Dead Rising 4 will not feature story co-op

Frank goes solo

With each new update for Dead Rising 4, my enthusiasm diminishes. In what is sure to be the final nail in the coffin for most, Frank West’s new adventure won’t feature campaign co-op. In a special stream on the ExpertZone_Community Twitch channel, Capcom Vancouver played a demo with some employees answering questions about the upcoming zombie action game.

David McAnerin (who was surprisingly hard to find on Google) gave a definitive response on whether or not the story mode would feature co-op of any form. The short, sad answer is no. The longer answer can be read in this transcript (or in the video at the 18:10 time stamp);

Fan Question: Is this game going to be four player co-op and if so, what’s the type of mode is it?

Capcom (David McAnerin, Producer): Yeah, we have an online four player mode. So, in the story mode, it’s a single player story mode, you’re going to play just as Frank…The four player co-op is our multiplayer mode. It’s a little bit inspired by the original Infinity mode for the old school fans.

It’s four player co-op. It takes place in the mall. You play as four survivors who are also featured in the story as well. You get a little more backstory on them, as well. You go into the mall and take part in crazy missions, trying to survive.

The structure is, the four of you start the game together, you start in a safe house; you get a load up, get some weapons, get yourself ready to go; we unlock the doors, it’s killing, mayhem, madness lots of interesting missions that take advantage of our systems…You have to get to the safe house to survive the end of the day.

To me, that sounds more like Left 4 Dead or some lame throwaway bonus mode. The true joy of Dead Rising 2 was experiencing everything with a friend. While I’ve certainly enjoyed the series on my own, I had a transformative experience with both 2 and Off The Record when playing with friends, so to lose that just hurts.

I’m not sure I can even muster up the energy to care about this title anymore. With T.J. Rotolo being replaced and the time limit getting cut, what is left in Dead Rising 4 to even tie it back to the main series? No two games in a series should be the same, but this seems to be catering to a mainstream audience.

I’m really tired of reading about companies turning their backs on the fans that made them famous. Dead Rising was successful because it offered something new and hilarious during a period where the Xbox 360 was still making a name for itself. Fans liked all of the crazy opportunities present along with the rigid and unforgiving structure of the title.