Dead Space, to me, is a treasured game. One that I hold dear from my early days in 2008. This was one of my first horror games and one where I had a mix of different emotions, from being scared out the absolute daylights off me, to gleeful excitement and intrigue of exploring the Sci-Fi setting it takes place in.
It's no doubt heavily inspired by films like Event Horizon, and Alien. Showcasing dark, dimly lit areas, full of unrecognizable noise, echoes, immense paranoia, and sense of dread that you'll be picked off soon if you aren't careful. All in space, where literally no one can hear you scream, the feeling of isolation there kind of stops your breathing at times.
It's a heavy-handed game when it comes to this all-encompassing production value of sound design, music, environment, story and character writing, and graphics. So mixing in these intense horror elements would usually be a lot for someone to take it, but imagine the remake taking this even further. Because with advancement in tech, and increased visual fidelity, it looks to be fascinating albeit also terrifying.
The remake isn't going to be a one on one recreation, instead going to be created with modern gaming sensibilities in mind, as confirmed by EA Motive Studio. Simply put, it'll be getting the same treatment as Final Fantasy 7 R or Resident Evil 2 Remake. One of the interesting areas, where they plan to make new changes to, are the audio design in regard to how Isaac response to certain situations.
Situations like him constantly running, his respiratory system being at a proactive state where he inhales and exhales repeatedly. But the other interesting change in relation to this is how Isaac's vocal cord changes. If he runs out of breath, his voice comes out in lower volume, struggling, or if he's struggling with something, he'll speak the same dialogue much louder and intensely.
This other aspect is around visual information, where say if you shoot a Necromorph's limb a number of times, it'll start showing flesh tear. Meaning that you can tell how much of it will stay damaged. They could pull an idea from Dark Souls and just make encounters random where you see how randomized fragility of the limbs, so that the experience differs each encounter.
Also, another thing to add is how freakish their new animations look. All of this with the Frostbite engine used to recreate the entire game, they made the Necromorphs more visceral and manic. Making them even more unpredictable and terrifying to look at.
The visual changes are very distinctive from the early game. They'll add smoke effects, mess around with lighting using ray-tracing, and more destructive environment. There's a lot I feel like they haven't added to the developer's gameplay demo, they have plenty of time, so there are more announcements to make about anything else new to the remake.
There's no reveal trailer that tells you exactly the kind of game this is going to be, but from what I've gathered from the interviews, commentary videos, etc., this game will amp the scary factor to 11 when it's prime and ready. There's no announcement of a release date, but some would hint that they're itching for a 2023 release.
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To put the cherry on top, they're also adding zero gravity movement from the sequel games. This wasn't there in the original, and will spice up combat while hovering in space. I quite remember these sections for being pretty difficult to play in, since you have to aim at enemies hovering while you were just at the ground shooting with zero gravity boots.
EA Motive Studio are famously known for making the Star Wars Squadron game. While it wasn't critically well received, the game got a warm reception from fans, stating that it was the best space fighter game to date in the Star Wars series. Especially for VR.
From what I've seen going on in the studio, it seems a lot of good talent has been added that prioritizes immersion with good gameplay. For that, I can't wait for them to deliver on this remake.