History VideoGame / DeadRising4

The game has a timed release schedule: the Xbox One and Windows 10 Store versions were released in December 2016, with the Steam version coming out 90 days afterward. One year later, a "game of the year edition" called ''Frank's Big Package" is scheduled to come out for the PlayStation 4.

** One of Frank's lines after creating a combo weapon is "Thank you [[Series/MacGyver Macgyver!"]]

** Spending your first Skill Point earns the "[[Disney/{{Aladdin}} A Whole New World]]" achievement.

* BadassGrandpa: Frank is 52 as of this game in the series and is still capable of mowing down zombies.

* [[https://i.redd.it/97b7etir9aqz.png Frank’s pose]] in the artwork for his classic outfit in “Capcom Heroes” is [[https://www.fightersgeneration.com/np9/characters/umvc3-victory-art/frankwest-v1.png the same pose]] from his official artwork in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Frank is a suspiciously young-looking 52.

** Most likely, Frank is referring to the events of ''Case West'', wherein he arrives in Fortune City while the outbreak is still going on (albeit nearing its end), [[spoiler:where he saves Chuck Green from a zombified TK,]] thus making it the second outbreak he survived. The third outbreak he is referring to is clearly the Phenotrans base where the majority of ''Case West'' takes place.

** One of the maniacs Frank can fight is the Scare King, a guy dressed like a scarecrow and wearing a pumpkin mask. As Frank gets close to defeating him, the Scare King will say [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo" I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for you meddling reporters!"]]

** The final section of the basic game [[spoiler:is straight out of ''Film/WorldWarZ'' — the hordes stop meandering about and start full-on '''{{Zerg Rush}}ing''' the heroes in army-ant-style waves. They deliberately fling themselves into the blades of the first helicopter to crash it, and when the second takes off, they actually create ''human pyramids'' to grapple it]].

* EarnYourBadEnding: The ''Frank Rising'' DLC — [[spoiler:If Frank catches all the "princess wasps" — which are basically timed skill trials — he gets the good ending; having all those wasps on his person when he is cured creates an uber-SmartBomb effect akin to smashing Queens, instantly killing every zombie within ''at least'' a hundred meters, saving the remaining survivors of Willamette. The catch is that as difficult as some of those trials can be, Zombie!Frank's skill progression is dependent on them. It is nearly ''impossible'' to even ''approach'' the final area without fully-leveled skills, let alone survive the arena where Frank can be cured, so getting the bad ending — where only Frank and Blackburne survive, the others getting killed by the zombie horde trying to secure their escape — is exponentially harder than getting the good one]].

* TheConspiracy: It wouldn't be a ''Dead Rising'' game if there wasn't one. [[spoiler:In this case, the US government has hired Obscuris to perfect Doctor Barnaby's research, but not to create immortality, as it's been retconned into being about, but to create mindless slaves which will do the drudge labor for corporations. Unfortunately, one of their own becomes an intelligent zombie and helps cause an outbreak that needs to be covered up.]]

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: The Willamette Memorial Megaplex Mall.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Brad went from a [[VideoGame/DeadRising3 lowly ZDC Agent]] to its highest ranking member after his actions during the Los Perdidos outbreak.

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler: Frank falls from the ZDC helicopter, and is last seen being dog-piled by a horde of the fresh, with more on the way. Whether he somehow survived or not has yet to be seen. Subverted by the events of ''Frank Rising'' as it results in a SurprisinglyHappyEnding. This is, noticeably a very common element of the series with ''Overtime Mode'' occurring in both the original and second games.]]

* BrokenAce: After what happened to Isabella and the government's cover up of the Willamette incident, Frank has fallen ''hard''. He's now a cynical, unpleasant, and selfish photography professor. It takes some convincing from Brad Park to even get him involved in the plot.

* {{Cliffhanger}}: [[spoiler: Frank suffers a sudden and abrupt UncertainDoom at the very end of the game in the base game. You'll only see what happens afterwards if you have the "Frank Rising" DLC.]]

* TheConspiracy: It wouldn't be a ''Dead Rising'' game if there wasn't one. [[spoiler: In this case, the US government has hired Obscuris to perfect Doctor Barnaby's research but not to create immortality, as it's been retconned into being about, but to create mindless slaves which will do the drudge labor corporations. Unfortunately, one of their own becomes an intelligent zombie and helps cause an outbreak that needs to be covered up.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Played with. Frank's snarky remarks come off as cold to the other characters, and his apathy is likely a result of his [[TraumaCongaLine Trauma Conga Line]].

* EarnYourBadEnding: The ''Frank Rising'' DLC - [[spoiler:If Frank catches all the "princess wasps" - which are basically timed skill trials - he gets the good ending; having all those wasps on his person when he is cured creates an uber-SmartBomb effect akin to smashing Queens, instantly killing every zombie within ''at least'' a hundred meters, saving the remaining survivors of Willamette. The catch is that as difficult as some of those trials can be, Zombie!Frank's skill progression is dependent on them. It is nearly ''impossible'' to even ''approach'' the final area without fully-leveled skills, let alone survive the arena where Frank can be cured, so getting the bad ending - where only Frank and Blackburne survive, the others getting killed by the zombie horde trying to secure their escape - is exponentially harder than getting the good one]].
** [[spoiler: Notably, this is an EarnYourHappyEnding for the entire franchise as Frank successfully brings the conspirators who caused Santa Cabesa's destruction as well as continued zombie research indefinitely to justice.]]

