Dead Rising 4 Eliminates Time Constraints

In Dead Rising 1 and 2, the player was put under a heavy time crunch in order to accomplish their mission. Some gamers loved the tension this created while others would have preferred more time to explore the environment. Dead Rising 3 released with an option for a time limit or to play without one. It turns out the majority of players did not enjoy the time constraint mechanic. Capcom Vancouver studio head Joe Nickolls stated this as the reason in an interview via Gamespot.com:

“We did a ton of user research on it, and the majority of the people said they didn’t really love the timer–they wanted to explore. There’s so much hidden side content that when we did it with a timer, people were just getting pissed off because they couldn’t finish half of what they wanted to finish.”

He went on to say that Dead Rising 4 has a much heavier emphasis on exploration and that the time limit didn’t make as much sense for the style of game they were going for this time. Weapons will be harder to come by and will require exploration and strategy, which may be hard to accomplish under a timer.

Despite the elimination of the timer in single player, there is an option for a timer in the online co-op portion of the game. Nickolls said:

“We put a timer in the online mode because we wanted people to have that kind of experience with their friends. It’s four-player co-op online with distinct, specific missions and stuff to do in that mode.”

Dead Rising 4 releases this December.

What are your thoughts on the exclusion of a timer in Dead Rising 4? Leave a comment below or in the RGM forums.