Make us whole again.
When it comes to remakes, remasters, or even reboots, it's the execution that has always been what makes those efforts worthwhile. Taking an older game, regardless of how well it has aged, and trying to update it can often run the risk of feeling unnecessary or as nothing more than a cash grab. However, if you develop it with passionate people and honor the source material without just slapping on some HD textures, then you have the opportunity to create something truly special.
With Resident Evil 2 Remake, Capcom set the benchmark for what a remake could be, reimagining the horror classic in a way that felt respectful to the source material while also enhancing the experience for newcomers and veterans alike. While Capcom may be set to replicate that impressive feat with the upcoming Resident Evil 4 Remake, EA Motive’s efforts here just might take that crown away from Capcom as the Dead Space Remake is nothing short of a masterpiece. Yes, it’s THAT good.
Back in 2008, the original Dead Space was made to capitalize on the success of Resident Evil 4, a continuation of the Resident Evil series that became one of the most influential games of all time. While many likely doubted EA’s chances of pulling it off, Dead Space was nonetheless critically well-received, creating a survival horror experience that garnered a passionate fan base, regardless of the action-focused path its numbered sequels would eventually take.
With the release of the Resident Evil remakes and that of Callisto Protocol, a spiritual successor created by some of the developers responsible for the original Dead Space, it made sense that EA would tap back into the Dead Space well to produce something to revive the franchise given the survival horror renaissance of late. While EA hasn’t had a terribly great track record over the past several years, its recent efforts have shown a more confident publisher, one that has finally allowed its teams to produce impressive work, or even delay a game until it's perfect instead of whatever Battlefield 2042 was.
EA Motive, fresh off a stint of producing fairly enjoyable Star Wars games, might not have been the first team I would have associated with remaking this beloved classic. That said, for as challenging as it must have been to even remake Dead Space, to begin with, Motive took the time to improve its story, flesh out its memorable characters, and make the USG Ishimura one massive playable space, traversing its haunted hallways all without one single camera cut or loading screen. The Dead Space Remake is awe-inspiring; and somehow, it's even better than the original.
With EA Motive having something to prove, as well as EA themselves, the Dead Space remake could have simply been a 1:1 recreation of the horror original, and frankly, I think it would have still been a tremendous effort and one incredibly well-received game. However, the changes made here enhance and better the experience in ways that feel as if this version of the game was always as it was. Everything new feels seamless to the whole experience with not a single addition feeling out of place.
Even something as simple as Gunner Wright coming back to voice Isaac Clarke as he did in Dead Space 2 and 3, now providing his voice to Isaac’s debut entry. While Isaac had a single line of dialogue in the original, he was largely a silent protagonist, apart from the screams as he was torn apart. Isaac's vocal presence here solidifies him as a capable engineer, making comments that benefit someone of his station. No longer do we have other characters telling a seasoned engineer what to do, and it makes Isaac more capable and allows him to feel like he's actually part of the story, making choices and suggestions that make sense amongst his peers.
This revamped story also benefits each and every character featured within the infested walls of the Ishimura. Of these changes, one character benefits the most; Nicole. In the original, Nicole was first and foremost on Isaac's mind, but the game did very little with her. Here, Nicole is a massive presence for Isaac, making her involvement in the story to be fairly significant. This allows certain moments to resonate far deeper with not only the player but to that of Isaac as well. By allowing Isaac to talk, we get a better understanding of the complicated relationship these two shared instead of other outlets such as text files or video clips to convey that information to us instead.
While there are fairly substantial improvements and changes to the entire narrative, the core structure of that story remains fully intact. Isaac Clarke, Zach Hammond, Kendra Daniels, and a few members of Hammond’s crew board the Ishimura as part of a search and rescue mission. As they start to explore the ship, they realize that something is seriously wrong there. It’s not long before the silence is given reason with monstrous creatures known as Necromorphs making their presence known, forcing the group to split up and retreat to a safer position.
The bulk of the story then follows Isaac, Daniels, and Hammond, as they attempt to make sense of what these creatures are, what happened to the crew of the Isihimura, and to Isaac’s own personal interest, what happened to Nicole. And, by fleshing out more of the lore, Motive has also smartly included additional nods to not just Dead Space 2 and 3, but a great deal of context surrounding the various spin-off titles and more. This expanded story takes Isaac throughout the entirety of the Ishimura, a massive vessel that now feels even bigger as you can explore it in a more seamless fashion, including several new areas and rooms, all without a single loading screen or anything that looks to disguise one.
This more open Ishimura now significantly rewards backtracking due to a security clearance system that increases Issac’s reach on the ship as the game progresses. This not only allows you to access previously locked rooms, some of which are new due to the remake but also to open up lockers that were inaccessible when you first encountered them. In the previous Dead Space, some lockers had a red light affixed to them, preventing you from ever knowing what was inside them. Here, those red lights are attributed to this clearance system that is upgraded at key points in the story.
New to the Dead Space remake is the inclusion of side quests. While there is only a small handful of them, they flesh out additional characters to give more context to what occurred on the Ishimura prior to Isaac’s arrival. These quests are vastly interesting and feel substantial to the main story in ways that make them very worthwhile to do. Whether it’s following a series of events surrounding Nicole or tracking down various rigs around the ship as you gain access to new and previously unexplored locations, I honestly wish there were more of these side events to further explore more of the Ishimura and its ill-fated crew.
Two additional changes to how you traverse the ship are through circuit breakers and full directional zero-g sections. Both of these systems make significant alterations to even the most simplistic scenarios. Circuit breakers are stations in some rooms that you use to unlock doors, activate lifts, or even turn on the lights or life support systems that run throughout key areas of the ship. However, in most cases, you give up one access point for the other, meaning that while you can activate the elevators you need that are on the far side of the room, you’ll have to transfer the power currently keeping the lights on, forcing you to proceed to the newly activated elevators in complete darkness. It’s a system that constantly felt satisfying and filled me with dread when I often had to give up a bit of comfort for progress.
