This "what-if" retelling of Dead Rising 2 casts photojournalist Frank West, hero of the original outbreak at Willamette, as its protagonist in place of Chuck Greene. Years after his moment of fame faded, a washed-up Frank enters the glitzy resort of Fortune City for a televised zombie-fighting show, only for a catastrophic outbreak to overrun the city. Seeing the disaster as his chance to reclaim his career, Frank snaps photos, scavenges makeshift weapons, and races to survive, rescue other survivors, and expose the truth behind the epidemic, all while managing his own infection with a drug that must be taken every twenty-four hours.