* EliteZombie: [[spoiler: The "Evolved" zombies are fast, agile, and tough enemies that dash, leap, and dodge around instead of merely shambling about. They're zombies that have evolved enough to regain near-human level intelligence, seemingly being almost as smart as cavemen.]]
* {{Expy}}: [[spoiler: Some of the evolved zombies have a resemblance to the Cannibals from ''F.E.A.R. 3.'' You could probably also point to the Infected from ''Dead Island'' and ''Dying Light''.]]

* HeroWithBadPublicity: While trying to expose an unethical scientific experiment, Frank is caught, and the United States government labels Frank a terrorist and begin a nationwide manhunt for him.
* ItCanThink: [[spoiler: Despite Calder turning into a zombie, he ends up keeping almost all of his intelligence after exposing himself to an imperfect cure, although turning him dangerously AxCrazy.]]
* LighterAndSofter: After the much grittier tone of ''Dead Rising 3'', this game has some color back in its eyes, and its overall tone is on par with ''Off the Record''. While the game does have it's serious moments here and there [[spoiler: and a pretty unexpected DownerEnding unless you buy the DLC]], it's mostly just a jolly romp through the zombie outbreak.
** This trope is somewhat zig-zagged as while Frank is a DeadpanSnarker in a Christmas-themed slaughterfest, [[DudeNotFunny no one else acts as if anything he's doing is remotely funny.]] There's numerous dramatic scenes and the potential for some truly depressing DownerEnding moments.

* MonsterLord: [[spoiler: Calder serves as the father of the Evolved Zombies as well as a leader of those zombies who maintain some intelligence.]]
* MoralMyopia: A theme throughout the game as Vick becomes TheQuisling for Obscuris out of a belief she has to get the story out while blaming Frank for being more interested in a payday than exposing the truth (missing that Frank is perfectly capable of doing ''both''). Obscuris believes what they're doing is for the American public despite how much damage zombie-ism has done to America. Tom believes he's protecting the survivors of Willamette but he's really there so he can live out his survivalist fantasies.

** One of the outfits that Frank can wear is a mechanic's jumpsuit, which looks almost exactly like the one Nick wore. It's nametag reads "Dick", a reference to Dick Baker, a character in the previous game.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Brad tells Frank early on that they're dealing with a different strain of the virus than what they're used to, and this one won't respond to Zombrex. [[spoiler: It's the older strain that was used in Santa Cabeza, back before the original game. Also, unlike the other strains, those who are freshly turned are fast zombies.]]
* PatientZero: [[spoiler: Turns out the new outbreak was started by an Obscuris officer named Calder, who was accidentally infected while exploring Dr. Barnaby's abandoned lab and subjected himself to an imperfect cure being developed by Barnaby. He ends up retaining his human intelligence, but turns insane and goes on a rampage. And an intelligent zombie equipped with a military exo-suit is a really dangerous thing to have running around.]]

** [[spoiler: It happens again in ''Frank Rising'' as he will lose the ability to look for more queens if he goes to Doctor Barnaby's lab.]]

* PragmaticVillainy: The Obscuris Commander is smart enough to realize that summarily executing civilians in front of a journalist probably isn't the best idea. Played with as Vick is also acting as TheQuisling at this time as well, explaining why they don't execute her as well.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The main human opposition in the game are a well-equipped [=PMC=] called "Obscuris", that are running unethical experiments on zombies as well as enforcing a totalitarian martial law in the infected zone. Not surprisingly, they turn out to be [[spoiler: working for the U.S. Government, essentially serving the same role as the U.S. military, only with more plausible deniability.]]
* {{Retcon}}: ''Dead Rising 4'' retcons Dr. Barnabys experiments from originally increasing the world's beef production [[spoiler:to making people immortal by turning them into smart zombies. Also, that it happened in Willamette and not Santa Cabeza.]]

* SeriesContinuityError: Frank mentions at point in the game that he survived three outbreaks. Even with counting ''Dead Rising 2: Case West'' as an outbreak, this only makes two outbreaks that he took a part in, as he didn't appear in ''Dead Rising 3'' (at least, canonically). The only way this could go to three is by counting ''Off The Record'' as well, but ''OTR'' is just a re-telling of ''DR 2'' and has already been declared non-canon by [[WordOfGod Capcom themselves]].

** The achievement for creating 5 unique exo-suit powerups is "[[Film/PacificRim We Are Cancelling The Apocalypse]]"

** The final section of the basic game [[spoiler:is straight out of ''Film/WorldWarZ'' - the hordes stop meandering about and start full-on '''{{Zerg Rush}}ing''' the heroes in army-ant-style waves. They deliberately fling themselves into the blades of the first helicopter to crash it, and when the second takes off they actually create ''human pyramids'' to grapple it]].

