2008 was a really great year for videogames, and quite surprisingly it was also a really great year for EA who developed and published a whole slew of excellent games. Chief among them was Dead Space, a brand-new survival horror property that evolved the gameplay formula introduced by Resident Evil 4 into something considerably faster paced, but arguably twice as terrifying. It borrowed liberally from iconic horror films such as Alien and Event Horizon, and it went on to sell a bucketload of copies for EA. It was followed up by two mainline sequels, Dead Space 2&3 in 2011 and 2013 respectively, two spin-off games, Dead Space: Extraction in 2009, and Dead Space: Ignition in 2011, as well as expanding beyond the videogame medium with two animated films, 2008’s Dead Space: Downfall and 2011’s Dead Space: Aftermath, plus a collection of comic books and novels published between 2008 and 2013. It became a hit franchise for EA but following the disappointing critical reception of Dead Space 3, as well as it falling slightly short of sales expectations, the series was officially put on hiatus. Hopes for a Dead Space revival had been circulating online for a number of years, but when EA closed Visceral Games, the studio behind the franchise, in 2017 it seemed that all hope was lost.
That was until 2021 when it was announced that EA were rebooting the franchise with a remake of the original game, developed by Motive Studio. Anticipation went through the roof as development on the game was heavily publicised by EA and Motive, with frequent video updates and community interactions to ensure that the game was on track the way that audiences wanted it to be. Finally releasing at the start of 2023, Motive impressed with what they had achieved with Dead Space’s remake. With the 2008 original being one of my favourite games, it took me a surprising amount of time to get around to playing Dead Space Remake, but having seen the credits roll I am pleased to say it’s everything I hoped for and more.
Responding to the distress beacon of the planet mining vessel, the USG Ishimura, in orbit around the planet of Aegis-VII. The crew of the USG Kellion quickly discover the extent of the damage to the Ishimura and the horrifying fate of its crew. Transformed into hideous and aggressive monsters, engineer Isaac Clarke must fight his way through the ship, repairing key systems to try and get himself, and the remaining crew of the Kellion off the Ishimura alive.
That was until 2021 when it was announced that EA were rebooting the franchise with a remake of the original game, developed by Motive Studio. Anticipation went through the roof as development on the game was heavily publicised by EA and Motive, with frequent video updates and community interactions to ensure that the game was on track the way that audiences wanted it to be. Finally releasing at the start of 2023, Motive impressed with what they had achieved with Dead Space’s remake. With the 2008 original being one of my favourite games, it took me a surprising amount of time to get around to playing Dead Space Remake, but having seen the credits roll I am pleased to say it’s everything I hoped for and more.
Responding to the distress beacon of the planet mining vessel, the USG Ishimura, in orbit around the planet of Aegis-VII. The crew of the USG Kellion quickly discover the extent of the damage to the Ishimura and the horrifying fate of its crew. Transformed into hideous and aggressive monsters, engineer Isaac Clarke must fight his way through the ship, repairing key systems to try and get himself, and the remaining crew of the Kellion off the Ishimura alive.
It's hard to understate just how much of an impact the original Dead Space had on survival horror gameplay. Whist it was itself an iteration of what Resident Evil 4 introduced; it went on to become the gold standard for how action-survival horror should be done. Dead Space 2023 does not have that same clout, but how could it? Instead, this remake achieves very similar things to what Capcom achieved with its own Resident Evil 2 Remake in 2018. It takes a classic game, refines the experience that was already there by overhauling the graphics and tweaking the gameplay, but then expanding on the original game in ways that simply weren’t possible at the time. Crucially, this feels like a game made for 2023, it is far beyond a simple paint job, though it’s not quite as significant an overhaul as something like the Final Fantasy VII Remake which is essentially a brand-new game in its own right.
Starting off with the story, what was there in the original Dead Space was tight and thrilling but did little to deviate from Isaac’s main directive which was to get the fuck out of dodge. There were plenty of collectible audio and text logs scattered around the Ishimura which detailed the exploits of the crew and gave more explanation as to how things went up shit creek the way they did; but it was the responsibility of the sequels, spin-offs, and other media to flesh out the story, characters, and universe. That’s no longer the case with the remake. A lot of what was explored in the spin-off, Dead Space: Extraction, and the prequel comic book series is included here albeit in a heavily altered form to fit into Isaac’s story. But there’s also brand-new story content added which fleshes out Isaac’s character in meaningful ways, gives a deeper dive into the mysterious Church of Unitology, and on what the Ishimura was doing on Aegis-VII in the first place. Even as a Dead Space veteran who has consumed almost every form of media they can about the franchise, there were plenty of new things for me to take in here, and some of the old stuff had been altered in interesting ways to ensure that my experience felt just as fresh as someone who had never played the original games before, and I really appreciated that.
