The remake of dead space is on track to be the supported and successful tribute to the original game. Strongly.
If you’re looking for the definition of the perfect horror game, just (re)run dead space, title released in 2008 and developed by Visceral Games. It stacks all the necessary arguments to instil a feeling of oppression, from the precise sound design to the dismal art direction, passing by this idea of being alone in the face of a horrible threat. Its qualities are so immense that relaunching it almost fifteen years later does not reveal any influence of time.
Despite this almost eternal status, Electronic Arts did not hesitate to order a remake from Motive, participating in this wave of projects which in turn revived Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3 and, more recently, The Last of Us. The finding is a bit harsh for the genre, which struggles to renew itself and prefers to rely on its glories of the past. No matter, we will not sulk our pleasure in front of this new dead spacethat Numerama had the opportunity to try for a short 30-minute getaway.
Welcome back to Dead Space
The remake of dead space will go further than the simple copy/paste exercise, combined with a nice updating of the visual part (which is The Last of Us Part I, for example). However, the few portions we played, taken from the beginning of the game, don’t really deviate from the plot of the original. It is intended: the first hours will serve to reassure the fans, until bringing the novelties which will deepen an already very solid experience at the base. And, as a fan of the first dead spaceI can say that I am reassured.
Overall, we quickly find our bearings within the USG Ishimura ship, a theater of horrors and torment for an engineer who hadn’t asked for anything. Something has changed concerning him: mute in the dead space from 2008, he finally has speech in the one expected for January 2023. A way for the developers to offer an additional layer of humanity to a hero who goes through all the emotions. For storytelling and immersion, it’s a real plus.
As a fan of the first dead spaceI can say that I am reassured
What a pleasure also to wield the Plasma Cutter again, an atypical weapon that allows you to dismember necromorphs, particularly aggressive creatures that are much less so when they become vulgar trunks. This is also one of the main successes of the gameplay: in dead space, we don’t shoot stupidly, but we aim with precision. A constraint that contrasts with the obligation to play under pressure, an obligation normally linked to rapid and less thoughtful actions. In the remake, skinning enemies is even more rewarding due to finer modeling. Ultimately, the graphic improvement reinforces the gore effects, as we have already noticed in The Callisto Protocol.
As you can see from this official comparison, dead space radically changes face with this remake. No more greyish veil, hello constant darkness. Thanks to advancements in technology, survival horror is darker than ever. Dynamic lighting makes it possible to immerse the hero much more in the dark. The result is an even heavier atmosphere, nourished by the rare elements that we manage to discern on the screen and the few noises that send shivers down your spine. The USG Ishimura ship has never been so unwelcoming, and the experience is truly transformed. The work done by Motive is sensational and further supports the strengths of dead space — the truly creepy, borderline hysterical atmosphere in the lead.
We can’t wait to devour this remake of dead space from the first to the last second (in bonus sequence format). Electronic Arts presented several notable developments, which should give fans even more desire to (re) embark on the adventure – too bad if certain nightmares return. In particular, a dynamic system is promised that will trigger small events when you return to certain rooms of the USG Ishimura. For the developers, the goal is that we never feel safe, even when we think we are.
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