Exciting news has emerged from gaming industry insiders suggesting that a brand-new Dead Rising installment is currently in development at Capcom. According to recent reports, this upcoming title would mark the first mainline entry in the beloved zombie franchise since 2016's Dead Rising 4, potentially bringing back the series' original protagonist Frank West for an adventure set in Hollywood.

While Capcom released a remaster of the original Dead Rising last year, the franchise has remained largely dormant for nearly a decade. Initial whispers about a potential reboot began circulating in 2023, but concrete evidence has been scarce until now. Capcom has demonstrated a willingness to resurrect popular franchises after extended hiatuses, as evidenced by the 12-year gap between Dragon's Dogma and its recent sequel. Given Dead Rising's previous success, another attempt at revitalizing the series would align with the publisher's strategy.

According to a detailed report from MP1st, Capcom is actively developing a new Dead Rising game that represents a full mainline entry rather than another remaster or remake. The project, reportedly codenamed "Rec," features the return of Frank West, the photojournalist protagonist from both the first and fourth Dead Rising games. The report suggests this could serve as a direct sequel to the original game, though its connection to Dead Rising 4 remains unclear. Importantly, Frank's iconic camera mechanics are said to be making a comeback, preserving one of the series' most distinctive features.

The Hollywood setting provides Frank with plenty of photographic opportunities. MP1st's sources indicate the game will take place within an enclosed movie studio lot, where players will encounter an "extravagant and deranged film director" who forces the protagonist to participate in various trials to assist with movie production. This creative setting would allow for survivors to appear as actors hiding from the zombie outbreak, maintaining the series' signature rescue mechanics that have been absent from recent entries.

The report also suggests that the notorious Psychopaths from earlier Dead Rising games will return as "minions sent by the director." An intriguing narrative detail involves Frank saving one of the director's key assistants early in the game, who then becomes tasked with filming everything while having a bomb strapped to his body. This setup appears designed to capture the eccentric tone that made the original games so memorable, focusing on what fans loved rather than reinventing core mechanics.

The Hollywood movie lot setting represents a potential return to the series' roots. The original Dead Rising and its sequel featured confined environments like shopping malls, while later installments adopted more expansive open-world designs that received mixed reactions from fans. An enclosed movie studio would allow for the detailed, dense environments that characterized the series' early success and could facilitate the return of the time limit mechanic that MP1st claims will be featured in this new installment.