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| Dead Space Remake - Before You Buy |
Today, we're talking about the Dead Space Remake. Now, this is developed by Motive, a studio of EA, and this is a big win for them. Straight up, right out the gate.
Like I went into this, thinking Dead Space was already pretty rock solid, not really needing a full ground-up remake, but they did it, and now I'm convinced. It's a fun experience here. It's not massively changed but smartly changed, like a bit more exploration and secrets, refinements, side quests, a bit more within combat and some story tweaks and cool editions.
But of course, it's also got incredibly shiny graphics and presentation and sound that I don't usually hit at the start 'cause graphics aren't always everything, but for here, it really works with the immersion and changes things up.
This Dead Space is a thrilling playthrough or three. Now, whether or not the changes or the trip back is worth the full price, it's a bit more subjective to you and your wallet, of course, but I'm just glad that this turned out to be a good game. Let's break it all down.
And just so you know, this was captured on PC with an RTX 2080, with settings mostly at high, and this video is as spoiler-free as I can be.
But I still recommend going in as unaware as possible if you've never played Dead Space. If you're new, there are like surprises, like a mile a minute, so it's tough, but I won't show any later game story stuff. So the setup, Dead Space, at least, it's like 500 years in the future, and you are Isaac Clark. He's an engineer, with a small team who investigates the issue more.
This massive ship, it's a corporate planet cracker used for harvesting resources from planets and deep space. And very quickly, you board this ship to see what's going on, and within like five minutes, there are monsters that are called necromorphs. You need to fight your way through the ship in action, survival, horror gameplay style to figure out what's going on and also save your girlfriend, sorta.
Now, the Dead Space series has a lot of lore, but this first game keeps it pretty humble and simple. Whereas in the original version, Isaac was actually a voiceless protagonist. He talks in this one, to line it up with Dead Space 2 and 3 a little better. Actor Gunner Wright does a really great job here. He only takes his helmet off a few times, but now he's actually modeled after the actor, and like you get an expressive, almost eerily, real-looking Isaac.
And throughout the game, he now doesn't just listen to a radio call and then go and do the thing, he has way more agency here. He actually feels a bit like an engineer, using his knowledge to get around the ship and survive. And it's great, it really works. You know, he's a little corny and heroic like in every man, but it's charming. And ultimately, I think it really adds to the game. I get some people might like the quiet loneliness of a guy who doesn't talk in the original version, keeping things a little abstract, but I don't know, it just made it feel a little bit more like a well-rounded adventure.
And he's not talking like every five minutes either. Like in my opinion, it's perfect. It's done just right and adds to things. The other big addition, obviously, is the visuals and the sounds.
The game looks bananas. Obviously, you can see on the screen here, it's darker, like it's very dark. There are hidden dark corners everywhere, and it really helps add to the dread. Now, couple that with the fact that the game has a bit of randomness as to when enemies will pop up and jump out and surprise you, from vents, the ceiling, the floor, anywhere.
Even when you think you're safe, the game can kinda be a little punishing. You're just always immersed and kept on your toes because of this. Lights flash, sparks fly, blood is everywhere, neon lights shine, all of it is glorious. The focus is on, of course, ripping enemies to shreds, like blowing off their limbs to slow them down, but they also get their skin blasted off and burned, and like they'll deteriorate believably.
I mean, believably, I've never blown apart a zombie alien, but you know what I mean. That lighting does a lot of the heavy lifting as well as fog and atmospheric stuff, but it's also the environment designs themselves. There is more detail, more textures, more garbage and stuff everywhere, just more going on.
They feel like real spaces, real areas where people worked and not just kind of drab, gray, brown video game levels. And that goes a long way here. It really made a difference for me. Now, the sound design is very busy. It's great though, but there's always banging metal, distance scratching, screaming, howling, but it all works.
I think it works specifically because sometimes it's hard to tell whether it's just ambient background sounds or the sound of an enemy jumping out of a vent somewhere, like it's not always totally distinguishable and is really just another thing to keep you on your toes.