The most obvious way this is all weaved into the story is the inclusion of a voice actor for Isaac. Gunnar Wright reprises his role from the original Dead Space sequels here, and it’s great to finally have Isaac express his opinions on the situation he’s in aboard the Ishimura. As well as this there’s a wealth of cutscenes added that allow events to play out differently or expand upon the dialogue present in the original version of that scene. Burt most excitingly is that Dead Space now has optional side missions which allow you to explore new areas of the ship and uncover brand new story information pertaining to the Ishimura’s Captain Mathius, Unitology chaplain Dr. Challus Mercer, engineer Jacob Temple, horticulturalist Elizabeth Cross, and Isaac’s girlfriend Medical Officer Nicole Brennan. All of this gives the story so much extra meat on its bones now that there are actual supporting characters, as opposed to people that just give Isaac objectives and speak to him over the radio.
Starting off with the story, what was there in the original Dead Space was tight and thrilling but did little to deviate from Isaac’s main directive which was to get the fuck out of dodge. There were plenty of collectible audio and text logs scattered around the Ishimura which detailed the exploits of the crew and gave more explanation as to how things went up shit creek the way they did; but it was the responsibility of the sequels, spin-offs, and other media to flesh out the story, characters, and universe. That’s no longer the case with the remake. A lot of what was explored in the spin-off, Dead Space: Extraction, and the prequel comic book series is included here albeit in a heavily altered form to fit into Isaac’s story. But there’s also brand-new story content added which fleshes out Isaac’s character in meaningful ways, gives a deeper dive into the mysterious Church of Unitology, and on what the Ishimura was doing on Aegis-VII in the first place. Even as a Dead Space veteran who has consumed almost every form of media they can about the franchise, there were plenty of new things for me to take in here, and some of the old stuff had been altered in interesting ways to ensure that my experience felt just as fresh as someone who had never played the original games before, and I really appreciated that.
The most obvious way this is all weaved into the story is the inclusion of a voice actor for Isaac. Gunnar Wright reprises his role from the original Dead Space sequels here, and it’s great to finally have Isaac express his opinions on the situation he’s in aboard the Ishimura. As well as this there’s a wealth of cutscenes added that allow events to play out differently or expand upon the dialogue present in the original version of that scene. Burt most excitingly is that Dead Space now has optional side missions which allow you to explore new areas of the ship and uncover brand new story information pertaining to the Ishimura’s Captain Mathius, Unitology chaplain Dr. Challus Mercer, engineer Jacob Temple, horticulturalist Elizabeth Cross, and Isaac’s girlfriend Medical Officer Nicole Brennan. All of this gives the story so much extra meat on its bones now that there are actual supporting characters, as opposed to people that just give Isaac objectives and speak to him over the radio.
The gameplay hasn’t changed all that much, which says a lot about how ahead of its time the original game was. You’ll still be expected to dismember the Necromorph threat in order to kill it, using extreme precision with a range of engineering tools to cut them down to size before stomping them into a fleshy pulp. The biggest changes come in how you traverse the Ishimura itself. The original game was designed around themed levels set on each of the ship's decks, engineering, the bridge, crew quarters, hydroponics, so on and so forth. You were restricted to just that deck until you completed your objective, and then you used the tram system to transport you to the next area in a linear fashion. In the remake however, chapters can take place across multiple decks as the entire ship is a single interconnected environment. This is a massive alteration from the original game, and one that makes the Ishimura feel so much more realistic, and massive. The tram system can still transport you around quickly, but you’ll need to unlock each tram stop when you arrive at the corresponding deck. You can’t go from the flight deck at the beginning of the game all the way to the final area, the mining deck right at the start of the game as there are natural barriers placed in your way such as locked doors that require keycards, or organic growths from the Necromorph’s that impede your progress until you’ve completed particular objectives to allow you to progress. But you are encouraged to explore the ship and backtrack frequently in order to access previously locked areas as you gain higher security clearance. It’s kind of amazing how well this works, and I love how vastly it changes the Ishimura as an environment.
Zero gravity sections have also been overhauled, implementing a similar traversal mechanic used in the original game’s sequels, allowing you to freely float around the environment and walk on most smooth surfaces. This allows for the Zero-G sections to be considerably longer, more complex, and even take place outside of the ship.
The original Dead Space was no slouch when it game to its presentation. Graphically it held up decently against games coming out in the early 2010’s and was easily one of the most visually impressive games around upon its release. The audio mix also took advantage of surround sound systems to give the environment a three-dimensional sound, the groans of the Ishimura and screams of the crew in the distance were designed in a really advanced way, and it definitely helped the game be so much scarier because the sound design was so good.
