Dead Rising 5

Dead Rising 5 is a survival horror videogame and it is the fifth installment in the Dead Rising series.

The game has been released on the 26th of April 2021 for Xbox One and Playstation 4, while the PC version has been released on June 19th 2021. The game producers have been also working on a Nintendo Switch version of Dead Rising 5, which came out on the first day of January of 2022.

Dead Rising 5 has been developed by Capcom, which is the creator of the previous chapters of the series. The game was originally going to be developed by Capcom Vancouver, however, due to a financial crisis, the company failed and the project was canceled. Being a successful videogame saga, the new sequel of Dead Rising was later proposed to Capcom, which then decided to actually make it in order to save the series from an apparent death. Dead Rising 5 has been a great success and has earned way more money than its predecessor, which has been heavily criticized by the fans of the series and most players. That's because Dead Rising 5 brought back many features which were missing in Dead Rising 4: the time limit, the psychopaths, and the better gameplay are just few examples.

Gameplay[]

Dead Rising 5 gameplay is very similar to the others installments of the series, but it also adds new features. Some features have specific pages about them with more details.

Game Mechanics[]

Like in the past, the player is able to control the protagonist Hank's movements and actions, such as using weapons in various ways to kill zombies or eat food to restore his health when he's injured. The items he will pick up will be stored in his inventory, which has limited item slots. Cumbersome objects, such as chairs and tables, can't be stored in the inventory. Some objects qualities (such as durability or damage) can be improved by carrying magazines in the inventory: each magazine affects different types of objects or sometimes even the player's stats. Hank is also able to drive vehicles in order to move around the map faster and easier than on foot. It is possible to improve the protagonist abilities and stats by acquiring PP points that can be earned by killing zombies, saving survivors, defeating psychopaths and much more. Earning a specific amount of PP points will make the player exceed of level: reaching each level rewards Hank with new abilities and improved stats, as well as new Combo Weapons blueprints. The maximum level the player can reach is 75 (and not 50 like the other chapters).

Hank also has the opportunity to mix two objects in order to create a new and better one: if those two objects are weapons, then the player has created a Combo Weapon. Combo Weapons can also be combined with another standard weapon to create Super Combo Weapons. Combo Weapons and Super Combo Weapons can be made only by using workbenches found all over the map; he won't be able to create them anywhere unlike Dead Rising 3 and Dead Rising 4. In order to create a Combo Weapon or a Super Combo Weapon the player must find its respective blueprint in the map or unlock it by reaching new levels or defeating psychopaths.

If Hank mixes up two food items in a mixer, then he will obtain a milkshake which restores more health than normal food items and sometimes have different temporary improvements on the characters' stats. Vehicles can also be combined, creating Combo Vehicles, but only in workshops. Hank can have access to all the weapons he collected during the game using the Weapons Locker inside the shelter, while to access the clothes he must use the Wardrobe. Vehicles can be accesed in the workshops.

New Features[]

Merchants: A small group of people divided in various parts of the map who see the outbreak as an opportunity to make money by selling useful items to survivors. Hank can buy weapons, food and sometimes even Combo Weapons from their hideouts.
Survivors Requests: Extra secondary activities given by survivors that when completed reward Hank with additional PP points or other rewards.
Hunger Bar: In Survival Mode Hank needs to eat food occasionally in order to stay alive. There is a bar in the HUD indicating the level of hunger Hank has. Not feeding him for too long will cause him to starve and eventually die. Eating too much food will cause him to vomit, but won't affect his hunger bar.
Thirst Bar: In Survival Mode Hank also needs to drink occasionally in order to stay alive. There is a bar in the HUD indicating the level of thirst Hank has. Not making him drink for too long will cause him to dehydrate and eventually die. Drinking too much will cause him to be sick, while drinking too much alcoholic drinks (such as beer or vodka) will make him drunk.

Zombies, Survivors and Psychopaths[]

Zombies are the main enemy of the game: most of them are slow and dumb while others are more active. Those can be faster than normal zombies or even be able to carry objects and use them to hurt the player. Killing them always rewards Hank with few PP. Killing multiple zombies, instead, multiplies the PP earned.

