Dead Space - Review
When Dead Space originally released in 2008, it was a complete shift in the traditional survival horror genre. Taking the idea of reanimated persons, it added cult-like religious ideology alongside a cosmic horror aesthetic. The Necromorphs as they are dubbed, are persons brought back to life after death, only morphed into a new form of evil. Going against the grain of the traditional aim for the head gameplay, like we had seen in the Resident Evil series and combining it with the inability to simply avoid most encounters, it truly brought a new light and life to the genre, something that was sorely needed. Fifteen years later the core pillars have been maintained in a brand new re-imaging and remade experience whilst heightening areas that needed to be changed for a modern audience.
Dead Space was known for its dismembering of enemies to ensure they stay down. This system has been brought back and enhanced for a refreshed experience. Rather than just shooting at limbs until they come flying off, the game now includes a ‘Peeling’ system. Whenever you shoot, or hit an enemy body part, their flesh, tendons and bones begin to peel away. The first time you shoot an enemy in the legs and you may see down to the bone, it pulsing with reddened tendons and blood, giving you satisfaction that Dead Space has come to make your cosmic, body and psychological fantasies and fears come to life. The decision to enhance this core combat feature goes a very long way, as they could have merely made it cosmetic, thankfully they did not. As you progress through the game and come across tougher enemies, it quickly becomes an important tool to help you understand the damage you’re doing and when you’re not being accurate enough with your shots. The peeling effect, whilst making your shots feel more impactful and adding to the dismembering gore-fest, also gives you a good visual indication of your success and is a nice enhancement to the fundamental system already in place.
The original Dead Space was not a perfect game. There was holes in the story beats, a silent protagonist and a rather one note series of secondary cast that made the overarching story weaker than it had the potential to be. With a story that has expanded with a rather deep and complicated lore since then, a major endeavour has been made to expand on the story beats and develop a far deeper world, that ties in more profoundly with Dead Space 2 and 3. The first major difference is with Gunner Wright making a return as the voice of Isaac Clarke. With Isaac finally having a voice, it helps connect you to the events around Isaac, because new interactions and dialogue for all the characters, finally come to life. The impact of this is you can expand the story beats by discussing the events occurring and the events leading up to the horrors that surround him. Another major change is that inclusion of side quests, that span across most of the game. These could have easily been small little things, to give players a reason to explore, but instead they help fill in more of Isaac’s reason for being on the USG Ishimura. That of course is to find Nicole, his girlfriend but quickly evolves into finding out about the creation and reasons behind the existence of the hyper regenerative Hunter Necromorph.
Something that I found rather enjoyable was the Intensity Director system that has been introduced. As someone who constantly walks into previously explored rooms and areas, despite having a breadcrumb navigation system, the Intensity Director makes this a far more dangerous and enjoyable experience. The game has a dynamic encounter generation system, capable of up to 1200 unique events with a variety of combinations, from different enemy spawns to sound and lighting changes, it means every encounter feels unique and different from the last one. The sound of enemies crawling through the vents goes from just being ambient atmospheric sound to every clatter and screech potentially being a cue for a new enemy encounter that may be punishing you for accidentally walking into a room you’ve been in three times already. The original Dead Space suffered from a feeling of repetition and after a while you were able to work out what sounds were danger and what sounds were just that, ambient sound. The Intensity Director changes this on its head and adds longevity to the game, with there being a familiar sense with each playthrough, but always with an undertone that everything can change like that.
New Game+ makes a return, along with a couple interesting additions. There are new and exclusive hidden resources, as well as new “Phantom” variants of enemies, which not only look different, but are much more difficult than standard enemies. With New Game+ there is also an ability to unlock a secret ending variation, encouraging players to make subsequent playthroughs. With the new additions and the changes it keeps the game feeling fresh and expands the approximately 10-hour game into a potential 30+ hour experience. The only downside some players may face with New Game+, is whilst it allows you play the game on any difficulty from Story through too Hard, the Impossible difficulty, which is the hardest overall, is locked to New Game and cannot be completed from a completion of the game that was done at a lower difficulty. This may prove to make it exceedingly hard, if not ‘Impossible’ for players to complete the game on the highest difficulty offered. Which is even more of an issue when you realise that Dead Space remake is a more difficult game than the original, even on lower difficulties. The small additions do go a long way in extending gameplay offered and should keep invested players coming back over and over.
For those players who are very familiar with the original, there is perhaps one very big change to deal with, the game is far more open than before. Previously the game would have you travel from one part of the ship to another via the tram system, however in the remake that is no longer the case. The ship is now far more interconnected and whilst there is still a linear progression method there is a removal of loading screens to encourage a more free roam feeling. Don’t worry though, the tram does still remain and is used as a quick travel system, so fans can relax. The story progresses you from section to section of the ship with interconnected corridors and use of the ship. The ship now feels more alive and interconnected without the stop start feeling that the original tram transport gave the game. With a bigger focus and encouragement on exploration this more interconnected ship feels far more like a ship, rather than a set of stage set pieces.
One issue I did have is with the zero gravity sections of the game. Unlike the original where you could only attach to set platforms on the floor, roof and walls, the remake has made Zero Gravity an entirely zero gravity experience. Able to float free, spin, and turn the change seems enjoyable on the surface. After a little while however thanks to the somewhat clunky reorienting experience, and overall disorienting feeling, the change is less than enjoyable. Whilst it makes sense to use a more free form method of zero gravity, the actual implementation can be somewhat motion sickness inducing. It’s only a minor point, but it is something to be aware of if the loss of direction and orientation affects you in the same way it affected me.
One other gripe, and something that may prove to be problematic for some PC players is a warning message you will get when booting the game. The game has been designed for use with SSD and not for HDD. Whilst I was able to change the install over to my SSD, the message states that the game may not run correctly and perform worse if not being played from an SSD. For players on current generation consoles, this won’t be an issue. For those who have a system powerful enough to run the game but haven’t got an SSD they may find themselves having a less than stellar experience with the game. It’s a minor point, but one that is important to note for those who want to play the game on PC.
There are a range of other changes to the game that make the remake feel like a new experience. Whilst sticking true to the pillars of the original, the very solid original game that has been made even better. There are a myriad of improvements and additions to make the game feel more fleshed out. The Dead Space remake takes what the game should have been fifteen years ago, and makes it reality. The new peeling system adds to the fundamental dismembering combat, with an expanded end game with a special ending variant on NG+, as well as the Intensity Director making every time you play feel like a brand new experience. If you missed out on the original, the Dead Space remake is a perfect way to get into the series, and for the veterans there is enough here to make you feel even more connected to the universe of Dead Space.
The Score
9.0
Review code provided by Electronic Arts
The Pros
+New Free Roam ship travel
+Developed side content that expands upon the lore
+Intensity Director expands on the gameplay
+The Peeling system for visual identification of damage
The Cons
-Some players may be hardware locked from the game
-Zero Gravity is disorienting and motion sickness inducing
-Phantom variants take way too much damage
