A year later, Capcom pulls Denuvo from the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster

The Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster isn't a clean stab at bringing the 2006 classic up to modern standards by any means, yet it's arguably the best way to experience photojournalist Frank West's supermarket dash-and-slash through Willamette Parkview Mall. Launched last year, the latest iteration of Dead Rising followed the studio's trend of having Denuvo anti-tamper tacked on, which, as always, went down like a cup of cold sick with a subsection of players. Now, as the remaster approaches its first anniversary, Capcom has stripped the DRM from its game, though it has been swiftly replaced.

With its sparkling-clean graphics and litany of quality-of-life improvements over the original, the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster gets a lot right. The dodge roll doesn't leave Frank open to death, the AI is actually somewhat intelligent now, and autosave ensures you don't have to retrace an hour of zombie-slaying after dying if you forgot to do so manually. Of course, with safety comes the removal of stakes, and, as Ed notes in his Dead Rising Deluxe Remastered review, this compound of tweaks "eliminates basically all challenge" from one of the best zombie games out there.

As a result, there's been plenty of debate as to which version of Dead Rising you should play. Personally, I feel the benefits of the updated version far outweigh its shortcomings, and you can always turn to mods to adjust the experience. For some, the inclusion of Denuvo has been a long-running ick when it comes to new games, due in-part to its alleged impact on the performance of some titles when improperly implemented.

To the joy of its detractors, we've seen plenty of examples of it being removed in recent times. Earlier this year, Square Enix did away with Denuvo from Final Fantasy 16 and Visions of Mana, while life sim InZOI pulled it after players complained. Capcom, meanwhile, has already detached it from its first three Resident Evil Remake games, Kunitsu-Gami Path of the Goddess, and Monster Hunter Rise.

Now, it's Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster's turn. As seen on SteamDB, Capcom removed Denuvo on September 1, replacing it with Enigma - an ostensibly less-intrusive alternative that has already been added to some of its other games, including the aforementioned Kunitsu-Gami.

So, if Denuvo has been your big sticking point in investing in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, you can now happily throw those TV sets around to your heart's content. Or, if you're still not sold, check out some of the other best action-adventure games and best open-world games you can blitz your way through instead.

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