According to a growing pile of “my cousin’s uncle works at a mocap studio” reports, a brand-new Dead Rising game is quietly shambling through development—and this time, the zombies are headed straight for Hollywood. The project has allegedly been in production at Capcom since 2023 under the very on-the-nose codename “Rec,” if these reports are to be believed.
Even better, fan-favorite photojournalist Frank West is reportedly returning as the lead once more, proving that no matter how many times the world ends, Frank will still be there to document it with the energy of a man who treats the apocalypse like a particularly aggressive press junket.
Mp1st Report: New Dead Rising Game in Development, Now Set In Hollywood https://t.co/2VwgeolTqe
-In dev since at least 2023 under codename "Rec"
-Frank West returns
-May be a direct sequel to the first game (not confirmed)
-Setting in massive enclosed movie studio lot
-Time… pic.twitter.com/CQMddupHUO— Wario64 (@Wario64) November 29, 2025
The news comes from MP1st, who suggest that this could be a direct sequel to the original Willamette, Colorado mall incident, which would lovingly ignore decades of complicated franchise canon in the same way zombies ignore personal space. The setting is said to be a massive enclosed Hollywood studio lot, meaning players would be trapped inside soundstages, backlots, fake cities, and prop warehouses while a very real zombie outbreak unfolds.
And the rumored plot somehow manages to be even more absurd than that.
One version of the story claims that Frank’s original reporting has been turned into a Hollywood movie adaptation, only for an actual zombie outbreak to erupt on the lot during production. Another rumor goes further and suggests that the critically panned Dead Rising 4 will be reframed as a non-canon, in-universe movie that Frank now has to contend with. In other words, the franchise may officially roast its own weakest entry by declaring it a bad film that exists inside the Dead Rising universe. That is one hell of a hilarious retcon, if that turns out to be the case here.
Mechanically, the new game is said to restore some long-missing fan-favorite features, including the classic in-game time limit and Frank’s camera-based photography system, which means players may once again sprint through horror set pieces while min-maxing zombie selfies like it is 2006.
Where this entry lands in the broader timeline remains unclear. The series previously shifted focus to Chuck in Dead Rising 2 and then to Nick Ramos in Dead Rising 3, while Chuck Greene and Nick Ramos each had their own arcs and outbreaks. Meanwhile, Dead Rising 4 reintroduced Frank with a different voice actor, removed the timer entirely, and ended with him being infected, cured, and leaving the entire franchise in limbo after Capcom Vancouver butchered our boy (we still enjoyed DR4, if we are being honest).
There was also a Dead Rising 5 fairly deep in development at one point, but obviously never made it to the final stages of production. That cancelled project would have followed Chuck and his daughter Katey Greene in the fictional Mexican city of Santa Catrina during the Day of the Dead. The game was ultimately killed in 2018 after Capcom Vancouver—the studio behind Dead Rising 4—was shut down. Early pre-alpha gameplay footage still exists online for those interested enough to mourn what could have been.
All signs now point to this new Hollywood-set entry keeping Chuck Greene sidelined a bit longer while Frank West once again sprints headfirst into breaking news, improvised weaponry, and morally questionable photo opportunities. No release date has been announced. No official title exists. And no formal reveal has been made.
But if even half of these rumors are true, Dead Rising is about to do the most on-brand thing possible: turn itself into a movie about a news story that is actually a video game about a zombie apocalypse, while a real zombie apocalypse happens in the background.
And as soon as Capcom stops playing dead and confirms any of this, we will be the first ones to run screaming through the studio lot with the details.
