The Story Timeline Order of Dead Rising Games
Dead Rising is a franchise of open world video games. Dead Rising (2006) was arguably one of the first open world games with zombies, and is often referred to as a classic of the 2000s video games. Dead Rising games are known for being funny and "goofy" games, in which the player character is often in unusual situations. These games are also known for the freedom of gameplay, a reason by which these games are often praised for their replayability.
What Are Dead Rising Games Like?
In general, Dead Rising games are open world, post-apocalyptic zombie video games. In Dead Rising games, the main character is able to use different items as weapons in order to fight against the zombie enemies. In Dead Rising games, the game protagonist often faces time limits regarding the completion of certain tasks, or of the game itself. In Dead Rising games, the player character is often presented with the threat of a zombie horde in differet locations, and must use any available objects and items in order to survive this threat.
Typically, Dead Rising video games are known for being open world games. However, it must be noted that these games are not open world in the same sense as Grand Theft Auto games, or Red Dead Redemption games, but rather as Way of the Samurai games. In other words, while Dead Rising video games do not feature an expansive open world such as the ones found in games such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemtpion or Just Cause, they feature a smaller, but denser game world, and rely on replayability, such as the Way of the Samurai games.
Is There an Order to Play the Dead Rising Games?
Considering that Dead Rising games feature freedom of gameplay as well as high replayability, these games can be played and enjoyed in any possible order. However, considering that most of the Dead Rising video games are set in the same continuity, and that they are usually related to each other, it is reasonable to consider playing these games in chronological story order for the most comprehensive story experience, as well as having a greater understanding of the backstory of each game as well as of the Dead Rising games universe. Considering that Dead Rising video games feature an overarching zombie threat which appears throughout these games, players that decide to play these games in the chronological story order may discover more about the backstory of this element that is frequent in the Dead Rising games universe.
The Chronological Story Order of Dead Rising Games
This is the chronological story order of the Dead Rising video games. While in many cases the chronological story order is quite different from the chronological release order, in the case of Dead Rising these orders are the same. Indeed, regarding the Dead Rising games, the chronological story order and the chronological release order are identical, except for the non-canon games such as Dead Rising 2: Off the Record and Dead Rising Mobile, as well as the remake Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop. With these noted exceptions, it could be said that the chronological story order and the chronological release order of the Dead Rising video games are the same.
Dead Rising (2006) | Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop
Dead Rising 2
Dead Rising 3
Dead Rising 4
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
Dead Rising Mobile
While Dead Rising (2006) and Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop are technically different video games, they contain the same main story, and for this reason, regarding my chronological story order list of Dead Rising games, I decided to include them in the same placement.
Dead Rising 3 and Dead Rising 4 take place at very approximate times. To be precise, Dead Rising 3 starts at March 23th 2021 and Dead Rising 4 starts at September 1st 2021. For this reason, even though both of these games are set in the same fictional year, they are chronologically separated by some months.
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record is an "what if" scenario based on Dead Rising 2. For this reason, I do not consider it to belong to the same continuity as the other Dead Rising video games. Thus, I included it separately in my chronological story order of Dead Rising games, which is made clear by a blank space between this game and the other Dead Rising video games in the chronological story order.
As far as I could tell, Dead Rising Mobile is an alternate version of the first Dead Rising game, Dead Rising (2006), taking place at seemingly the same place and at the same time period. However, I do not know whether Dead Rising Mobile tells the same story overall as Dead Rising (2006), or if at any point the stories diverge. For this reason, due to the unknown status of Dead Rising Mobile's canonicity, I placed Dead Rising Mobile in the same list as Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, which is the list of the Dead Rising games that are set in a different continuity than the other Dead Rising video games.
The Story Timeline Order of Dead Rising Games
For fans of Dead Rising video games and for people looking for specific dates regarding the Dead Rising games, I wrote a story timeline order that includes the year in which each Dead Rising game is set. While in some cases the year in which the game is set can be the same as the year in which the game was released, this is not always the case. For example, Dead Rising 3 takes place in 2021, but it was released in 2013. Likewise, Dead Rising 4 also takes place in 2021 but it was released in 2016.
It is important to mention that the years I wrote in this timeline of Dead Rising games are fictional years, and, as I said, not directly related to the years in which the games were released. For this reason, these years can be called "years in Dead Rising games", "years in the Dead Rising games timeline" and "years in the Dead Rising games universe".
2006 Dead Rising (2006) | Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop
2011 Dead Rising 2
2021 Dead Rising 3
2021 Dead Rising 4
???? Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
???? Dead Rising Mobile
Expanded Timeline of Dead Rising Games
Considering that Dead Rising 2 features additional content that is related to the storyline, I wrote an expanded timeline of the Dead Rising games including this content. For players looking to play Dead Rising games in chronological story order, it is worthwhile to play the content in the same order as it is presented in this list, as, for example, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is a prequel story to Dead Rising 2, while Dead Rising 2: Case West is set after Dead Rising 2.
2006 Dead Rising (2006) | Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop
20?? Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
2011 Dead Rising 2
20?? Dead Rising 2: Case West
2021 Dead Rising 3
???? Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
???? Dead Rising Mobile
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