Survivors are fortunate people who managed to survive the zombie outbreak. They can have many different types of behaviors depending on the situation they're in or their personality. Some will be immediately collaborative and will join Hank, while to make others join the player instead Hank will have to satisfy tasks for them or do certain things. They may carry weapons sometimes and the player can also give them weapons, although not everyone could want them. Survivors can deflect and attack the player if he hurts them on purpose and they won't be recruitable anymore. The player can also decide to kill survivors, but doing that won't reward him. If Hank wants to save survivors then he must escort them to the safe zone. Doing so will reward the protagonist with a large amount of PP and sometimes even with gifts from the survivors themselves.

Psychopaths are also survivors, who in most cases have gone crazy due to the outbreak. All of them are fought in boss battles and have large amount of health, and use various weapons in order to kill Hank. They might even drive vehicles. There are two types of psychopaths:

Primary Psychopaths: Those psychopaths have to be defeated in order to progress in the story mode.
Secondary Psychopaths: Those psychopaths don't have to be defeated in order to progress in the story mode and they are fought during secondary missions.

Most of them can't be saved and die in brutal ways. Defeating them will reward the protagonist with a lot of PP; saving the savable psychopaths, instead, will reward the player with the same amount of PP given by saving a survivor. Each psychopath has its own soundtrack and cut-scenes.

Missions[]

During the Story Mode, which lasts 168 hours (approximately 14 hours in real life), the player must complete several tasks to progress in the game. Those tasks are called Missions and they are divided in two categories:

Primary Missions: These missions must be completed if the player wants to progress in the story. A set of completed story missions form a Case.
Secondary Missions: These missions don't have to be completed in order to progress in the story. They usually consist in saving survivors or defeating psychopaths.

Map[]

The game takes place in a tropical island located the middle of the Pacific Ocean, called Paradise Island because of its beautiful beaches, perfect climate, tourist attractions and high quality of life. There is just one city which is also the capital, Ingot Hope, that counts around one million residents. The map features the whole island and some parts of the sea surrounding it, in which Hank can swim. Paradise Island features 11 main areas:

Luxana Beach: Long and large beach with restaurants, sea view hotels and other beach attractions. It is located in the South-West of Paradise Island.
Paradise Harbor: The only port of Paradise Island used only for cruise lines. Features some shops, small warehouses, and a lighthouse. It is located next to Luxana Beach.
Quarantine Area: A large area connected to Flymouth where Hank and all other survivors will stay to survive the outbreak. It consists in a big underground shelter made with cement that has many rooms and a storage for basic supplies. It is located in the North-East of Paradise Island.
Flymonth: The main part of the capital city Ingot Hope; features condominiums, shops and a hospital. It is located near the Quarantine Zone, in the North of Paradise Island.
Masserhall: Industrial part of Ingot Hope with light industries, companies skyscrapers, a police station and few condominiums. Some streets connect it to Flymonth, in the Middle-East of Paradise Island.
Business Centre: Heart of Paradise Island. Features expensive shops and restaurants, skyscrapers and hotels. It is located right in the middle of Paradise Island.
North Parkins: Small residential district with condominiums, a park, a church and a fire station. It is the northern part of Paradise Island.
Lucky District: The most expensive zone in Ingot Hope with lots of casinos, adult entertainment, luxurious condominiums and hotels. It is located near Luxana Beach, in the South-West.
WonderWorld: Big theme park full of entertainment, attractions, toys and gadgets shops and fast foods. It is connected to the Lucky District and Majestic Mall, in the Middle-West of Paradise Island.
Majestic Mall: Modern mall that has over 60 shops, including a gym, an hardware store, a supermarket and a gun shop. It is connected to Wonderworld, in the Middle-West of Paradise Island.
Tropical Forest: The natural side of Paradise Island. Features a palm tree forest, some houses and natural resorts. It is the northern part of Paradise Island.

There are also collectables spread all over the map. Each collectable rewards the player with PP. There are three types of collectables:

Writer's Notes: These are experiences that Hank writes on his note block. Writer Notes can be unlocked by saving survivors, defeating psychopaths, solving cases, accessing places and doing other things in Paradise Island. There are 125 Writer Notes in total, and collecting them all will unlock an achievements.
Coconuts: These are standard collectables. There are 300 coconuts in total, and collecting them all will unlock an achievement.
Keys: These can be used in the Secret Locks mode in order to obtain lots of rewards and extras. There are 250 keys in total, and collecting them all will unlock an achievement. These collectables are similiar to the security keys found in Dead Rising 2: Off The Record.

