I’ve revisited the original set of 4 Dead Space games (and related media), starting with the still wonderful original, less than 3 years ago. The original remains one of the most interesting survival action (and almost survival horror) titles in history, while Extraction and Dead Space 2 were really awesome and memorable in their own right. And there’s also Dead Space 3. And after EA so unceremoniously ran the franchise into the ground and then closed Visceral Games, and no I’m not forgetting that, you’d think they would give up on the franchise. Yet, in a completely unexpected turn of events, instead we now get Dead Space, the remake of the original that is basically attempting to be Resident Evil 2002 (know as REmake) for this franchise. A remake that is both extremely faithful, but also expanding on the title and introducing elements meant to surprise returning players. And it is really great… if lacking in finesse.
To quickly introduce or reintroduce you with Dead Space – it’s a series of (mostly) survival action titles set in the far future of space travel that has a clear inspiration from John Carpenter’s The Thing, gameplay structure from System Shock and overall gameplay concepts of Resident Evil 4. It was conceptualized as a sequel to System Shock 2, but after a period of relatively unsuccessful R&D and the popularity of then new RE4, the game was re-pitched as a survival action title with the behind the back over the shoulder camera controls. Some of its original setting ideas were recently reinterpreted in the disappointing The Callisto Protocol, but the final product contained a sci-fi horror story of a mining ship USG Ishimura unexpectedly going dark and a repair team being sent to investigate, only to discover a strange alien mutation called “Necromorphs” taking over, mutating and recombining any dead flesh into horrible monsters that can only be dispatched by cutting their limbs/appendages off. The series would later turn into a big franchise with the main character – engineer Isaac Clarke, – as the big important hero. But in that first game (and Extraction to a degree) the story was told with us taking a role of a survivor, not a specifically important character, in a situation where any of the characters could suddenly and unceremoniously die. And, in fact, it wasn’t even a guarantee that the playable character will survive in the end or, if they do, will truly escape the madness of the situation.
Going into this Remake, I should start with the game structure by stressing that unlike REmake, the overall structure of Dead Space Remake is extremely close to that of the original game and for the first 2/3 of the title you might think that a lot of changes are, while noticeable, but minor. Because unlike REmake, a lot of the big changes to the flow and levels come at the very end. But we’ll get to that, as first genuinely big change that you will notice is that despite still sticking to the chapter-based structure, Dead Space 2023 has a structure of a survival horror title, where you can actually backtrack through most of the locations up until a very end game point of no return. The levels were tweaked to feature new rooms and passages that connect all of the explorable parts of Ishimura and as the game goes on, these passageways will open. In fact, the tram that used to be the starting and finishing point of every chapter as it carried you linearly through the game is now more of a fast travel thing that you unlock as you visit stations.
The game in general attempts to introduce every element from the original game a bit more gradually. For example – some of the weapons and suit upgrades in the original game would just become available at certain points in the shop, but in the Remake you always have to find them somewhere in the world. Some of the moments that used to just happen now have a cutscene that introduces something new and because Isaac now speaks (he was silent throughout the original game), in addition to some changes to the characters and the story, some of the cutscenes are now longer and more cutscenes in general take away your controls, where in the original they would lock you in a room without blocking your ability to play as usual. Weapons now have special upgrades too, apart from just using the Power Nodes, that give them special properties and unlock more of the upgrade tree. Power node doors are gone entirely, but now game has some doors and lockers locked and requiring a security access of a certain level that you will get later in the story. Game even introduces a couple of side-quests that are designed to give you additional background information on the characters and the story.
It’s all pretty cool, as are really beautiful modern visuals and the technological aspects of the sound design that are, unsurprisingly, far more nuanced and superior to the ones that the game could have in 2008. But… A lot of the nuance, the craft, the details are completely lost in this transition. Ability to backtrack, for example, is almost entirely pointless because the overall structure of the game remains the same. So with locations that you must revisit for the story, backtracking on your own is just pointless. And with the locations that you don’t need to revisit but that contain something that you can’t unlock until later – it’s just inconvenient and boring. In fact, if you do backtrack early, the game will actively punish you by spawning more unexpected necromorphs on you way, which will not be there if you wait until later.
The cutscenes and more talking also get in the way – in the original game a lot of elements were just shown to you in a simple, but easily understandable way, where in this new version the characters just tell you things instead of letting you experience them first. While some of the characters and their motivations are just plain more boring and predictable in comparison to how they felt in the original game. Some enemies have been tweaked to be more frustrating by either taking more shots or having a ranged attack that has a ridiculously high precision homing ability. The switch from a heavier surface to surface zero gravity movement to the free flying movement from Dead Space 2 and 3 also meant that several sections were entirely redone and for the worse – no more fantastic silent space to loud engine room transition, no more tense run to the turret avoiding the debris. Even the sound and visuals – for how far more insanely technologically good they are, they sometimes look and sound worse. The Foley in the remake feels genuinely worse than in the original game, which is bizarre.
And yet, despite the fact that I do feel that the game is weaker in many aspects in comparison to the original and that all of the mentioned changes to the level structure in the last 1/3 of the game make it worse, as it focuses more on tedious action instead of sprinkling the fun and smart usage of telekinesis for puzzle solving with action bits in equal amounts… It’s a great game. I mean, really – it does play fantastically and purely in terms of gameplay the remake does feel better, while feeling like that original Dead Space. It does have the impalement mechanic and the flying in zero g, and it has more action in some bits than the original game, which is for the worse, but it’s no Dead Space 2. And it’s not like they just took some elements of the original away – a lot of new ideas, mechanics and elements are introduced that are as good if not better in some cases than those that are in the original game.
So, I do think that Dead Space (2023) is a really great survival action game that is even more survival horror-ish than the original. And for people who care more about the gameplay and specifically action, this might be a superior experience to the original game. For me? I still would take the original over this one, even though it is, in some ways worse. But it had more atmosphere, fantastic pace and was more surprising, non-stop playing with player expectations. The remake doesn’t quite get there, but it is a fantastic game nonetheless and most definitely worth your time.