With the promise of a complete visual and technical overhaul of the original, the Dead Space remake is full of big improvements over the original game. Nearly 15 years ago, Dead Space changed the survival horror genre forever with a science-fiction experience that proved an old spaceship could be as terrifying as any traditional horror game setting. Dead Space was critically acclaimed and is still considered one of the best titles of the late-2000s, so the hype surrounding its upcoming remake is more than justified.
That's especially true given just how major of an overhaul the Dead Space remake is. Rather than simply plastering new textures over the old game, Motive Studios has rebuilt the game almost from the ground up and the results look like everything fans wanted from a Dead Space remake. From stunning graphics and innovative 3D sound design to replacing the original game's notorious asteroid-shooting sequence, the Dead Space remake brings huge improvements to the table.
10 Dead Space Has Incredible Graphics
Whereas the original thrived because of its graphical limitations, exploiting poor lighting to only enhance the scares, the Dead Space remake goes all-out in using the potential of modern video game graphics to its advantage. Rather than settling for pasting on new textures, the USG Ishimura seems to have been rebuilt with tons of new details.
The new textures the remake does use also help transform the feel of the game in all the right ways in the remake. For example, one of the best parts of the original was how the USG Ishimura felt aged and lived-in, a far cry from the clean and airy atmosphere of a lot of sci-fi settings, and that's why Dead Space still holds up well today. The added level of detail in the texturing is intended to heighten this effect in the remake, making the ship look more weathered and realistic than ever.
9 Dead Space Includes Amazing New Visual Effects
It takes more than good graphics to do justice to an iconic game like the original Dead Space and that's why the improvements the Dead Space remake makes to visual effects are just as important. New effects in the game include interactive fog that responds to the player and sparks that change their behavior in zero-gravity for a more realistic feel.
Add in stunning real-time lighting effects and it all contributes to an entirely new sense of atmosphere that's all the more compelling because of how real everything looks. A strong sense of atmosphere is at the heart of all of the best sci-fi horror games and Dead Space is nothing without it, which is exactly why this extra attention to detail will go down well with die-hard fans of the series.
8 Dead Space Completely Updates Isaac's Suit
Isaac's engineer suit is one of the instantly recognizable elements from the original Dead Space that helped make it such an iconic game but, just as the game has aged, the suit has come to look a little basic over time. The Dead Space remake addresses this with a redesigned suit that captures the heart of the original but also brings in a ton of new details to take it to the next level.
For a start, its bulkier appearance makes it much more believable as a suit designed for industrial use in extremely hazardous environments. Whilst the extra panels and the visual embellishments mean there's a lot going on, the design looks purposeful whilst also now being dramatic enough to rival even the most iconic suits of armor in video games.
7 Dead Space Boasts New Character Models
Whilst the choice to give Isaac a voice in the Dead Space remake is one that will continue to divide fans, as some believe his voicelessness was a defining part of the fear factor of the original, the new models that will bring the characters in line with their current voice actors look to be a straightforward upgrade.
Isaac is modeled after Gunner Wright, who now has over a decade of experience playing the character, and looks better than ever with a slightly younger, softer look. In contrast, Nicole's character model looks somewhat older but is likewise far more detailed and expressive than in the original game. Regardless of how players feel about their transformed faces, all of the models look top-notch on a technical level and will only enhance the Dead Space experience.
6 USG Ishimura Has Been Restructured In The Dead Space Remake
Callisto Protocol was disappointing even as Dead Space clone because of how it failed to actually enhance the aspects that make Dead Space great but the Dead Space remake instead seems to actively focus on these. For example, exploring and navigating the USG Ishimura made for some of the tensest and most enjoyable parts of playing Dead Space and the remake seeks to improve the setting even more.
That means the ship has been restructured to make navigating more convenient as well as more intuitive, with new additions including the ability to shuttle freely between tram stations once they're unlocked and new foot corridors that connect previously isolated parts of the ship. The result of all this extra connectivity is to make the USG Ishimura feels more like a real ship than ever as well as being more satisfying to explore.
5 Dead Space Boasts Innovative And Eerie Audio Effects
One of the most important and sometimes overlooked aspects of the immersive survival-horror game experience is sound design, and it's one that Motive smartly went all-out on improving in the Dead Space remake. Whereas the original game did have some impressive atmospheric audio, it's something that's aged significantly over time and so it was always something the Dead Space remake needed to update.
Rather than just doing that, though, the sound team for the game aimed to create the ultimate atmospheric audio experience by focusing on occlusion and obstruction effects. In the remake, the sound is designed to interact with objects and environments in a uniquely realistic way. If hearing a strange noise was scary enough in the original Dead Space, the remake aims to make it all the eerier.
4 Dead Space Includes A New Circuit Breaker Mechanic
Given how Dead Space was partly inspired by the Resident Evil series, it's only appropriate it follows in the footsteps of its top-notch survival-horror remakes in actually adding interesting new mechanics to the original game. One of the most interesting is the circuit breakers that form extra puzzles the player must do to complete certain mission objectives.
The player uses the breaker to divert power between different parts of the ship, sometimes with unexpected side effects. Diverting power away from the lights means braving the dark, adding an extra element of fear that's even more interesting because of how the player was the one that made the decision. Additional new mechanics like environmental puzzle-solving to open some storage rooms mean it's far from just a by-the-books remake.
3 Dead Space Updates Enemies And Retunes Combat
Mediocre combat and tedious enemies were two of the main things that players felt made Callisto Protocol fall short of the Dead Space series so it's clear fans expect Dead Space to get these crucial elements right. Luckily, the remake addresses them directly by giving the Necromorphs more varied behavior patterns and updating combat to make it feel more satisfying.
That's not all the game does to update enemies either, as they also now consist of physical layers of flesh for the player to blast through which makes them more fun to destroy as well as adding a clear visual cue for how damaged they are. Extra items that will be familiar to Dead Space fans such as Stasis Canisters are another addition to help balance out the combat and keep things fresh.
2 Dead Space Replaces The Notorious Asteroid Sequence
Even great games sometimes have bad levels and, in the original Dead Space, that was a notorious sequence that sees the player trying to shoot down asteroids using cannons that overheat rapidly. The Dead Space remake could have attempted to retune this to make it less frustratingly difficult or nerf the overheating mechanic but instead, it does the simplest thing and simply removes it.
It's replaced by a section that sees the player going on a space walk and enjoying the game's zero-gravity physics whilst calibrating the ship's defense systems and avoiding asteroids that rain down on the hull. Given there aren't any players that would defend the clunky and annoying sequence in the original game, replacing it with something else entirely is a smart and crowd-pleasing move.
1 Dead Space Features New Accessibility Options
The iconic imagery of the series is what has led fans including director John Carpenter to suggest a Dead Space movie and a big part of that imagery is the full-on gore that it simply wouldn't be the same without. The Dead Space remake doesn't intend to mess with that, instead simply making the gore more graphic and detailed to be as disturbing as possible.
However, the game also includes two amazing accessibility toggles to limit the disturbing imagery shown in the game. One option adds active content warnings that appear before potentially sensitive moments and another hides the most disturbing scenes behind a visual effect (via EA). With these extra features, the Dead Space remake clearly aims to be a more accessible experience but without removing the extreme moments that define the franchise.
Source:gamerant.com