Game Modes[]

There are 6 different game modes in Dead Rising 5:

Story Mode: Survive the zombie outbreak in Paradise Island for 168 hours and uncover the truth behind its start. It's available in both single player and multiplayer.
Overtime Mode: The continuation of the Story Mode unlocked by achieving Ending A, in which the player must find another way to get out of Paradise Island alive and defeat the man who caused the outbreak. It's available in both single player and multiplayer.
Sandbox Mode: Feel free to explore Paradise Island and do whatever you want without any time limits. It's available in both single player and multiplayer.
Survival Mode: Survive as long as you can in Paradise Island, this time with limited food to restore your constantly decreasing health, hunger and thirst. Unlike the original Dead Rising, this time the game can be saved, but won't affect the objects in the map. It's only available in singleplayer.
Slaughter Mode: Gain access to a new area, the arena, where all you have to do is to slaughter as many zombies as possible. Before starting the massacre, the player can choose a maximum of fifteen items in order to fight the undead hordes. Those items will be available only if the player has picked them up during the Story Mode. Once that all items are over, other ones will regulary spawn. This mode is available in both singleplayer and multiplayer mode.
Secret Locks Mode: Access a new area located below a bank in which you can use the collectible keys found in the Story Mode in order to unlock many types of rewards, which can be money, concept arts, costumes, and much more.

There is also a section in the menu called Extras in which the player can access to all the things unlocked during the game and the rewards unlocked in Secret Locks Mode. It includes endings, concept art, videos and music.

Plot[]

19 August 2024, Paradise Island, USA. It's a hot day of summer. Experienced traveler and writer Hank Tonys and his photographer friend Alexander Hollan are on their way on a rental boat in the Pacific Ocean to reach their final destination in Oceania: Paradise Island, a tropical island which is part of the United States. In fact, the two men are collaborating in order to publish a traveling book about their experiences in the numerous islands of the Pacific Ocean: Hank does the writing while Alex takes care of putting the photos. This is not the first time they do this and they've already published books about other continents and countries around the world. It's 3 p.m in the afternoon when they dock their boat at the port of Paradise Island and finally arrive at their destination. They are amazed by the perfect climate and stunning beaches, as well as the large amount of tourists. First thing they do once arrived is reaching their hotel to drop off their luggage and have a shower, as well as publish a video on their social media about their arrive. So they reach their room and once there they start recording. After recording the video and publishing it, they sit on their beds talking about their programs and activities. Not much time passes and they start hearing bumps and loud noises coming from the other rooms. Hank and Alex decide to ignore them until they hear people screaming and running. They quickly get out of their room and see that there are zombies and people being eaten in the halls. Shocked by that, they pick up their stuff quickly and run to get out of here. However, when escaping from the hotel, they reach the entrance of the building and see that it is full of zombies. So they use the emergency exit and once outside they see the whole island upside down: zombies are now everywhere and people are escaping in terror. Hank and Alex manage to get inside a truck and thanks to a map they locate a safe zone where they can stay: the Quarantine Area, built in case of war. They start the vehicle and make their way through the huge crowd of zombies, and when they have almost arrived at their destination a zombie drags out Alex from the truck, who manages to escape and goes up a car. Hank would want to save him but there are way too many monsters, so he leaves his friend there. He manages to reach the Quarantine Zone with the truck barely working and enters inside the security shelter where he meets other survivors. This will be the start of a terrifying adventure in Paradise Island.

What seemed to be a beautiful experience in a fantastic tropical island turned out to be an undead nightmare...

