Dead Space remake review: The best the franchise has ever been

15 years later Dead Space was released and has become a sci-fi horror masterpiece in my mind. Its incomparable atmosphere, instinctive lead-footed combat, and cosmic horror still hold up through rosy memories.

new Dead Space Stay true to that memory. Its world, a planet infested with space zombies, a harvest ship named USG Ishimura, has all the machinery malfunctioning or falling apart, a flickering halogen cold industrial lit by her lamps. It’s a maze. Metallic sounds, steam hissing, and morbid screams bounce around the corridors. Ishimura is a terrifying, immersive ship graveyard.

This remake brings Ishimura to life in a visually stunning way. Decks, cabins and airlocks have been painstakingly recreated. Undoubtedly the star of developer Motive Studio’s remake, it’s a more reliable and varied ship than what we saw in the original game. But this is just the beginning of his Motive reengineering. Weapons, characters and progression have all been reimagined for the best possible version of Isaac Clarke’s trek through true hell. Hopefully, the blazing horror game franchise will be resurrected. too soon.

The tale of Dead Spaceheavily influenced by sci-fi horror movies alien, event horizonWhen sunlight, almost unchanged. A small crew hired by the Concordance Extraction Corporation is sent to investigate why Ishimura has gone dark, but proves to be very distressed. The ship is attacked by terrifying creatures called Necromorphs, and the rescue teams are soon separated from each other.Isaac the engineer as Clarke, fights to survive the Necromorph infestation and seeks escape. genuine article The reason he signed the Ishimura Mission.

Despite sticking to the original plot throughout, Motive has updated major aspects. Dead Spacestructure. For one, Isaac speaks. A quiet protagonist in the original game, he now converses with the crew and several survivors aboard Ishimura. His more prominent role in dialogue is combined with updated text logs and audio recordings for an overall more elegant story. It introduces the themes of religious fanaticism in the trilogy and the role of alien artifacts in a much quicker and less offensive way. , gives new weight to the character’s relationships and their inevitable deaths, and unfolds in a fresh new way.

Gunner Wright, who voiced Isaac Clarke in the Dead Space sequel, will voice him here. His brand new voice-over doesn’t make Isaac sound like an errand boy, but more like a capable engineer unfazed by the shit he turns over every 15 minutes. The rest of the cast is made up of new actors who deliver solid performances. In particular, Brigitte Cali Canales is the computer expert (and frequent work giver) Kendra Daniels and Faran Tahir (iron man, Star Trek) drips pure evil as Dr. Charus Mercer.

Isaac plays much like the original game. He’s a system his engineer, not a die-hard soldier. It also relies on what ostensibly are construction tools (laser cutters, saw blades, torches, force fields designed for working in a zero-gravity environment). He fights Necromorphs. Dead Space‘s combat garnered praise for subverting video game conceit by prioritizing limb removal over headshots and body shots as the best way to fight enemies. Cutting off slows enemies down. If both arms are amputated, there is no way to fight. chop off your head? It just pisses it off.

Image: Motive Studio/Electronic Arts

Far from feeling like an outdated gimmick, disarming is still grimly satisfying and tactical. If two or more Necromorphs are attacking you, what’s your plan? and fire the saw blade to slice both? It will work. Or should I lay proximity mines and lead them into death traps?Like the original game, in the remake, Ishimura’s environment is constantly changing, necromorphs his mobs, so the approach should be changed. Always have to rethink.

Isaac’s universal arsenal offers many options, especially with new features that make each tool more useful. For example, the flamethrower, which works well when Isaac panics, originally had an alternate firing mode that fired explosive fireballs. The remake builds a 2m wide wall of fire instead. Anything that passes through this wall will be burned to the ground. The reliable rapid-fire pulse rifle also has a new alt-fire mode. Proximity mines are useful when Necromorphs surround Isaac.

Weapon upgrades like this are scattered throughout the game, both as collectible items and as purchases from shop stations. Some are hidden behind locked doors, and with a new graduated security clearance system, Dead Space Recreate a more Metroid-like feel. There’s some backtracking that takes place through Ishimura, and a sense of risk and reward for doing so.If necromorphs have a habit of popping out of hatches, is it worth going back to previously inaccessible areas? !

The motive is also modified Dead Space The change in quality of life introduced its sequel. In the 2008 game, Isaac jumped from point to magnetized point in a zero gravity environment. However, he is now free to float and fly. Zero-G encounters have been completely reworked, turning boss fights and mini-game-like puzzles into tense and confusing situations. Appropriately, these spectacle-filled moments can be quite disorienting and even confusing, in keeping with the angst of survival horror elsewhere.

Image: Motive Studio/Electronic Arts

motive Dead Space The remake also lives up to the impressive audiowork of its source material. Ishimura’s sound is layered over and over again. Audio feints and genuine shocks are also frequent. I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve taken some leaps and bounds by developer tricks.

Beyond audiovisual upgrades, Dead Space shows that its developers are keenly aware of its influence on modern games, especially the horror genre. This remake captures the soul of its subject in the vein of Capcom’s Resident Evil remake, delivering a meaty, memorable single-player horror game that isn’t compromised by additional multiplayer or microtransactions.

Dead Space Accessibility features include multiple colorblind modes, input options, content warnings, and options to hide disturbing scenes.Yes, this is a game full of gore and visceral horror, but you can avoid moments of self-harm and extreme violence if you prefer. Dead Space “back to life” is exciting not only because it lets you play idealized versions of classic games on a new platform, but also because it lays a promising foundation for the franchise’s future potential.

Dead Space will release on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on January 27th. This game was reviewed using a pre-release download code provided by Electronic Arts. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.