Dead Rising and the Gameworld Zombie

Abstract

This chapter investigates how the open-world game Dead Rising (Capcom 2006) uses zombies in its construction of the gameworld interface. Drawing on Weise’s (2009) research on ludic adaptations of the zombie and in particular his analysis of Dead Rising; as well as Jørgensen’s theory of gameworld interfaces (Jørgensen 2013a; 2013b; 2016), which highlights the gameworld as an activity space that designed for a particular kind of gameplay, the chapter argues that the zombie is a defining feature of the gameworld in Dead Rising. The chapter focuses on how the zombie trope works in relation to gameworld interfaces, and argues that zombies are detrimental to understanding the game environment both as a fictive universe and a gameworld meant for play in Dead Rising.