Isabela Keyes

Isabela Keyes is a major character from the Dead Rising series of survival horror games.

Profile[]

She made her debut in the first game where she is at first an enemy of Frank West, but turns face when her brother leaves her for dead. In the game's "true ending," she helps temporarily subdue Frank's infection, and escapes with him out of Willamette. Her legacy is the drug Zombrex, which is a main plot device in Dead Rising 2 (in which she is mentioned by name but does not appear in, she does however make an appearance in Dead Rising 2: Case West). Isabela also makes an appearance in Dead Rising 3.

Story[]

Dead Rising[]

Isabela Keyes is a 27 year old from South America and has an older brother, Carlito Keyes, that plans to take revenge upon America for the destruction of their hometown, Santa Cabeza. Before Santa Cabeza was destroyed, Isabela was a chemist/medical technician for Dr. Barnaby. Frank West first crosses paths with her near the beginning of Dead Rising mere moments before zombies destroy the barricaded entrance of the Willamette Mall. Later, she is seen as the hostage of a psychopathic grocery store manager that West disposes of, and hurriedly runs off.

Case West[]

In Dead Rising 2, it is revealed by Stacey Forsythe that Isabela, along with Frank, is working on a cure for zombification, though not a cure for the actual zombies.

In Dead Rising 2: Case West, Isabela is shown to be working for Phenotrans as a way to make up for aiding her brother in Willamette. She attempts to create a cure for the parasite, but Phenotrans doesn't mass produce it because it would mean less money for them. Isabela is knocked unconscious by Commander Singh and taken with the Phenotrans director as the facility self-destructs.

Dead Rising 3[]

Isabela has been trapped inside a lab for years and she is finally freed when a zombie outbreak spreads to Los Perdidos. She manages to escape and is searching for a missing element to the cure, a blood sample from "patient zero".

Isabela is first encountered during Chapter 6 when Nick is trying to escape from the train repair yard after being captured by Marian. As soon as Isabela tells Nick her name, he immediately gets angry, blaming her for the Willamette outbreak and for killing Diego. Isabela promises that Nick will not end up like Diego, and urges that they find somewhere safer. Isabela manages to get inside of an elevator before Marian closes it, leaving Nick behind. Nick tells her to meet him at the warehouse where the plane is, and she promises that she will tell him everything she knows once they reunite.

Nick and Annie return to the warehouse during Chapter 7. At this time, Isabela tells them the story of Santa Cabeza and reveals that Nick has the cure for the zombie virus in his blood, which is why it is important that they escape as soon as possible, as Marian will stop at nothing to manufacture a cure. She and Annie are trapped in a shipping container when Red tricks them out into coming to the shipping yard but are freed after Red's defeat. She boards the airplane along with Annie, Nick, Chuck and Dick and eventually escapes the city.

It is revealed during Ending S that Isabela worked with Marian Mallon to purposely start the outbreak in Los Perdidos. She intended to hunt down Nick to create a cure, and use this as an opportunity to clear her family's name. After the deaths of both Marian and Hemlock, Isabela destroys the video footage containing the conversation between Isabela and Marian revealing Isabela's plan and leaves the laboratory.

It is assumed that Isabela got her wish and was credited for creating the zombie vaccination after the escape from Los Perdidos.

Trivia[]

Despite being pictured with a Barrett M82 in her concept art for the original Dead Rising, Isabela does not use the Barrett M82 anywhere in the game. She does however use the weapon in an old trailer for the game while clearing out zombies in the Entrance Plaza.

In Dead Rising 2, her name is spelled "Isabella", this can be seen with the subtitles on. Her name is also spelled this way in Dead Rising 3 as seen in subtitles as well as some of the mission names.

Isabela's nationality is never told, however it is hinted to either be Argentinian or Bolivian, since the Pachamama is worshiped and celebrated in both countries.

The earrings in her notebook photo in Case West are different than the ones she wears in game.

Addtionally, Isabela is the only character so far to have three different character designs, illustrating her aging. She also has a new voice actor for every game she has appeared in.

Isabela was voiced by Kim Mai Guest in the original Dead Rising, who also voices Xian Mei, a character in another popular zombie video game, Dead Island.