The recently published Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is a fairly faithful upgrade to Capcom’s original zombie-killin’ game, released on the Xbox 360 in 2006. Dead RisingThe main character of “Frank West,” Frank West, has undergone a major change, complete with a new model, a new face, and a new voice actor. So what’s up?
On June 26th, Capcom announced its chic big budget remaster of Dead Rising. The game has been rebuilt using the RE Engine, the same engine that powers it Monster hunter And Resident Evil Village. As a result, Dead Rising Deluxe Remastered looks incredible, with impressive lighting and high-resolution textures. But one change surprised a lot of people: Frank West, the game’s zombie-killing photographer, looked much older and grumpier.
In a new interview with Inverse, DRDRSatoshi Takamatsu’s art director explained why Frank West looks bigger, older and perhaps a little meaner in the newly released remaster. According to Takamatsu, they “deconstructed and reorganized” the character’s visual makeup to better highlight his “life-related frustrations.”
Takamatsu said that as someone who worked on the original game, he had a fondness for its look and West’s original design. And initially the plan was to simply upgrade and improve the original model of the character. But things changed when they moved to a more “realistic” style.
“As we rebuilt the game and worked to create a more ‘realistic’ visual art style, the team felt that we were in tune with Frank’s concept of an average American ‘tough guy’ about to turn 40 “A journalist who is always looking for a way to change his life.”
So the team decided to reorganize their visuals, using the “Average Joe” concept as the basis for this new version of Frank West.
“We deconstructed and rearranged Frank’s various aesthetics from over the years,” Takamatsu said. “We then gave him some masculinity to better express his toughness and life-related frustrations, and rebuilt his character design from there.” With a “tough physique” in mind, we went with a stronger body type that resembles “It reminds me of someone who trained to be an American football player in school, occasionally went bowling on the weekend and enjoyed his share of beer and bacon cheeseburgers.”
The art director also explained that they gave Frank West more wrinkles to create a more “lively facial expression,” but admitted that the team may have gone a little “overboard.”
“It’s changed a little from the original game, but I think its design fits in well Dead Rising Deluxe RemasterTakamatsu added.
And I have to agree. I wasn’t particularly happy with the new Frank when I first saw the trailer, but after playing the remaster I realize that this new version fits better into the more realistic world of DRDR. Still, Capcom recognized that some people wouldn’t continue. That’s why they also included the OG model as a cosmetic option.
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is now available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. You can read Inverse You can find the full interview here to find out more about its development.
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