Five years after the events of Dead Rising, former motocross champion Chuck Greene takes part in Terror Is Reality, a controversial game show where contestants kill zombies for money, sport and fame. Chuck participates in the show only to raise funds for buying Zombrex, a drug meant to suppress zombie mutation for his daughter, Katey, who had been bitten by her zombified mother in a previous outbreak. After Chuck wins the prize money in the latest event, he retires backstage where he is trapped in an elevator after a mysterious explosion. Upon exiting the elevator, he finds that an outbreak has occurred in the city and many people are dead or zombified. After finding Katey, Chuck takes his daughter to an emergency shelter.