The poster of Ridley Scott’s Alien once famously said that “In space, no one can hear you scream.” I bet I could challenge that claim after playing Dead Space for the second time in my life. The poster of John Carpenter’s The Thing mentioned that it was the “The ultimate in alien terror.” and was clearly the baseline for Dead Space’s now iconic necromorph enemies. Iconic, atmospheric, and terrific, Dead Space returns once more, inviting you on another white-knuckled, terror-guided tour of the U.S.G. Ishimura and its blood-stained walls and horrific inhabitants.
Upon its release in early 2008, Dead Space made players worldwide unlearn the headshot, as its enemies were no mere zombies, but horrifying undead twisted creatures of flesh and bone that would not go down to a mere hit to the cranium. In 2023, this horror is more realized than every before in gruesome detail. You will witness flesh peel or burn off, bones break, and torsos explode as you unleash repurposed 26th century engineering and mining equipment into surgical tool of destruction as you fight to survive aboard the Ishimura. Cornerstone protagonist Isaac Clarke returns, Gunner Wright in tow as his voice once more, and controls better than ever before. Essentially using Dead Space 2’s gameplay mixed in with the setting of 1, Isaac controls as fluidly as you could imagine a power-armored engineer could (his suit has always resembled an antique diving suit) – his heavy boots stomping on anything he deems dangerous, and his R.I.G. unit displaying the player’s health, stasis meter, and ability to kinetically grab anything in the environment. Gunplay with your engineering and mining tools feels better than ever as you dismember and tear apart necromorphs in your way, and thanks to the now open-world styled Ishimura (think the Spencer Mansion or the Raccoon City Police Department in Resident Evil 1 and 2), side quests have been introduced, adding further secrets to find, and reasons to enjoy (more likely fear) all the planet cracking ship has to offer.
Old annoyances, such as the turret gunner section, where Isaac had to destroy asteroids, has been replaced with a new zero-gravity section where you have to calibrate the defense turrets while managing your oxygen meter in outer space. Speaking of which, the zero-gravity sections as a whole now follow the sequel’s Iron Man style propulsion style of gameplay. Rather than making jumps to walls or ceilings, Isaac has suit thrusters to help him move around, fight enemies, and solve puzzles in these environments. One puzzle in particular involving satellite dishes had me feeling dizzy in the best way as I attempted to move around and solve it. Again, it was incredibly immersive.
No game, in my opinion, has ever truly matched the integrated U.I. of Dead Space, and with improved technology, it looks better than ever before, to the point that it probably matches the images of how you remember the game versus how they actually looked in 2008. The original game has aged very well, but to look at the amazing visuals of the new version is to truly feel spoiled. The graphics are optimized on PC with very few stuttering issues which are more than likely in the process of being addressed. It is absolutely gorgeous and haunting to witness in action.
The audio is a masterpiece of the artform. The series has always had excellent music and audio effects, but with a headset on, things truly get immersive. Hearing bloodcurdling screams echo from far off in the distance, getting scared stuff by the sounds of heavy machinery that seems to be doing its best to imitate the guttural sounds of the necromorphs, and of course the sounds of the villains themselves as they stalk, scream, and attempt to rip you to shreds and assimilate you will haunt your dreams and live in your head rent-free in a mansion for years to come. My personal favorite aspect is how you can hear Isaac’s heartbeat (and probably your own) after experiencing harrowing combat or a particularly frightful image. As Shaggy famously says, “Zoinks!”
As mentioned earlier, Gunner Wright returns to voice Isaac, who was originally a silent protagonist in the first game. The improvements made to the characterization of him, the supporting characters, and villains, all truly refine to the game to the nth degree. It improves and enhances the storyline, which, coupled with all of the additional lore and secrets added to the game to tie the series together, means new and returning veterans will enjoy all there is to listen or read in terms of the storyline.
Accessibility is worth noting here. Dead Space offers a multitude of controls schemes to fit the user, including, but not limited to, the original game’s control scheme, and updated version of it, the sequel’s control scheme (my personal choice), and the ability to map any button on the keyboard or a controller to suit the needs of the player. I mention this as a read a review where a fellow gamer, due to their condition, was able to play almost without issue thanks to the multitudinous ways to set up the game’s controls. For those who wish to experience the story and are not seasoned survival horror veterans, an easier mode exists to cater to this demographic, as well as the ability to censor the more disturbing and graphic scenes of the game. While I am personal a horror fanatic and want to witness every disturbing moment the game has to offer, I think the developers at Motive are to be commended for their hard work in making sure as many people as possible can play this game. They should be looked at as the gold standard of this industry if nothing else, and should be celebrated in all circles.
This is probably the longest review I have ever written for Gaming Cypher, and it is not just because of how much I enjoy this game and the series overall, but for what Motive has done for the industry with this game. There is so much more I could talk about – new game plus, the other returning voice cast, the weapon upgrades, the other fun unlockable content, but part of the fun is for players to explore and find out on their own. As far as I know, many original team members make up the remake’s team, and as shown here and the team’s previous effort, Star Wars: Squadrons, their attention to detail is impeccable, and their passion obvious. Dead Space (2023) is not only a remake of one of the most beloved video games of all time, and a cornerstone in the survival horror genre, it is a gold standard for what triple a games today need to strive for – detail, optimization, a wealth of content not hampered by microtransactions or an abundance of DLC, and perhaps most importantly, accessibility to reach a wider audience without losing its identity (i.e. a horror game). It is potentially the greatest remake of all time. And with Resident Evil 4’s (a big inspiration on Dead Space) and Silent Hill 2’s remakes coming later this year, they have huge steel, bloodied zero-gravity-enabled boots to fill.
Score: 10/10
For more information, visit: https://www.ea.com/games/dead-space
Related: Reviews by Matt O’Toole
Your local neighborhood nutjob, gamer, and teacher! I'm an avid fan of many genres such as platformers, shooters, horror, etc. I am also an avid tabletop gamer - hugely into the worlds of Warhammer and all of their spinoffs. I'm a big believer in being objective - even if something is not my cup of tea, I want to talk about it on the objective level - is it well made, crafted with love, and with care for the fans? If so, that's a good game in my book for someone and well worth their hard earned dollarydoos!
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