It should come as no surprise then that the remake also takes its presentation very seriously. On consoles Dead Space offers up two graphics settings, Performance and Quality. As with a lot of games that have implemented such features, Quality mode will output the game’s resolution at a native 4K and include a wide array of technical enhancements such as ray tracing, more complex particle and smoke effects, and more overall detail in environment and character models whilst being capped at 30FPS. Performance meanwhile sacrifices all of those finer visual details for a 1440p resolution that targets 60FPS. Both modes look fantastic, and whilst Quality certainly gives everything a slightly more impressive edge, Performance is no slouch either. Whilst I’m sure many would rather have a higher framerate over visual enhancements, I often found myself playing in Quality mode because I didn’t feel that Dead Space necessitated the smoothness of 60FPS, plus I did notice reasonably frequent dips from 60FPS when I tried out Performance mode, so for me the locked and stable 30FPS was much more favourable than an unstable one that aimed to hit 60FPS.
Character models are impressively detailed in Dead Space. Each model has a skeleton with several layers of flesh wrapped around it, meaning that when you shoot a Necromorph it will show you visible damage to their flesh before eventually cutting through the skeleton itself. Dismemberment and gore are fundamental pillars of Dead Space’s design and it’s great that so much attention was put into how limbs can be cut off, or flesh can be burnt away from the character models. This goes for Isaac too, and the result is some extremely graphic, but highly enjoyable death animations.
The sound has also been completely redesigned with 3D and spatial audio options in mind, with audio files now being able to take advantage of your speaker or headphones ability to digitally place sounds above, behind, or to the sides of you. The way sound travels through the Ishimura gives each area a distinct sound too, with the more decorative crew quarters having a considerably more muffled sound than the metal plated engineering and mining areas.
Dead Space is just another recent example of a remake done right. It takes the original game and gives everything an overhaul for modern sensibilities, whilst keeping the core experience that was so beloved the same. It manages to squeeze in just enough new content to make it feel like a worthwhile investment for returning fans (as if just having a visual upgrade wouldn’t have been enough), and for new players there’s never been a better time to experience the terror of Dead Space. With a sequel already confirmed to be in the works, I’m unsure whether I’d like a Dead Space 2 Remake in the same style as this game, or an entirely new experience in the Dead Space universe. Either way, I can’t wait to see what Motive Studio do with the franchise next.
Zero gravity sections have also been overhauled, implementing a similar traversal mechanic used in the original game’s sequels, allowing you to freely float around the environment and walk on most smooth surfaces. This allows for the Zero-G sections to be considerably longer, more complex, and even take place outside of the ship.
The original Dead Space was no slouch when it game to its presentation. Graphically it held up decently against games coming out in the early 2010’s and was easily one of the most visually impressive games around upon its release. The audio mix also took advantage of surround sound systems to give the environment a three-dimensional sound, the groans of the Ishimura and screams of the crew in the distance were designed in a really advanced way, and it definitely helped the game be so much scarier because the sound design was so good.
It should come as no surprise then that the remake also takes its presentation very seriously. On consoles Dead Space offers up two graphics settings, Performance and Quality. As with a lot of games that have implemented such features, Quality mode will output the game’s resolution at a native 4K and include a wide array of technical enhancements such as ray tracing, more complex particle and smoke effects, and more overall detail in environment and character models whilst being capped at 30FPS. Performance meanwhile sacrifices all of those finer visual details for a 1440p resolution that targets 60FPS. Both modes look fantastic, and whilst Quality certainly gives everything a slightly more impressive edge, Performance is no slouch either. Whilst I’m sure many would rather have a higher framerate over visual enhancements, I often found myself playing in Quality mode because I didn’t feel that Dead Space necessitated the smoothness of 60FPS, plus I did notice reasonably frequent dips from 60FPS when I tried out Performance mode, so for me the locked and stable 30FPS was much more favourable than an unstable one that aimed to hit 60FPS.
Character models are impressively detailed in Dead Space. Each model has a skeleton with several layers of flesh wrapped around it, meaning that when you shoot a Necromorph it will show you visible damage to their flesh before eventually cutting through the skeleton itself. Dismemberment and gore are fundamental pillars of Dead Space’s design and it’s great that so much attention was put into how limbs can be cut off, or flesh can be burnt away from the character models. This goes for Isaac too, and the result is some extremely graphic, but highly enjoyable death animations.
The sound has also been completely redesigned with 3D and spatial audio options in mind, with audio files now being able to take advantage of your speaker or headphones ability to digitally place sounds above, behind, or to the sides of you. The way sound travels through the Ishimura gives each area a distinct sound too, with the more decorative crew quarters having a considerably more muffled sound than the metal plated engineering and mining areas.
Dead Space is just another recent example of a remake done right. It takes the original game and gives everything an overhaul for modern sensibilities, whilst keeping the core experience that was so beloved the same. It manages to squeeze in just enough new content to make it feel like a worthwhile investment for returning fans (as if just having a visual upgrade wouldn’t have been enough), and for new players there’s never been a better time to experience the terror of Dead Space. With a sequel already confirmed to be in the works, I’m unsure whether I’d like a Dead Space 2 Remake in the same style as this game, or an entirely new experience in the Dead Space universe. Either way, I can’t wait to see what Motive Studio do with the franchise next.