Dead Rising Remake Redesigns Larry Chiang To Be Less Racist

Summary
- Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster has completely redesigned the Butcher psychopath Larry Chiang.
- In the original, he was a racist caricature of a Chinese man, but the remake has drastically toned things down.
- While some fans are upset with the change, many agree that it's for the better.
During yesterday's Next showcase, Capcom shared the first gameplay trailer for Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, giving us a glimpse at the revamped controls, improved survivor AI, and several of the psychopaths in all their current-gen gory glory.
They're incredibly faithful, nearly 1:1 renditions of the 2006 classics, except for Larry Chiang. AKA the cannibal Butcher who takes Carlito hostage.
RelatedThe Dead Rising Remake Needs Combo Weapons
Dead Rising without combo weapons is like a paddle without its saw.
Posts 1The original Larry Chiang was an incredibly racist depiction of a Chinese man, even bearing the hanzi for 'meat' on the back of his neck. He's undergone a drastic redesign that strips back a lot of these stereotypes. While some fans are upset at the change, others agree that "the original model aged terribly" and that "it was a huge 'yellow menace' style caricature."
Some believe Capcom has even made him white, as you can see in the Reddit post embedded below, but others believe that he's simply a less offensive depiction.
"Larry's design was pretty terrible," wrote one fan on the Steam forums. "Wouldn't it make more sense if Carlito's death was almost at the hands of a butcher that is a stereotypical representation of the American consumerism that Carlito's motivations revolve around? Rather than some randomly really racist looking depiction of a Chinese dude."
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Is Basically A Remake
While it's called a remaster, everything we saw last night seems more in line with a remake. It runs on Capcom's new RE Engine (which stands for Reach for the Moon, not Resident Evil), there are a bunch of added quality-of-life features such as autosaving, fast-forwarding time, and even stairs to help move survivors, and gameplay is a lot slicker.
Its own developers admitted during the stream that it's closer to a remake than a remaster, and that's abundantly clear in some of the big changes like Larry's overhaul. "Well, actually it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call this game a remake considering the amount of work that we put into it," director Ryosuku Mirai said.
We won't have to wait long to try the remake for ourselves, as Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster launches in just two months on September 19.
Your Rating
close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Rate Now 0/10Your comment has not been saved
Like Follow FollowedDead Rising Deluxe Remaster
Action-Adventure Systems 4.5/5 9.0/10 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 79/100 Critics Rec: 77% Released September 19, 2024 ESRB M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Use of Alcohol Developer(s) Capcom Publisher(s) Capcom Engine RE EngineWHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALDead Rising Deluxe Remaster builds on the 2016 remaster of the 2006 original, following photojournalist Frank West as he looks to uncover the shocking source of a zombie outbreak - and make it out alive.
Powered by Expand Collapse