REJOICE! REJOICE, MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS! I was worried the Dead Space remake would not satisfy my hunger for intense sci-fi horror. I would be left heartbroken wondering if I was living in ignorance when I played Dead Space back in 2009. Did I not know what a good game was in my youth? NAY, says EA Motive, Dead Space was brilliant. No other game has captured that feeling of isolation; feeling like a tiny mouse in a monstrous machine as you hear bits of metal rattling throughout the Ishimura. The combat system brilliantly rewards you for swallowing your fear and taking clean precise shots. The horrific designs of the necromorphs, each with their own distinct silhouettes and movements, allow you to make quick decisions in combat while remaining uneased. Alas, my followers, I do not stand before you to gush about the original Dead Space as I have done many times before. I am here to talk about how EA Motive took the solid framework of the original and built upon it for a monstrous makeover. I, the Video Game Doomsayer, present my thoughts on the 2023 Dead Space remake.
The most significant change that came to the Dead Space remake is the lighting. Whoever was in charge of the lighting should put on a masterclass. If this developer does not get to do a presentation of how the lighting was done at a Games Developers Conference (GDC) then I will truly lose faith in humanity. The USG Ishimura always felt cold and isolated, but never pitch dark. You could easily spot a necromorph tearing a vent open in larger rooms. I never felt it detracted from the atmosphere and it was functional for combat. Truly nothing is worse than a horror game that puts you in a pitch-dark room with no way to see the monsters gnawing at your ankles.
The remake certainly could have gone with a similar lighting scheme as the original, but the new lighting is such a game-changer. The Ishimura is now pitch dark. The main lighting has gone out. Emergency lights flicker on and off. The shadows creep in and dance along the walls. So often I catch a glimmer in the corner of my eye. I turn, finger on the trigger of my plasma cutter but nothing is there. The flickering lights and odd shadows play with my mind. The feeling of unease sets in; only to make me jump that much higher when an actual necromorph was behind me. This perfect mixture of light and shadow took me back to 2009 and made me afraid of Dead Space once more.
To add to the fear, the Dead Space remake asks you to do the cruelest thing a horror game can do: turn off the lights. The Ishimura has been equipped with circuit breakers that you can use to divert power from various functions of the ship. You can take energy from motors or elevators and divert them to open locked doors. Frequently, you will have to divert power from the lights to power a door you need to get through. One of the best examples of this takes place in Engineering. You need to restart the South Refuel Station to keep the Ishiruma from crashing down. The only problem is there is no power going to the station. You must choose to take the power from the lighting or the life support system and transfer it to the station. Would you rather be able to breathe or be able to see? If that question doesn’t make you anxious, then you haven’t played enough horror games.
Building upon the twisted and grotesque design of the necromorph, the Dead Space remake has a tissue-peeling system. As you hack away at a necromorph’s limbs, the skin will peel off revealing more of the bones. Not only will this serve as a visual indicator of how close a necromorph is to death, but it also is a brief reminder of the body horror involved with the necromorphs. It’s another feature that shows EA Motive’s understanding of what makes Dead Space good and what could be added to make it great.
Another example of small improvements is the side questing and backtracking. Some might be confused as I have often chastised games for this. However, the Dead Space remake is smartly using this to flesh out additional characters like Nicole and the Hunter. Many of these quests have us visiting their final moments aboard the Ishimura building upon the original Dead Space story. In the original, each chapter had its own level even if the chapters took place in the same location like the Med Bay in Chapters 2 and 5. In the remake, the tram system allows you to visit various locations making the Ishimura feel like an interconnected space. A system like this almost seems built to encourage backtracking for various collectibles. Luckily, the Ishimura hasn’t been littered with Riddler trophies, but there is one quest line that asks you to collect all the RIGs of the fallen supervisors. I am willing to give this a pass since all the RIGs create a master key to unlock all doors. You usually get a gruesome audio log allowing us to hear the supervisor in their final moments. Generally, if I get more stories, I am ok with backtracking for items.
The final change I would like to discuss is the change to give Isaac a voice. In the original, Isaac was a silent protagonist in the vein of Gordon Freeman. As a shy young adult, I appreciated a hero who didn’t feel the need to speak up as I did. Today, I am not sure if you can get away with having a silent protagonist, and it seems EA Motive agrees. I was very much on the fence about giving Isaac a voice as many, including myself, have been critical of dialogue in our media. Just look at the beating Forspoken has been getting. Fortunately, EA Motive definitely approached this with care. Isaac is voiced by the same actor from Dead Space 2 and 3 so it doesn’t feel jarring. Most of his dialogue revolves around how to fix the latest engineering puzzle blocking his way; considering both Hammond and Daniels are not engineers, it makes sense Isaac would be explaining to them how to fix motors or communications arrays. Also as someone who has gotten more confident in their later years, I am still able to place myself in Isaac’s necromorph-stomping shoes even as he is scrambling to explain how he will get the Ishimura back online.
