Glenn Schofield must be fuming right now. Callisto dropped and just didn't really resonate with horror fans, and then one month later, his former employer gets a new team to recreate his most defining game and it's literally a nigh-on perfect horror title. Dead Space Remake just oozes atmosphere and tension. It's stunning, but it's not just that visual fidelity that makes the general tone pop. It's the grungey art style, the god-tier lighting; the sound of monsters scuffling through air vents and the pleading screams of survivors getting munched at the end of the corridor your lil compass is leading you down. It's the (mostly) amazing pacing of the scares, which makes exploring the Ishimura feel like navigating a claustrophobic, steel-encased tunnel of nightmares. Everything about this is just quintessential spooky goodness; the cosmic horror feast that I think we've all been craving since Prey in 2017.
And the wildest part about that atmosphere is that it manages to maintain it while still adhering to the trappings of a 15-year-old game. The quest design is so out of touch with what we expect in 2023. Every chapter boils down to a bloke behind a glass window being like "ah, nuts Isaac, we got separated / I'm busy / I'm injured / my heartburn is flaring up. Looks like three things in this general area need fixing and I guess you'll have to get it done all by yourself." And as silly and outdated as that trope is, you just buy into it because you know it means you get to gleefully trudge down a set of grimy, painstakingly detailed corridors that'll jumpscare you seven times and drench you in blood, guts, gunk and some stinky bile juice. The game is so good that, no matter how dated its format can be, I just want to spend more time being horrified in its world.
The funniest thing about the reactions I've seen so far is that, while I know a lot of people are also digging it, I've seen folks saying it hasn't really been changed much. And like, sure, the game isn't ridiculously different. The gunplay is much tighter and punchier but it's still the same idea, and the movement's less clunky but is roughly in the same ballpark. But I'd argue those elements weren't in need of a revamp. As a remake, it works because it says, what if we rebuilt Dead Space but enhanced the horror of the game? The original Dead Space was and is a terrifying game, but EA Motive's new technology just adds that extra something; it makes it a more considered, smart and measured horror experience that sinks its hooks in deeper and crawls under your skin more effectively.
I remember seeing cinematic trailers for each of the Dead Space games when they came out and this legitimately feels like playing those teasers. Walking down a dark corridor, lit mostly by your torch light, just to see a necromorph slither out of a vent in front of you feels like the moment you watch in every E3 showcase and go, nah, no way that isn't scripted for the marketing. It's just genius and the additions to the story make it canonically fit better into the timeline too. Dead Space genuinely has some of the coolest lore of any horror IP (well, until you get into debating the nature of zombie moons) and to see it better implemented here makes me very happy.
Overall, maybe one of the best remakes to date. Just sheer unmatched mastery of the horror genre and a game I'd recommend anyone play, whether you feel like you're a wee baby playing these types of games or not. The only areas I can criticize are the same ones where the original game went wrong: boring quest structure, a tedious upgrade system, an over-reliance on jumpscares, etc. But that brings me to something else.
There's already a very small tease towards a Dead Space 2 remake in this, but let's just screw the appetizers and get onto the main course already. Give EA Motive the reins to make the Dead Space 4 we never got and let's be done with it. No having to implement decade-old narrative design, just a modern take on what is arguably one of the GOATS of video game horror. Dead Space rocks. You old fogies got Top Gun 2 this year, now bring me my goddamn legacy sequel. I want to see Isaac Clarke's daughter dust off his funny BioShock-meets-Iron Man helmet while epic, passing-of-the-torch orchestral music plays in the background.
And the wildest part about that atmosphere is that it manages to maintain it while still adhering to the trappings of a 15-year-old game. The quest design is so out of touch with what we expect in 2023. Every chapter boils down to a bloke behind a glass window being like "ah, nuts Isaac, we got separated / I'm busy / I'm injured / my heartburn is flaring up. Looks like three things in this general area need fixing and I guess you'll have to get it done all by yourself." And as silly and outdated as that trope is, you just buy into it because you know it means you get to gleefully trudge down a set of grimy, painstakingly detailed corridors that'll jumpscare you seven times and drench you in blood, guts, gunk and some stinky bile juice. The game is so good that, no matter how dated its format can be, I just want to spend more time being horrified in its world.
The funniest thing about the reactions I've seen so far is that, while I know a lot of people are also digging it, I've seen folks saying it hasn't really been changed much. And like, sure, the game isn't ridiculously different. The gunplay is much tighter and punchier but it's still the same idea, and the movement's less clunky but is roughly in the same ballpark. But I'd argue those elements weren't in need of a revamp. As a remake, it works because it says, what if we rebuilt Dead Space but enhanced the horror of the game? The original Dead Space was and is a terrifying game, but EA Motive's new technology just adds that extra something; it makes it a more considered, smart and measured horror experience that sinks its hooks in deeper and crawls under your skin more effectively.
I remember seeing cinematic trailers for each of the Dead Space games when they came out and this legitimately feels like playing those teasers. Walking down a dark corridor, lit mostly by your torch light, just to see a necromorph slither out of a vent in front of you feels like the moment you watch in every E3 showcase and go, nah, no way that isn't scripted for the marketing. It's just genius and the additions to the story make it canonically fit better into the timeline too. Dead Space genuinely has some of the coolest lore of any horror IP (well, until you get into debating the nature of zombie moons) and to see it better implemented here makes me very happy.
Overall, maybe one of the best remakes to date. Just sheer unmatched mastery of the horror genre and a game I'd recommend anyone play, whether you feel like you're a wee baby playing these types of games or not. The only areas I can criticize are the same ones where the original game went wrong: boring quest structure, a tedious upgrade system, an over-reliance on jumpscares, etc. But that brings me to something else.
There's already a very small tease towards a Dead Space 2 remake in this, but let's just screw the appetizers and get onto the main course already. Give EA Motive the reins to make the Dead Space 4 we never got and let's be done with it. No having to implement decade-old narrative design, just a modern take on what is arguably one of the GOATS of video game horror. Dead Space rocks. You old fogies got Top Gun 2 this year, now bring me my goddamn legacy sequel. I want to see Isaac Clarke's daughter dust off his funny BioShock-meets-Iron Man helmet while epic, passing-of-the-torch orchestral music plays in the background.