This review contains spoilers
Dead Space Remake
#2
PC - Steam
Beaten February 1st, 2023
Dead Space - one of my favorite games, another horror title I have been able to face only in the recent years.. I have reviewed the original previously (beating it again last year in preparation for this remake!) so I won't be going into TOO much detail on the base game, mostly just what has been added/changed/removed here. In short though: this shit fucking ROCKS
The Good:
The Presentation! Lights, sounds, music, graphics... everything is firing on all cylinders 1000% of the time. The game looks amazing, almost every other room has some kickass dramatic lighting to it, the sounds of the ship, guns, necromorphs, ambient noises, the scramble of your radio... this is a horrifyingly beautiful game. EDIT: As is typical for all my reviews, I am listening to the soundtrack while I write this to get me in the proper headspace. DAMN this shit is scary lol
The character upgrades (minus 1...) for the story, ESPECIALLY the Ishimura herself. The two "nobody" guards at the beginning get at least a BIT more screentime which makes their demise, and impact on other characters, much more notable. Daniels gets a significant upgrade from "just a plant from the church" to an Earthgov spy trying to put things right - who is only an antagonist towards you for entirely understandable if ruthless reasons. Huge upgrade. The Ishimura as well: the ship is interconnected at all times making the place feel much more alive and less like levels in a video game. The already-stellar atmosphere and environmental storytelling of the original is amped up times 10 here, new logs, new bits of details... all stellar
Isaac is a real character now too! He speaks at appropriate times, asks good questions, we get a good sense of the man he is + some very appropriate backstory for him and Nicole. There's a few moments where it doesn't work but on the whole an excellent change.
Weapon rebalancing - the Reign of the Plasma Cutter HAS ENDED!! Actually not really, it's still a great all around weapon, not quite as OP as the original though. Really though it feels more like every other weapon got a big buff, rather than the Cutter being nerfed. Everything feels pretty great to use!
Enemy rebalancing - they're a bit tougher now, and have a, er, "meat" system? You can see the layers stripped off of their bodies (skin, muscles, bone..) until the limbs are severed. It's rad. And gross. But Mostly Rad!
Redesigned puzzles - basically the annoying puzzles were changed to be better, the cool puzzles are still there but made more clear. No more getting stuck on that asteroid for like 15 minutes!
The Bad:
Er, some tech issues...? This will be a short category lol. Definitely had some stutter, especially with screenshots. Couple of wonky physics moments.
Voice actor downgrade in one notable main character - the new voice actor for Hammond is just not up to par. And I don't mean the obvious disparity with the old actor who is a 10/10, obviously expecting that is a bit too much, but even compared to the other actors he just ain't there. No real gravitas, not a lot of believable emotion. Kynes is also a bit of a downgrade but he's not in the game anywhere near as much.
The Hmmm...:
Pacing with the side quests is a bit off. One of them (the master key quest) is definitely a bit too all over the place and not in a particularly satisfying way. The Intensity Director keeps things from being boring by throwing some random encounters at you but even that feels a bit "checkbox" as you go through the major rooms where obviously encounters are designed to happen. "Oh, no monsters last room? Definitely 2 or 3 in this one... yep there they are!". However the rewards for each, both story and gameplay wise, are generally pretty worthwhile.
The Intensity director! This one goes in "hmm" because other than the issue above, it's hard to say what exactly is the director's doing and what's just the base game design. While obviously you can only have so many encounters before things feel a tad rote, the game does still feel good to play all the way through.
So yeah, the very lengthy "good" section will tell you that overall this was an excellent game - not a huge surprise of course, the base game is also stellar. Even with that base though, the team at Motive have crafted an almost REmake level product here: one that surpasses and frankly replaces the original by keeping all of the original's successes while adding in their own excellent additions and edits to keep things fresh. While it's certainly not QUITE that level of the original Resident Evil, Dead Space Remake's superb atmosphere, combat and story makes it truly a fantastic experience from beginning to end.
Oh yeah, and there's a new secret ending too?!
