Making a horror game these days isn't that hard, but can some be around to establish itself as the horror game to remember for pushing things around? Dead Space was one of those games, cementing its status as a Sci-Fi horror that makes space exploration a lot scarier. Certain games like Homeworld: Cataclysm did that with the Beast at first, but Dead Space encapsulating it certainly made a bigger mark.
I have been obsessed with the progress of the remake, writing and citing many posts here. Well, here we are. The titular cultist/monster killing, schizo-inducing action installment returns. With Motive going to large lengths of modernizing this game, having so many changes all throughout.
My backup underwear was ready, my headphones were set, trying to get comfortable before launching it. In my first hour it was very evidently clear that this will have little similarity to the original, outside the story that is. Many things to describe my experience here, but the joy of playing one of my most favorite title is the most prominent of all.
A Very Seamless Reimagining
From the intro of Nicole's video message, it was pretty different. Both Hammond and Daniels have changed dialogues, with Isaac instead responding back. The Kellion's interior is reshaped, and the crash landing on Ishimura made more technical sense than it did on the original. After entering Ishimura the first time, every change I saw here, was also predominant in the rest of the game.
Right after the first 10 minutes, the crew gets attacked, I ran into the elevator while being chased, without the door locked in front of me. The Necromorph dies from the elevator door, and from there, finding the plasma cutter, Isaac had to assemble the pieces in a cutscene before I start my trek into a densely harrowing ship of nightmares.
It seems that the remake really accentuated all the parts of the original that were ahead of time. Though there are small gripes with the UI controls, in the day and age of us playing PUBG, the mouse integration could have done wonders, it was difficult to navigate through the map with just arrow keys. Outside that, all the same stuff pretty much works here.
The combat in this game is easy to learn, yet there are more factors and variables providing all sorts of challenges as well. Isaac moves more smoothly, with the information given with his movement animation, I can tell where to go or not. Same with the Necromorphs, as their bodies twists and contorts, every dismemberment giving me information about their state after shooting them out.
It's easy to avoid them, too, long as I don't get boxed in or pushed to the wall. In fact, I never died from my encounters with them, around the first few chapters though. Just died several times due to the environmental stuff like moving fans or electrical traps. Solving puzzles as well as finding enemies lurking about is also pretty intense.
The game has other dynamic elements, and that's due to the A.I. intensity director. Details like the ventilation fans not spinning right, or lights going out in certain places, would be based on how I've been playing. The same light, that went out in the corridor, came back once I scavenged the room connected to it. This also includes when and where the Necromorphs start showing up based on my location. Maybe I could give the hard mode replay a shot next time because of this.
I like how unexpected each encounter becomes, it's either that two leg long tails just popping out your side, different types of Necromorphs group up for serious damage, or enemies just shadowing you till you turn around after browsing the store or saving up the game.
While the quality of the GIF doesn't showcase that well, there's a lot to gather about how to play this as a survival game. Other things even noticed is how much Isaac's health goes down, it's not like I lost a bar per hit, I can still some left in each of them. Indicating that in the later game, stronger armor upgrades do help out a lot.
Immersive Horror
Dead Space Remake is astounding looking, that's due to all kinds of factors from ray-traced shadows, lighting, and ambient occlusion. There are spots that have brighter lights or really darker corners. The best way they've used Frostbite 3 here is to make every part of the industrialized, metallic parts of the game feel like it exists, like it has history. If you're obsessed with spaceship architecture, the Ishimura has a lot to show for.
 |  |  |
|---|
One of the biggest, and pretty helpful change is the fact that all the maps of the ship are traversable with the freight system. Helpful to explore and backtrack, plus with the additions of more side missions, and more logs to find for backstory purposes gives more incentive.
I also tried playing this with the headphones on, and it was a real game changer. One of the devs stated that they couldn't play the game with headphones because it was too scary. They weren't wrong. There's so much going on inside the ship, I can hear clanks, rumbling, it feels like the ship is alive. I can even hear the Necromorphs in the distance, the harrowing whispers, there was way too much atmosphere added just from the sound alone. I took it off and switched to stereo because I wanted to sleep at night.
So with everything top-notch, there are a few small hiccups. Like, the variable-rate-shading just makes it less visually appealing due to the dithering effect. Otherwise, everything I'd shown you would look absolutely gorgeous. I am running this on the highest setting possible, although with FSR enabled to make it mostly playable. There was an option to disable VRS, but maybe I should have tweaked up the settings a bit.
So is it a worthy contender for GOTY? Like, there's Resident Evil 4 Remake that is coming out real soon, so I guess we'll have to see. But on its own, this is a brilliant game. It took the best of the early eras, and superseded expectations. All the enemy types I've faced, they feel different here, making the horror elements much fresher. The environment, the sound, it amps up the experience much further.
Even the cutscenes, holograms, and interactions with Nicole, and other characters feel very different. This is the best Dead Space game fully realized, and I am glad that Motive did what no others could with the reimagining of a cult-classic game. I will revisit this game, hopefully less scared than before, and try it out in a different difficulty for the fun of it.
