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Much like the recent revival of the God of War series with God of War 2018 and Ragnarök, EA Motive made the most out of the next generations advancements in power and tech to not only reduce loading times but to eliminate them entirely. The choice to have the game take place in one continuous shot with no cuts only amplifies the immersion and pressure of surviving this waking nightmare of inhuman monstrosities. Couple this with the fact that most of the cinematics and expository sections take place during gameplay and gamers are never given a moment to relax as the tension is never broken or interrupted by a loading screen. Unless you die of course. Which will happen. A lot.
Peeled Perfection
Before release, much had been said about the new peeling system for the necromorphs in which instead of simply slicing off a limb, Isaac’s shots would tear and “peel” the flesh and muscle from the bone until there was nothing left. While the original was praised for its strategic approach to dismemberment instead of out-right carnage, the peeling system adds so many additional layers to the remake’s combat. Pun intended. It truly is one thing to read about it or see it in trailers but to experience it firsthand is something else entirely. With ammo already a coveted commodity, now unless your arsenal is significantly upgraded, you could run out of rounds before even a single leg has been detached. To compensate for this, various new environmental hazards can be found sprinkled throughout the environment, meaning the player is never without the means for their own survival.
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The original Dead Space was awash in creaking pipes and unsettling screeches of the undead hunting Isaac Clarke but in the remake, this is amped up to 11. EA Motive made sure to make the most of this generation's advancements in 3D audio and the results speak for themselves. Literally. In many cases, you’ll hear the necromorphs skittering through the ducts long before you see them and Isaac’s ever increasing heart rate as the situation intensifies is matched only by the player’s doing the same. In some instances, it’s the game’s use of 3D audio that might be the difference between life and death as some of the necromorphs have a nasty habit of flanking the player when they least expect it and it's only by hearing the sounds of their tendrils scraping the metal grating that you know that they’re behind you.
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In the world of Dead Space, weapons are rare so Isaac needs to make use of many engineering tools and adapt them for things other than their intended purpose. However, in the 2008 Dead Space, outside of the Plasma Cutter, Isaac needed to purchase the majority of his weapons from the shop and while this was a common system at the time, many players found themselves wasting their hard-earned credits on weapons they didn’t use because they had no way to test them before purchase. Thankfully, in the remake, Isaac comes across his arsenal much more organically by finding his impromptu weapons within the environment during normal exploration. While minor, this change allows players to adapt their own play styles without wasting their precious credits on weapons they never end up using. The weapons themselves have also been substantially upgraded and completely redesigned with all new alternate fire modes for additional “peeling”.
Puzzling Sacrifices
Although Dead Space takes many of its inspirations from the Resident Evil series, one aspect that didn’t translate well to the Ishimura was the use of overly complicated RE puzzles. While the original Dead Space wasn’t without the odd head scratcher here and there, the remake adds additional puzzles to certain aspects of the ship that fit in a bit more organically than rotating statues and puzzle pieces. On occasion, the player will need to reroute power to different areas of the ship, while sacrificing power to others. This can oftentimes lead to extremely tense moments when rerouting the power results in all the lights being cut off and the only illumination in the room coming from Isaac’s weapon. It’s a great way to keep the anxiety high while also leaving many of the puzzle decisions squarely in the hands of the player’s choices.
Active Not Reactive
The silent protagonist’s purpose is to be the avatar for the player within the world and because of this, oftentimes developers will make them silent to further immerse the player in the world. However, in a game like Dead Space, your character having NOTHING to say about the ungodly horrors unfolding around them is a little jarring. Thankfully, EA Motive not only gave Isaac a voice, but they also gave him HIS voice with OG Isaac Clarke voice actor Gunner Wright to reprise his role. Now in the Dead Space remake, not only does Isaac comment on the chaos of the Ishiumura, but he’ll also take charge of the situation utilizing his vast engineering knowledge or be more resistant to his companions demands instead of simply acting as their gofer.
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The main driving force compelling Isaac to explore the Ishimura is to find his girlfriend Nicole after losing contact with her during her time aboard the mining vessel. In the original Dead Space, Nicole became more of a background motivator after her brief introduction during the opening moments which didn’t give the ending the gravitas the developers might have been aiming for. In the remake however, EA Motive has not only expanded on Isaac and Nicole’s relationship and provided further backstory, but Isaac will also periodically be given side missions to flesh out Nicole’s time on the Ishimura and why she and Isaac had been apart as well as what brought them together to begin with. This additional content makes the gut punch of an ending much more heartbreaking along with further fracturing Isaac’s already clearly unstable psyche.
Marker Motivations
As if the necromorphs weren’t bad enough, the world of Dead Space also has its own creepy cult that worships the things. By the end of the 2008 original, the Church of Unitology was found to be the main driving force behind the events on the Ishimura and their obsession with the Marker drove the inhabitants insane while mutating others. While this was mostly unfolding in the background in 2008, in the remake, the Church's presence is felt throughout the ship and Isaac’s ties to the cult are far deeper than ever before. Isaac’s hatred for the Church of Unitology is now tied directly to his parents and his mother’s obsession with the cult and it’s this shared history that not only introduced him to Nicole but also divided them and gives Isaac more insight than some of his other crewmates as to the Church’s motivations.
Shooting Gallery
Arguably one of the most contentious and out of place sections of the original Dead Space was the asteroid defense chapter. Not only was the section tonally divergent from the rest of the game, but the segment was also poorly designed, and the asteroids could easily overwhelm the player causing them to fail the mission or tone down the difficulty just to get past it. In the remake, EA Motive has removed the divisive section entirely, replacing it with a more immersive and honestly far more harrowing spacewalk that puts Isaac directly in the asteroid's path as he attempts to manually sync defense turrets. EA Motive also made adjustments to Isaac’s zero-g mobility, adapting the free motion traversal of Dead Space 2 allowing Isaac to freely explore zero-g environments and more capably dodge incoming attacks or solve puzzles.
The Nightmare Never Ends
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Along with rebuilding the Ishimura for a more seamless nightmare, developer EA Motive also added content cut from the original 2008 release as well as added optional side quests for Isaac to complete and learn more about the downfall of the enormous mining vessel. While some of these side missions tie directly into the narrative such as following Nicole’s actions throughout the unfolding chaos, others actually lead directly into an unlockable secret ending. Achieving this ending is going to take a substantial amount of leg work however and can only be unlocked after completing the game on New Game Plus but it’s definitely worth it for those looking for an ending arguably more unsettling than even the original that not only leads into hopefully a remake of Dead Space 2 but also the possibility for a wholly original sequel from EA Motive.