Revert the zombies back to their original form; not running, jumping, or jump scaring people.
Give us the choice to save psychopaths, the likes of Cletus Samson and Carl Schliff had justifiable reasons for their actions in the outbreak.
Write the women better and maybe have a female lead. I know this sounds incendiary so let me explain.
In the first game, women couldn't defend themselves with weapons, had to be held by the hand to be escorted to the safe house, and when zombies grabbed them they didn't fight back and were only grabbed by one hand (not bothering to use their free hand to fight back). The first survivor you're incited to save is Sophie Richards, who has to be saved from rapists.
Looking back on the erotica photo elements, it hasn't aged well because you have to take pictures of scantily clad women or take pictures of women who were implied to have just been sexually assaulted by Jo Slade. The only person who asks Frank to take pictures of her is Cheryl, the rest don't respond to his invasion of privacy.
Both Rebecca Chang and Jessie McCarney are drawn with fanservice in mind (Jessie has the highest Erotica points, while Rebecca has her cleavage exposed and has a prolonged butt shot when she lockpicks the door); as a DHS agent, Jessie should be well-trained in the field but gets her ankle broken early on and is confined to the security room. Since she's a new agent, Brad feels the need to protect her from the outbreak (so her inaction is somewhat justified under that pretence). Rebecca Chang is introduced when she shoots a zombie in the head and is indicated to be more active in the field but she gets demoted to the damsel in distress who has to be saved by the protagonist. After she gets killed by Sullivan, nobody mentions her again and Chuck is angrier about the Phenotrans indirectly killing his wife than Sullivan killing Rebecca.
Even Annie isn't written that well now that I think about it, her entire relationship with Nick just consists of her being rescued and Nick continuously asking her if she's alright, I don't remember them sharing any interests or bonding. The same could be said of Stacey Forsythe, who only bonds with Chuck through Katey's condition and nothing else.
Rhonda was written better and her combat skills are actually shown to the audience (she runs a crowbar through a zombie's head and defends herself from rapists, Mel and Clyde).
While surviving the outbreak is indeed tough, the women's combat skills are told to the audience, not shown to the audience. Romance isn't what we're here for, if you chose to write a love interest then you have to show what makes them so attractive to the hero.
I would
Bring back the time limit
Make combo weapons a new game+ addition, add them in for the final set of missions or add them in overtime mode when the game is more difficult. The combo weapons and vehicles make the game too easy.
Instead of making the government the final boss, make the deuteragonist the final boss. They could be addicted to the idea of being a hero and want to prolong the outbreak so they can continue being the hero.
Bring back psychopaths and make them relevent to the setting. Not LARPERs who are way too into roleplaying as knights.
Tone down the comedy but don't take the game too seriously.
Since Dead Rising was discontinued after Dead Rising 4, how would you fix the series? What would you do differently? Write your ideas down below, it can be anything
Add more combo weapons or remove them entirely
Bring back the time limit
Bring back a previous protagonist
What story would you come up with?
Make your own protagonist