While later Dead Space games handled zero-g in much of the same manner, the original Dead Space had you gravity-jumping from platform to platform. Here, Isaac can explore with full movement as he uses his suit's thrusters to navigate the entire space around him. This freedom is added to additional sections all over the ship and feels very good to move around in. This added mobility also makes some of the original boss encounter to feel far more engaging and even more intense. This ability to move freely around the stillness of space also sees vast changes to the autocannon section of the original, taking a pretty lame shooting mini-game and allowing Isaac to be far more hands-on with destroying incoming asteroids or the rematch with a monstrous entity that threatens the entire ship once again.
Apart from the game’s much improved and deepened narrative, the Dead Space remake excels in a few other areas. Navigating the ship has been made easier thanks to a new 2D map that makes it a lot clearer on how to work your way through the massive vessel. My whole experience with Dead Space was also via headphones, and having the sound blasting in my ears allowed me to hear the soft whispers and rattled vents a lot clearer than what my TV would output. The Ishimura is immensely scary on its own, but hearing every howl, scream, or growl of a Necromorph approaching you is downright terrifying. The sound design in this game allows the Ishimura to become a place of nightmares as you attempt to figure out what exactly is going to appear or what is simply a well-placed sound meant to frighten you.
Dead Space’s combat was always thrilling, subverting the “aim for the head” trope and allowing you to systematically dismember your foes in all manner of ways. This “cut off their limbs” mantra gave Dead Space an identity that few other games can confidently share. Isaac will have a wealth of tools and various weapons available to him, all sporting an alternative fire option, such as the pulse rifle laying down proximity mines or having the Ripper blades shoot through your target to then ricochet off surfaces to find its next victim. Each weapon you have access to feels as if you could play through the entire game with them, they are all just that good.
However, while setting enemies on fire is deeply satisfying, or using the contact beam to blast through enemies with a continuous stream of energy, the Plasma Cutter is without a doubt one of the most satisfying weapons ever created for a video game. It feels immensely satisfying to use, rotating its laser trail to line up that perfect shot and then seeing your target drop down to the ground, crawling towards you as you fire off a couple more rounds into it before finishing it off with a loud stomp of your boot. I constantly had the Plasma Cutter in my rotation, always able to rely on its massive stopping power and just how satisfying it felt to use. Honestly, I don’t know if there is another weapon across the entirety of games that holds a candle to just how amazing this gun is to wield.
One of the best aspects of the remake is the “peeling” system. Motive took great care when creating its Necromorph threat, giving layers to their form that “peels” away when you do enough damage to certain parts of their body. You can actually tug at a loose limb with your Kenesis Module to pull it towards you, having it float in front of your hand before hurling it back at them like you are some sort of space wizard.
The gore this game has on display feels gross and wet in all the right ways, allowing its visceral elements to truly shine. Each creature you encounter can be dismantled as you remove their limbs one by one, then stomping them into oblivion as pieces of their body splash around to paint the walls. Seeing a Necromorph get ripped to shreds in zero gravity via the force gun is something to behold, as the blood and bits that explode off them are just floating around you as their entire body has been truly decimated.
Another improvement to the weapon system is through how you upgrade your weapons and that of Isaac’s engineer suit as well. In the original, the workbench’s upgrade trees had connecting points that offered no upgrade but still required nodes to progress through them to the next. Here, in the remake, every single node is never wasted, with even having the ability to respec available at any time, provided you have the currency to do so. Since nodes are now used only for the workbench, you always feel like you have the chance to improve your damage or capability with every tool at your disposal, especially as each weapon has new unique weapon parts that make them that much more lethal.
Despite all the changes and enhancements to the story, key systems, and Issac’s weaponry, players are more likely going to notice the game’s impressive visuals first and foremost. Motive clearly had a healthy budget to work with as Dead Space is nothing short of stellar. Isaac’s suit is meticulously detailed, with even the frost of outside environments thawing on him as he enters back into the ship. Both Isaac and the environments here are absolutely gorgeous with jaw-dropping lighting and detail that constantly deliver. The disgusting nature of the Necromorph threat is brutal in their designs and executions, allowing the gore and blood to feel celebrated here in a glorious fashion.
Adding to the game’s strong visual presentation is allowing the Ishimura’s atmosphere to fuel the fear of what could be around each and every corner. To keep players on their toes, Motive has implemented what they call the “Intensity Director” as this system cycles through numerous scenarios as you backtrack. Since the ship is in a constant state of disrepair, revisiting once-cleared areas may see the lights suddenly fail, monsters flooding into the room, or even just intense music and numerous sounds of danger around you to keep you guessing if anything should appear. It’s a truly engaging system that constantly kept the pacing of the game on point. While unrelated to the Intensity Director, but also that of something that changes as you play, Isaac will have different dialogue as you approach scenes with more or less health, making additional replays very interesting.
EA Motive was a developer that I knew had talent, but now they are part of a short list of developers that I am fully invested in seeing what they do next. This remake could have simply been a copy-and-pasted affair and still held its ground, but the smart and often subtle changes to every core system and feature are masterfully done. From the improved and more fleshed-out story to making Isaac a stronger presence in the game, to the Intensity Director always keeping me on my toes, the Dead Space remake is a masterclass of how to reenvision a beloved classic and has become the new benchmark on how it should be done.
Developer - EA Motive. Publisher - EA. Released - January 27th, 2023. Available On - Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Microsoft Windows. Rated - (M) Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X. Review Access - Dead Space was purchased for review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.