One of the most defining aspects of the first two Dead Rising games, players only had a set amount of time to complete the main campaign. Dead Rising 3 made the time limit optional through a ‘Nightmare Mode.’ But when it comes to Dead Rising 4, the mechanic appears to officially be a thing of the past.
Speaking with GameSpot, Capcom Vancouver studio head Joe Nickolles explains the decision, saying, “We did a ton of user research on it, and the majority of the people said they didn’t really love the timer–they wanted to explore. There’s so much hidden side content that when we did it with a timer, people were just getting pissed off because they couldn’t finish half of what they wanted to finish.”
When it came down to it, the team wanted to focus on that exploration side of the game more, and that meant losing the timer, even as an optional mode. “The world has been designed with multiple levels of exploration. It’s so dense this time. There are stores, there are apartments above the stores, there are hidden areas and rooms.”
Nickolles emphasizes that there will be a timer in the 4-player co-op online mode, but also recognizes that won’t be enough for some people. “If we keep making the same Dead Rising over and over, the people that just want the very same thing are going to get what they want,” he says. “But people want to see growth, they want to see us adapting as we go… You’re going to piss someone off no matter what you do, right?”
Dead Rising 4 comes to Xbox One and PC December 6. To get a taste for the zombie slaughtering mayhem on the way, make sure to check out last month’s behind the scenes look at the upcoming game, including new zombie types and gameplay.