Straight up, I know I always say this with games like this, but like this is one where you wanna turn the lights off and put headphones on and go all in. Now, my only complaint in this area is that I don't like some of the newer weapons' sounds. Like they don't all have the same punch as they used to. They're not bad at all. It's not a failure, it's just a matter of taste. I prefer the older sound of some of the basic guns.
Now, gameplay-wise, there are significant tweaks. Obviously, the controls are a little bit tighter, things feel a little better, but guns have new alternate fire modes and different upgrade paths, like for example, the line launcher thing actually has kind of like a trap alternate fire. The upgrade tree is also straight up better with this time around, with no blank ones that you have to unlock through.
Also, nodes are used for upgrading at the bench only. There's more stuff in the environment to throw at enemies with kinesis. There is also a security clearance system where you get higher clearance levels as the game progresses, and it encourages you to actually backtrack a bit, either through areas or even sometimes hopping back on the tram to find more goodies in previously locked rooms and bins and lockers and stuff. This also likely makes New Game Plus way more attractive.
There's a lot of things to go back and find and even get a couple of more side story bits and a secret ending, which, yes, they do shake things up here and there, specifically big story beats.
They add stuff that you might not totally notice unless you recently replayed the original. They're like unobtrusive additions and tweaks that tend to just make scenes, moments, and deaths a bit more compelling and less cheesy game moments from the earlier 2000s, like everything has a little bit more of a weight to it. Yes, it's very much still like a sci-fi, horror, crazy video game story, but it's just done up a bit nicer here and there. And along with that, big set pieces and large puzzles are overhauled here and there too.
Some of them just have way more weight to them and feel like a bigger deal. Others are completely approved upon gameplay mechanics-wise, and thing here and there is dropped, and it's not a bad thing. I promise. Like if you're a Dead Space fan, you'll figure out exactly what's different, but there is no cause for concern here. Again, like I said,
I think everything they changed here is smart and well-thought out. New puzzles, better puzzles, and some actual, legitimate side quests style stuff that actually fits in right with the flow, doesn't feel forced, is pretty damn good. Also, the zero gravity sections as well now are a ton of fun. They're just as stress and anxiety-inducing, but now you have total freedom to boost around larger areas, like 360 degree movement.
The original game was simply just you pushing yourself from point to point, but now you can float around and boost, and aim and shoot, and stuff more like Dead Space 2. And you are in control of taking off and landing, and it's all pretty smooth. Fighting some of those enemies in zero G though, very annoying.
Enemies that you find annoying are still annoying. I can confirm that. The changeups are great, from moments and battles to navigating the environments, but one thing I do wish they changed up was the final-ish areas, like that last main section of the game. You know, the one with the marker? It still kind of feels like old video game padding, where it gets a little long in the teeth.
You know, it goes on too long, and it's kinda just like, "Oh, come on, let's get past this." I wish they had something more creative to shake up there, but that's the original game's problem too, and it's just me, personally. Everything else, I think, is a massive improvement. It has multiple difficulty modes and a New Game Plus mode, and this is the type of game where you wanna jump into that right away.
As you know, Dead Space isn't exactly the longest game, but it can be a bit longer with the added exploration and stuff to do. I think I finished it in like 11-ish hours, but I only did about 50% of the backtracking. Happy to find more in New Game Plus though, definitely. That's what makes it enticing for me as a player. And again, I just wanna reiterate, seems like EA didn't screw this one up.
This is a really entertaining game, and I see myself playing through now probably three times. It's rock solid and challenging. I recommend playing this at some point. If you've never played Dead Space, 100%, absolutely, this is a good place to start. If you just replayed the original not that long ago, I get that the full price might be a little harder to swallow 'cause there's only so many changes. But even still, if you're a die-hard fan, either way, when you get it, you're gonna have fun seeing the differences. And just with the presentation and stuff, it's just a good experience.
Now, I just think this is a good way to remake something. It's from the ground up rebuilt, but it makes smart choices where to change, where to improve a bit, where to lengthen, and where to just straight up better a few things. They could have gone harder, sure, but they also could have screwed a lot more up. It was a really measured approach, and it's good.
Yeah, rant over. That's "Before You Buy". You know how this goes by now.
I give you some pros, some cons, and some personal opinion, and now I wanna hear yours down in the comments.