Characters[]

Hank J. Tonys[]

Age: 32
Occupation: Traveler and writer
Appearance: White skin, light blue eyes, spiked light red hair, light red beard, quite toned body, short gray shirt, sleeveless jeans jacket, dark green excursion shorts, black socks and red sneakers.
Description: Hank is a young traveler and writer who has been traveling for over ten years. He has been in many countries of the world and has had lots of different types of experiences, including visiting war zones and places with extreme weather or climate. He also loves writing and that's why he decided to transform all of his experiences into traveling books, which have sold well worldwide. During the outbreak, he's working on a book about the Pacific Ocean and its islands, but he also wants to discover more about the zombies and the start of the outbreak, which also gives him the thrilling opportunity to find out how to survive during a zombie invasion.

Alexander Hollan[]

Age: 29
Occupation: Photographer
Appearance: White skin, brown eyes, slight curly black hair, slim body, white t-shirt, short squared dark red shirt, blue jeans, black elegant shoes.
Description: Alexander is Hank's personal photographer who helps him creating his books by taking pictures about the places he visits. Alex and Hank aren't just colleagues: they're also best friends and always work and visit countries together. They knew each other when they were in college, where both of them studied photography. Alex shows no fear when it comes to his job: he's able to take every risk to take a fantastic picture and taking them in dangerous places is no challenge for him. He's a huge fan of Frank West, too.

Warren Jones[]

Age: 45
Occupation: Security chief
Appearance: White skin, green eyes, short blond hair, short blond beard, toned body, short light blue security suit, black belt, dark blue jeans, black shoes.
Description: Warren is the Quarantine Area security chief and more generally the head of Paradise Island security. He works along with other security agents in order to keep survivors safe. He's a responsible and strong man who wants to protect people from the zombies at all costs. During the Story Mode, he helps Hank to uncover the truth behind the start of the outbreak and he will eventually die after an helicopter crash.

Samantha Stinger[]

Age: 38
Occupation: Monitor guard
Appearance: White skin, brown eyes, long black hair, slim body, gray sunglasses, golden earrings, gray jacket, dark gray striped trousers, short black heeled shoes.
Description: Samantha is Warren's partner and works with him by watching the Monitors in the shelter. During the outbreak, she will often call Hank to communicate him that she has seen survivors, triggering secondary missions. She's interested in Hank's books. During the Story Mode, Glenn Lurgoth will kill her by shooting a bullet to her head.

Dave Bowen[]

Age: 30
Occupation: Software developer
Appearance: White skin, brown eyes, short brown hair, slim body, black glasses, black suit with red tie, black elegant trousers and brown elegant shoes.
Description: Dave is a skilled software developer who is able to hack to computers. That's the reason why Hank gives him the job to hack the laptop he finds inside Paradise Economy Tower, in order to find out who's hiding behind the anonymous user. After discovering it, he will turn into a zombie and get killed by Warren.

Nakira Virtul[]

Age: 28
Occupation: None
Appearance: Light black skin, green eyes, short wavy black hair, slim body, black bandana, short dark yellow t-shirt, beige excursion shorts, black boots.
Description: Nakira is a native of Paradise Island, and she lived her life in a small village before Ingot Hope got built and the island became a tourist attraction. After that happened, she became mad and started to hate everyone. During the Story Mode, she will attack the shelter where the survivors remain and Hank must fight her in a boss fight. She will then reveal that Hammond Borglum is the one who killed her family and the whole native people with zombies.

Hammond Borglum[]

Age: 37
Occupation: Businessman and mayor
Appearance: Tanned skin, brown eyes, short black hair, black beard, toned body, dark blue suit with black tie, dark blue elegant trousers, elegant black shoes.
Description: Hammond is a very rich businessman and the founder and mayor of Ingot Hope. He comes from a rich family and has had both a business and politic career. He's a very greedy and evil man who, thanks to his henchmen and professional scientists, started the zombie outbreak in Paradise Island in order to steal all the money in it to become even richer and get revenge to become the president of the US. He's the final boss of the game. He also has a personal bodyguard, named Glenn.

Glenn Lurgoth[]

Age: 34
Occupation: Bodyguard and assassin
Appearance: White skin, brown eyes, thinning black hair, toned body, black glasses, black tactical gloves, short black jacket, gray belt, black trousers, dark gray tactical boots.
Description: Glenn is Hammond's most trusted bodyguard and a skilled hired killer. He always carries a silenced handgun as it his favorite weapon. During the Story Mode, he's the one to kill Samantha and he's also fought in a boss battle just before Overtime Mode.