank.

As spotted by IGN, Capcom is now taking pre-orders for Dead Rising on its official website. And as you might expect from a AAA video game publisher in 2024, pre-ordering Dead Rising comes with some bonuses. One of those perks is a skin for Frank West that turns him back into his more pudgy and younger-looking self as seen in the original 2006 version of Dead Rising.

Now normally, a few tiny cosmetic bonuses included with a pre-order wouldn’t cause much alarm or anger. And I do think the other pre-order bonus skin—based on the main character from Dead Rising 2—is pretty cool! But some fans aren’t happy that the one big complaint they have with the upcoming remaster—the new, weird-looking Frank West—can only be fixed by giving Capcom some money now before reviews are out and people have had a chance to play the game.

And once the game is out, will it still be possible to get this classic skin? Will Capcom sell it to folks at a later date? Or will it get added to the game as a freebie down the line? For now, we don’t know, but the game’s official site does mention—in tiny text—that these pre-order bonuses may be “made available separately at a later date.”

Oh, and don’t expect this classic model to sound like he did in the Xbox 360 game, as the original voice actor says Capcom never even asked him to return.

Honestly, the OG Frank West model feels like something that you should unlock after beating the game once. Or after killing a specific number of zombies. It should be a fun reward for playing Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster and not a way to get more people to pre-order something before they even have a chance to play it or read a few reviews.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster launches September 19 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

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