Fans of Capcom’s Dead Rising games have discovered a treasure trove of concept art and video from the canceled Dead Rising5, letting gamers see what would have awaited them in the series’ fifth outing. Although the franchise made an appearance in 2021 as part of a Dead Rising and Teppen crossover, there hasn’t been a numbered Dead Rising game since 2016’s decidedly lackluster Dead Rising 4.
Capcom’s zombie-filled franchise debuted with 2006’s wildly successful Dead Rising, which put players into the shoes of photojournalist Frank West as he tries to fight his way through hordes of zombies while contending with a colorful cast of sometimes-crazed survivors inside a Colorado mall. The Xbox 360 title was praised for the massive numbers of enemies that could be displayed on screen and for the unique, often humorous ways that Frank West could dispatch the zombie hordes with a variety of improvised weapons. Subsequent entries in the franchise moved away from the lighter and more comedic tone of the first game, becoming increasingly grim, with the series going on hiatus after Dead Rising 5’s troubled development led to that game’s cancelation.
While gamers may never get the chance to take on Dead Rising 5’s legions of undead opponents, they can now get a better look at what the game would have had in store for them thanks to new screenshots and video of the title found by franchise fans. Discovered on the portfolio page of a former technical level designer on the title, the cache of clips and screenshots shows Dead Rising 2 protagonist Chuck Greene fighting his way through jungle and city environments that appear to be set in Central or South America. Gamers can click here to see a short video of Chuck fighting swarms of zombies, interacting with NPCs, and even doing battle with some sort of scythe-wielding enemy type.
This collection of never-before-seen assets for the canceled title shows a game with a seemingly lighter tone far more in keeping with the original Dead Rising games than the decidedly divisive, grimdark sequels. In addition to a new setting and new enemy types, the portfolio reveals that Dead Rising 5 would have featured a more streamlined loot system. While zombie fans can still count on titles like Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 remake to deliver some undead scares, this new media shows that the publisher’s other high-profile zombie franchise may have still had some life left in it.
For gamers still stinging from the cancelation of Dead Rising 5, these teases of what could have been may be bittersweet. And although gamers won’t be able to step into the world of Dead Rising again any time soon, upcoming zombie MMO The Day Before may deliver some of the undead-bashing thrills they’ve been missing out on.
Source: ndsportfolio.com, Twitter
