Dead Space Review (Dead Space Remake PS5 Review, 2023)
Summary: A remake that is in many ways superior to an already classic game. Get ready to be scared.
4.5
I hate to say it, but I am going to. It took a lot of courage to admit to this, but I thought at the very least I owed it to you good readers who took the time to check out this review. This new remake of Dead Space is better than the original. There, I’ve done it, I actually thought it would be harder than that to say the cold hard facts of the matter, but yes this remake by our friends at EA Motive is better than the original offering and for fans of the series who have been wondering whether or not to play this game, I can say with confidence a resounding yes!
For those of you who do not know what this game is about, it is a survival horror story done in the third person where you play the role of an engineer by the name of Isaac Clarke who is sent aboard the spaceship USG Ishimura to answer a distress call picked up in deep space. Distress call aside, the ship is also the one that his girlfriend is currently working on.
Dead Space the remake is a masterpiece, there is no getting around that. The improvements upon the original make it absolutely shine, and it is a stunning example of what you should nowadays be expecting from a next generation title. Considering the original was utterly beautiful in its own right, and I have played the original more than once and its sequels, I do believe I am in a position to set you straight regarding just how amazing the game is.
First the upgrades to the graphics make the USG Ishimura a beautiful, horrific, rust, and monster-laden wonderhouse that begs to be explored. There is so much attention to detail on this remake that you might very well spend as much time simply looking around as you are exploring the ship itself. And, when I say detailed I certainly mean it. Everything looks real, right down to the level of detail in small items like fire extinguishers where you can literally read the warning label in its entirety that is on the extinguisher! Isaac is very detailed also with blood and gore effects more present than ever on his RIG (armour). The ship itself is incredible. This is a fully realised space station complete with everything you could possibly think of. I always thought the original Dead Space was something of a technological achievement and the team have absolutely gone next level with this one.
Next let’s talk about the things that you will encounter on this ship. The monsters. I remember playing this when it first came out, and being terrified by just how grotesque your enemies were within the game. They would stab, they would bite, they would tear you apart given half the chance and nothing, I repeat nothing has changed in that regard. What has changed though is just how realistic they look and just how terrifying the amazing use of light and sound is in augmenting just how scared you will be playing this game. That’s right I said scared, and for those of you who think that they have become desensitized to horror, you have another thing coming. I would say that it takes a lot to make me nervous or dread playing games or watching movies; and this had me apprehensive the entire way through even though I had only played the game about 4 months ago.
With the massive amount of upgrades being done in the remake it feels like a totally new experience and whilst I can’t 100% confirm it I do believe that some of the placement of monsters are in new areas. at least that’s what I think; I know for a fact I received way more than just one jumpscare.
Motive have taken several valuable cues from Dead Space 2 whilst remaking this title by way of giving you different upgrade parts for your weapons, and also totally overhauling how you move about in the game particularly in zero gravity which does occur multiple times. Now, you have the ability to totally move about in the environment which adds a great deal to exploration and fully utilises everything you can see instead of simply having a lot of Dead Space, pun intended.
The use of thrust is in 0G, is brilliant and allows for combat to take place a lot more readily In addition to being able to have a good look around at all of these new perfectly upscale graphics. There were very few times where I noticed anything worth complaining about, one of these being when Isaac approaches a door; sometimes you could not read the prompt to open the door quickly however it should be mentioned that you open so many doors that if you don’t know which button to press I’m not really sure what to tell you :-)
There were also a couple of times I saw pop up, but this was literally a couple of times only and some cross-hatching appeared on Isaac’s RIG when the camera swung around a little too close behind him. These are very much little nitpicking items but do not take a single thing away from the overall gaming experience.
From an audio standpoint I played this game through a surround sound system with Dolby Atmos, and it added so much to the dread and apprehension! The ambient music and the grotesque sounds made by the monsters on the ship brought the entire world to life in addition to all the small noises being made by the ship itself. Every area but you explore has its own little soundscape bundle of things creaking and moving about to really let you believe you are on a spaceship. It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful.
Newcomers to the series won’t know this, and possibly players who have been here before, but this is the first time that Isaac has been given a voice in at least the first episode of Dead Space. I found the voice acting really well done, along with the way his face has been mapped and is expressive. It was actually funny, considering the horror this poor guy goes through to see how gentle his face was, and how the experience does not harden his appearance one little bit. Gunner Wright is the voice actor for Dead Space 2 onward, and they’ve used him for this role, and modelled Isaac on his appearance at least a little bit.
Something that I really appreciated was that Isaac doesn’t actually talk too much. They could have really gone to town with the fact that now he has a voice, and had him talking and commenting every single time something happened. Fortunately this is not the case and I do find that the addition of a voice adds to the horror that he is experiencing throughout the game. His interaction with other characters now has a lot more meaning and is refreshing instead of simply being spoken to throughout. Now, Isaac interacts with the story, and takes part in the dialogue, albeit not overwhelmingly.
From a story perspective, this game shines whether you are a newcomer or a veteran of the series. Motive have tweaked the tale just a little bit, and I think this is for the better. The Church of Unitology is discussed and introduced a lot earlier, which makes a great deal more sense for gamers once you get into the game a little bit further. I’m really trying not to spoil the title for you but if you have played it before, you do know what I’m talking about and I can assure you that now it makes a lot more sense and has a lot more depth. Dead Space is one of those titles that could easily exist as a fully-fledged horror movie or adapted into a novel. before you say anything I am aware there are Dead Space books, but this new take on the story would be the best version by far in my opinion.
As I said when I started this review, I do believe that this is the best version of Dead Space that you can possibly play. EA Motive have done such an incredible job with the Remaster from the graphics, to the audio, to the actual storyline, this is a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned. I think that it will prove to be once again a classic for fans of the survival horror genre. I would urge you to purchase this game simply to experience an in-depth horror tale deep in space in the most amazing, breathing, living environment that you can possibly imagine having played a horror game in for some time.
Despite the fact that this is a remake I think there are enough new things in it to justify the purchase, and if you have never played Dead Space then boy oh boy you are in for a treat! I cannot wait to see if they remake the others in the series, though it might be argued that there really is no need, they did look magnificent when they came out and to be honest I was really impressed playing them as recently as I have.
So there you have it folks, the Dead Space remake review. It was an absolute privilege to bring it to you, and I certainly hope that you enjoy this just as much as I have. Dead Space is available from January 27th 2023.
Tory Favro
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