So am I out here applauding the remake for its perfection? Not quite. I certainly won’t argue that the remake has understood what makes Dead Space so great and made it better. However, in my typical doomsayer fashion, I have some small nitpicks I would like to bring up. Our first stop on the quibble brigade: getting around in zero gravity.
I can already hear the moans from the crowd. Doomsayer, they cry, how can you say you have a problem floating around in zero-g? The old game had you leaping wall to wall like a spider monkey in zero-g. My followers, calm yourself, my quarry isn’t with the system itself. Floating in zero-g is much better than jumping from wall to wall. They have even been able to use this system to replace the bland turret sections from the original game. Rather than play a mediocre game of asteroids, Isaac has to float out into space and recalibrate the defense system by pointing his plasma cutter at incoming asteroids. Overall, it’s another smart change that improves on the original.
My complaint only comes to light during the Leviathan boss fight. A giant Lovecraftian monster has made its way into food storage and devoured most of Ishimura’s food supply. This fight always stood out to me in the original game because the food storage facility was shaped like a giant circular tube. With the Leviathan at the end of the tube, you be forced to run along the circular walls like a sock in a tumble dryer. It reinforced the idea that Isaac was a tiny rat running in a giant maze. Isaac still feels small standing next to the Leviathan, but with him being able to just float in zero-g, the charm of the original fight is gone. I couldn’t even land on the edges of the food storage. I could only just float around trying to dodge the massive tentacles the Leviathan sported. This certainly doesn’t make the remake unplayable, but I feel like recommending the original for the spectacle of this fight alone.
Some of the necromorphs in the later chapters move at breakneck speeds. Mainly the necromorphs that have fused with their stasis modules: the Twitchers. These monstrosities were always fast in the original, but they have been working out in preparation for the remake. They barrel down on you, shuffling side to side making it very difficult to get a shot on them. If you find yourself in a cramped room with one of these, you must create space as fast as possible. Luckily you will encounter these enemies later in the game, so hopefully one of your heftier weapons can deal with them.
Also, some of the Slasher necromorphs have a bad case of acid reflux and can spit green poison at you. Doom director Hugo Martin often describes the enemies in Doom as pieces on a chess board; each has a specific role to play. I often felt Dead Space had a similar philosophy as necromorphs like the Exploder and Infector have to be dealt with immediately. So it seemed odd to have a Slasher that can pressure you from range when the Lurker fills the same role. This doesn’t interfere with Dead Space’s balance, but it does seem odd.
Finally, there have been some changes to the story. Not ground shaking, but enough that it warrants talking about. As always, if you are looking to avoid spoilers for Dead Space, now is the time to walk away.
In the final chapter, we are confronted by Kendra Daniels, the computer specialist who turns out to be an EarthGov spy looking to destroy the marker. She demands we watch the full video from Nicole that Isaac was watching on repeat in the beginning. The video shows Nicole unable to withstand the horrors of the Ishimura and injects herself with poison taking her own life. It is heavily implied that Isaac knew Nicole was dead when he set foot on the Ishimura and continuously imagined her throughout the game. We never defended Nicole as she unlocked a door in the mining bay nor was she there when we were taking the marker back to Aegis VII. A fun fact about the first Dead Space is the first letter of each chapter spells out “Nicole is Dead.”
In the remake, Nicole is still dead, but it turns out Isaac isn’t completely hallucinating. After watching Nicole’s video and realizing she is dead, we learn the woman we thought was Nicole turned out to be Dr. Elizabeth Cross from Hydroponics. The marker had made Isaac believe he was talking to Nicole and made Cross believe she was talking to her dead husband Jacob Temple.
I will not stand before you to say I hate this change, but I cannot lie, I don’t love it either. Having Nicole be a figment of Isaac’s imagination shows how deeply lost Isaac was. Was the door Nicole opened unlocked the whole time? Was Isaac even shooting necromorphs while defending Nicole, or was he shooting at nothing? There’s more mystery involved when Nicole isn’t actually there. With Cross being Nicole, a lot of that unsettling uncertainty simply vanishes. This certainly doesn’t ruin the work that has gone into the remake. Yet it does make me appreciate the original for its ambiguity.
So yes, the Dead Space remake is remarkable. A lot of the improvements build upon the solid core of the original while my small complaints are minor nitpicks, but I wouldn’t say this remake is in the same position as the Resident Evil 2 remake. I am sure many would find the original Resident Evil 2 unplayable by today’s modern standards. The Resident Evil 2 remake almost replaces the original. The original Dead Space, on the other hand, is very much playable today. If you have never experienced this sci-fi horror, I highly recommend playing Dead Space 1 and 2. Afterward, I would recommend playing the remake just to show how much life this series has. I know EA Motive is working on a new Iron Man title, but I hope the success and the praise this remake has received could bring this series back from the dead.
