Leaked Dead Rising 4 Screenshots Depict A Winter Wonderland

Oh, the humanity? Won’t somebody please think of the publishers?

Probably not.

Dead Rising 4 is the latest fatality of premature announcements. Courtesy of NeoGAF, several screenshots have been making the rounds, and I must say, Dead Rising 4 might be the Dead Rising 3 I’ve always wanted. Nick Ramos felt too mundane of a protagonist, and slathering the visuals in a dingy, destitute filter convinced players that Dead Rising 3 tried too hard to be edgy, like many other “me too” zombie-murder sims.

Judging by the images, though, Dead Rising 4 brings a lighthearted attitude to its settings. For example, the story stages the game’s events during the winter holidays in Willamette, Colorado, where the first Dead Rising occurred. If the weapons are a baseline for other maniacal gadgets, too, then Merry Christmas to me.

Frank West (or a near-enough look-alike) seems to be the hero, donning goofy armor and weapons in the name of old-fashioned zombie killing once more. One of the GIFs shows Frank channeling Thor, electrocuting some undead with a raised battle axe before wiping out the mob with a savage ground pound. A second GIF depicts the former photojournalist taking a nearby infected for a spin, à la The Matrix Reloaded, before tearing another corpse in half via his exo suit’s enhanced strength.

Although it’s too early to predict what narrative twists Dead Rising 4 may take (will it be a sequel or a remake?), I’m already fascinated by the gameplay possibilities. What devious, MacGyver’d armaments can we concoct this time? Tune in to Microsoft’s press conference tomorrow, as we hope to find out.