This is not really a review of Dead Space as a cohesive game but rather the remake specifically. Dead Space itself is an amazingly designed survival horror game in the design of Resident Evil 4. I honestly think that the design of it moves it further above RE4. I think that the USG Ishimura is one of the coolest locations for a videogame. It’s right up there with the Von Braun from System Shock 2, and Talos 1 from 2017’s Prey. If you have never played Dead Space before I think this is a great jumping off point. If you like Resident Evil style games then this will also sate that same part of your brain. But with way cooler (in my opinion) atmosphere and design.
One of my favorite things about the original Dead Space was the attempt to make everything diegetic in design rather than try to force contrivances. This means of course that health bars were the RIG in the back of your suit, inventory was projected in front of you. This also included the way that the game presented the story. In the original Dead Space, the main character Isaac put his helmet on after the opening cinematic sequence. He only takes it off at the very end. This to me always signaled the game’s taking away control from the character. You were only able to visibly see Isaac when the control was taken away for a cinematic. This only happened in the original Dead Space at the very end of the game from what I remember. However, in the new remake taking away control of the character seems to be a more constant thing. It was the first thing I saw in one of the previews that made me nervous. It showed Isaac, now in a cutscene taking the Rig off of the body of the Captain. It made me worry that the game’s new direction was built around changing the foundation of Dead Space into something else. Well, this is not the case and I think that they only execute these sparingly thankfully.
So now that there’s a Dead Space Remake, the question that I come back to is: Is this worthwhile? Is the remake something that was needed? I play a lot of boomer shooters and a lot of other games with lower graphical fidelity most of the time. Dead Space (2008)’s visual design is actually fine. Aside from some vsync issues on the original game (that requires you to force vsync in your GPU settings not in game) the original game still plays perfectly. So it’s good that the general philosophy of design is still strong as ever. Graphically it feels like an updated design, rather than someone coming in and revising it. The best compliment I can give is this: Like in Half Life Alyx I started the game and felt like everything just “felt right”. AKA things in my head looked like how they should be at higher fidelity. While I didn’t need it, it does make me feel like this is right at home. The USG Ishimura is one of the most iconic videogame locations to me so the idea that they have maintained this and improved it is welcome.
The new game’s levels are very familiar to anyone that has played the 2008 original of course, it is a remake but only so far. There are moments of the game where they deviate from the original design however. Some puzzles are completely different and your knowledge of the original game actually works against you. I spent way too much time in the comms array puzzle because I was trying to solve it like the original game and it took me a while to realize the game now worked differently. I wondered to myself if I was just ignoring the clear signals the game was giving me or was it just better signposted in the original? Is it muscle memory or something else? As the game gets to the final two chapters the level design becomes a little bit more different. The question that I always came back to: Are these new additions worthwhile? I honestly think so. The design of the crew quarters is cleaned up a fair amount to make it a little more engaging. There are moments where things occur like monster spawns that add a little to some sequences in the original that kind of sagged a little. I think the additions are additive rather than subtractive to the experience.
I always felt that the OG Dead Space was a little too easy. It may be because I was using a mouse and keyboard and the game was always designed with a controller in mind. The new game feels even easier on Hard than the original. The game’s enemies are spongier than they used to be too and the upgrade paths for the weapons are larger, which means that by the end of the game I had not unlocked all the upgrade options like in the original. By the end of the 2008 game I was just wasting upgrade points on things I didn’t really care about because I had already upgraded the guns I used to the max. I think this brings an actual reason to go back and experience New Game Plus (which the game insists has different story beats but I haven’t played that yet).
The backtracking system is not better or worse, just different. It means that the crafted sequences that were a signature of the original game are less possible. Instead enemies randomly spawn when you are in an area of the ship you were previously. It is not necessarily bad and did not ever get annoying to me. I think that I miss the crafted sequences a little but it’s a tradeoff. I didn’t know where else to put this so I’ll put this here: I like that you have to choose sometimes to turn off either air or lights to power new areas which is a welcome addition that forces you to choose which tension system you would rather deal with (I almost always chose lights).
The ship does feel more cohesive due to the fact that you are exploring it continuously. Gone are the ship broken into story chapter beats using the Tram that, once you get on it, you cannot return to old sections, and now the game uses the Tram as fast travel instead. There is an almost metroidvania aspect of the game that now exists where you can go back into previous sections that now have security doors unlocked to get better weapons (and more story). They encourage this by having side stories that actually add to the game’s narrative rather than detract. I honestly was really happy that I ended up following Nichole’s side story to the end as it brought about a very interesting addition to the relationship between Isaac and her that was not in the original. It added a little bit of Solaris into my Dead Space, which is always welcome for me. I also like how area shortcuts are now designed into the game allowing for you to unlock new, faster backtracking options after exploring or unlocking a space.
Dead Space is never scary but it is tense. It was always easy for enemies to sneak up behind you and swarm you. Some enemies had sacks that hold smaller enemies and their presence will force you to change tactics. The weapons that they give you have some good crowd control options and I like the effects of flesh being ripped off of bodies that now happen with the Force Gun (it’s grotesque but in the way that works with the game’s general aesthetic). You ability to slow enemies down is one that I barely ever use unless I’m really in a jam but I did find myself using it a lot more this time around to slow enemies down (Especially the Pregnant enemies to give me time to switch weapons that wouldn’t burst their stomachs open).
The change to Zero G is actually really good in my opinion. Rather than having you stuck on surfaces you are able to free float, and some of the puzzles and combat encounters were redone to make this stick a little better. I also think that the change in the turret sequence is a welcome addition.
The only gripes I have are with the PC version, which experiences severe performance issues during cutscenes. I think this is more of an issue with DX12 than anything else and I’m sure this will be patched in the future.
Overall, I think that this new version of Dead Space is not just a good remake, it is probably the best Remake I’ve played. I have qualms like any game. But the bones of Dead Space are solid and they did not