The game has a timed release schedule: the Xbox One and Windows 10 Store versions were released in December 2016, with the Steam version coming out 90 days afterward and any other console versions coming out a full year afterward.

** Obscuris troops, scattered throughout the world, use squad tactics, lob grenades, and sometimes even fire RPGs.

** One achievement is named "[[VideoGame/KillerInstinct C-C-Combo!]]". It's earned by chaining 200 attacks and then finshing it off with a Y+B attack.

* SeriesContinuityError: Frank mentions at point in the game that he survived three outbreaks. Even with counting ''Dead Rising 2: Case West'' as an outbreak, this only makes two of them, as he didn't appear in ''Dead Rising 3'' (at least, canonically). The only way this could makes three is by counting ''Off The Record'' as well, but ''OTR'' is just a re-telling of ''DR2'' and has already been declared non-canon by [[WordOfGod Capcom themselves]].

* {{Retcon}}: ''Dead Rising 4'' retcons Dr. Barnabys experiments from originally increasing the worlds beef production [[spoiler:to making people immortal by turning them into smart zombies. Also, that it happened in Willamette and not Santa Cabeza.]]

* {{Retcon}}: ''Dead Rising 4'' retcons Dr. Barnabys experiments from originally increasing the worlds beef production [[spoiler:to making people immortal by turning them into smart zombies.]]

* MoralMyopia: A theme throughout the game as Vicki becomes TheQuisling for Obscuris out of a belief she has to get the story out while blaming Frank for being more interested in a payday than exposing the truth (missing that Frank is perfectly capable of doing ''both''). Obscuris believes what they're doing is for the American public despite how much damage zombie-ism has done to America. Tom believes he's protecting the survivors of Willamette but he's really there so he can live out his survivalist fantasies.

* PragmaticVillainy: The Obscuris Commander is smart enough to realize that summarily executing civilians in front of a journalist probably isn't the best idea. Played with as Vicki is also acting as TheQuisling at this time as well, explaining why they don't execute her as well.

* DeadpanSnarker: Played with. Frank's snarky remarks come off as cold to the other characters, and his apathy is likely a result of his [[TraumaCongaLine Trauma Conga Line]]. Also qualifies as a persistent case of DudeNotFunny, which has been a problem of Frank West's since ''Dead Rising.''

* LighterAndSofter: After the much grittier tone of ''Dead Rising 3'', this game has some color back in its eyes, and its overall tone is on par with ''Off the Record''. While the game does have it's serious moments here and there [[spoiler: and a pretty unexpected DownerEnding unless the DLC is canon]], it's mostly just a jolly romp through the zombie outbreak.

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: The "Frank Rising" DLC has Frank turning into a zombie himself.

* BagOfSpilling: Frank once again starts the game at Level 1.

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler: Frank falls from the ZDC helicopter, and is last seen being dog-piled by a horde of the fresh, with more on the way. Whether he somehow survived or not has yet to be seen. Unless the the events of the "Frank Rising" DLC actually happened.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Played with. Frank's snarky remarks come off as cold to the other characters, and his apathy is likely a result of his [[TraumaCongaLine Trauma Conga Line]].

* EliteMooks: Maniacs are mostly just slightly tougher versions of regular hostile humans.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Frank's ally Brad Park spends most of the story pursuing his own investigation and organising evacuation for survivors before reuniting with Frank in time for the final battle.

* PragmaticVillainy: The Obscuris Commander is smart enough to realize that summarily executing civilians in front of a journalist probably isn't the best idea.

* {{Retcon}}: Dead Rising 4 retcons Dr. Barnabys experiments from originally increasing the worlds beef production [[spoiler:to making people immortal by turning them into smart zombies.]]

* EarnYourBadEnding: The ''Frank Rising'' DLC - [[spoiler:If Frank catches all the "princess wasps" - which are basically timed skill trials - he gets the good ending, as having all those wasps on his person when he is cured creates an uber-SmartBomb effect akin to smashing Queens - every zombie within ''at least'' a hundred meters dies instantly, saving the remaining survivors of Willamette. The catch is that as difficult as some of those trials can be, Zombie!Frank's skill progression is dependent on them. It is nearly ''impossible'' to even ''approach'' the final area without fully-leveled skills, let alone survive the arena where Frank can be cured, so getting the bad ending - where only Frank and Blackburne survive, the others getting killed by the zombie horde trying to secure their escape - is exponentially harder than getting the good one]].

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler: Frank falls from the ZDC helicopter, and is last seen being dog-piled by a horde of the fresh, with more on the way. Whether he somehow survived or not has yet to be seen.]]

* LighterAndSofter: After the much grittier tone of ''Dead Rising 3'', this game has some color back in its eyes, and its overall tone is on par with ''Off the Record''. While the game does have it's serious moments here and there [[spoiler: and a pretty unexpected DownerEnding]], it's mostly just a jolly romp through the zombie outbreak