Website DarkZero hosted a cool article last week highlighting why the original Dead Rising “is secretly one of the best survival horror games to have ever been released.” Writer Ian Dickson makes a great argument that the combination of Dead Rising’s time constraints, limited save system, and open world design work together to create a truly terrifying, realistic experience. 

I play videogames with a sickening amount of good intent; I find it near impossible to take the evil route in role-playing games. When I see that there’s a mother trapped in a jewellery store on Alfresca Plaza, I make it my business to save the day. But Dead Rising doesn’t want me to win, and on realising that I saved too late in the timeline to get there in a timely fashion, I simply have to stand and watch as the timer runs out. Leah Stein is dead.

And this is why Dead Rising is secretly one of the best survival horror games to have ever been released; because people die and there’s nothing you can do about it. In a situation in which thousands of zombies are pouring into a mall, it gets to a point at which you have to stop and realise that you can’t save everyone. It’s a hurtful realisation, especially if like me you suffer from overwhelming bouts of guilt – whether it is ‘just’ a videogame or not. The moment I realised that there were moments where my own survival meant turning my back on those survivors trapped in far-out areas of the mall, I finally understood the supposed flaws of Dead Rising.

I have to say, that I completely agree with this. The hero in me kept on wanting to reset the original Dead Rising in order to make sure that everyone survived (remember the very beginning of the game?), but I eventually had to push through my own mental barrier and just enjoy the game.

I imagine a lot of people are doing the same with Dead Rising 2! Just push through it! You can’t save them all! (well you can, but it’s incredibly difficult).