Final Grade: A
#2
PC - Steam
Beaten February 1st, 2023
Dead Space - one of my favorite games, another horror title I have been able to face only in the recent years.. I have reviewed the original previously (beating it again last year in preparation for this remake!) so I won't be going into TOO much detail on the base game, mostly just what has been added/changed/removed here. In short though: this shit fucking ROCKS
The Good:
The Presentation! Lights, sounds, music, graphics... everything is firing on all cylinders 1000% of the time. The game looks amazing, almost every other room has some kickass dramatic lighting to it, the sounds of the ship, guns, necromorphs, ambient noises, the scramble of your radio... this is a horrifyingly beautiful game. EDIT: As is typical for all my reviews, I am listening to the soundtrack while I write this to get me in the proper headspace. DAMN this shit is scary lol
The character upgrades (minus 1...) for the story, ESPECIALLY the Ishimura herself. The two "nobody" guards at the beginning get at least a BIT more screentime which makes their demise, and impact on other characters, much more notable. Daniels gets a significant upgrade from "just a plant from the church" to an Earthgov spy trying to put things right - who is only an antagonist towards you for entirely understandable if ruthless reasons. Huge upgrade. The Ishimura as well: the ship is interconnected at all times making the place feel much more alive and less like levels in a video game. The already-stellar atmosphere and environmental storytelling of the original is amped up times 10 here, new logs, new bits of details... all stellar
Isaac is a real character now too! He speaks at appropriate times, asks good questions, we get a good sense of the man he is + some very appropriate backstory for him and Nicole. There's a few moments where it doesn't work but on the whole an excellent change.
Weapon rebalancing - the Reign of the Plasma Cutter HAS ENDED!! Actually not really, it's still a great all around weapon, not quite as OP as the original though. Really though it feels more like every other weapon got a big buff, rather than the Cutter being nerfed. Everything feels pretty great to use!
Enemy rebalancing - they're a bit tougher now, and have a, er, "meat" system? You can see the layers stripped off of their bodies (skin, muscles, bone..) until the limbs are severed. It's rad. And gross. But Mostly Rad!
Redesigned puzzles - basically the annoying puzzles were changed to be better, the cool puzzles are still there but made more clear. No more getting stuck on that asteroid for like 15 minutes!
The Bad:
Er, some tech issues...? This will be a short category lol. Definitely had some stutter, especially with screenshots. Couple of wonky physics moments.
Voice actor downgrade in one notable main character - the new voice actor for Hammond is just not up to par. And I don't mean the obvious disparity with the old actor who is a 10/10, obviously expecting that is a bit too much, but even compared to the other actors he just ain't there. No real gravitas, not a lot of believable emotion. Kynes is also a bit of a downgrade but he's not in the game anywhere near as much.
The Hmmm...:
Pacing with the side quests is a bit off. One of them (the master key quest) is definitely a bit too all over the place and not in a particularly satisfying way. The Intensity Director keeps things from being boring by throwing some random encounters at you but even that feels a bit "checkbox" as you go through the major rooms where obviously encounters are designed to happen. "Oh, no monsters last room? Definitely 2 or 3 in this one... yep there they are!". However the rewards for each, both story and gameplay wise, are generally pretty worthwhile.
The Intensity director! This one goes in "hmm" because other than the issue above, it's hard to say what exactly is the director's doing and what's just the base game design. While obviously you can only have so many encounters before things feel a tad rote, the game does still feel good to play all the way through.
So yeah, the very lengthy "good" section will tell you that overall this was an excellent game - not a huge surprise of course, the base game is also stellar. Even with that base though, the team at Motive have crafted an almost REmake level product here: one that surpasses and frankly replaces the original by keeping all of the original's successes while adding in their own excellent additions and edits to keep things fresh. While it's certainly not QUITE that level of the original Resident Evil, Dead Space Remake's superb atmosphere, combat and story makes it truly a fantastic experience from beginning to end.
Oh yeah, and there's a new secret ending too?!
Final Grade: A