Issac Clarke arrives on the mining ship Ishimura to look for his missing girlfriend. To his surprise, the Ishimura has been infected by a deadly disease that turns people into grotesque monsters. Issac must discover the source of this infection to save what remains of the crew...and himself.
If remakes continue to be of this quality I do not care, I welcome them with open arms. Dead Space (2008) was one of the first "adult" games I ever played and while the game was definitely good, it is vastly overshadowed by it's sequel Dead Space 2 which I believe to be the best third person shooter ever made. So it would make complete sense that I love this remake, because it really is just the original with far better visuals and Dead Space 2's control scheme. The combat in the game is so much fun, there is nothing more satisfying than cutting the blade of a necromorph off and shooting it right back at him. The whole idea of dismemberment as the manner with which you dispose of enemies makes every enemy encounter an opportunity to be clever. You'll find yourself noticing certain patterns in how much damage you need to deal to kill enemies, and developing from those observations the most efficient ammo saving strategies that you can. This game is also a great time to replay, with it's relatively short campaign and extra ending.
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Perhaps I'm just not the kind of person that this sort of game is aimed at...
Firstly, a disclaimer: I've never played the original 2008 release of Dead Space, so my ability to comment on how well this game succeeds as a remake is limited. Reviews and player comments seem to suggest that it's very faithful, and, formally speaking, it's certainly a very sumptuous, modern looking title. A new coat of paint can only do so much to modernise a 15 year old release, though, and, for me personally, the game as a whole felt like a hugely dated, '00s-era vision of what gaming is in almost every respect.
The horror here is the worst kind of cheap, gore-heavy, gross-out fare, and any tension or dread that might initially be conjured is almost immediately swept away by how action heavy the gameplay is, and how much the game holds your hand. The progression is also very old-fashioned, consisting effectively of a long list of menial chores that progress the story, all of which you complete by repetitively running through boxy rooms shooting aliens and solving simplistic environmental puzzles. Mechanically, it just felt like an average example of the kind of schlocky, mind-numbing, hyper-violent early Xbox 360 game I used to play as a child, and, after about half an hour, I was already starting to feel detached from everything that was happening on screen. Some might say that the combat is a good bit of dumb fun, and there is quite a lot of weapon variety, but I didn't find it esspecially engaging personally.
With these kinds of action-focused games, the environmental design and narrative can often be the saving graces for me. And, to give Dead Space it's due, it's dark sci-fi aesthetic and effective use of lighting and soundtrack is quite distinctive and arresting. But even this is hamstrung by very repetitive environmental design - most sections of the Ishimura look and feel more or less the same.
The narrative is largely just a hybrid of elements from the original Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey and classic horror gaming, with cardboard cutout characters and solid but unexpetional writing and performances. None of the documents that you can find throughout the world really provide any additional detail you wouldn't just get from the main narrative either. That being said, there are hints of what could be a compelling story here, particularly towards the end as we learn more about the true meaning of convergence and dead space itself. It's just too bogged down by shlock, though.
So, yeah...
Perhaps I'm just not the kind of person that this sort of game is aimed at, but I'm honestly quite shocked by how much acclaim this has received from seemingly all quarters. I can appreciate that it's most likely a very skilled and faithful remake, but, personally, I'm struggling to find much else to praise about it. If it were a film, it would probably get a 2.00 at best on RYM and be dismissed as an unexceptional mid-00s commercial horror flick.
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Dead Space (2023) is an excellent action horror game. The first few chapters are kinda rough however, as the game throws 1 or 2 enemies at a time and there’s a severe lack of player decision making. At chapter 6 however, the game picks up and falls into a beautiful rhythm of complex challenging encounters, puzzles that use the game’s mechanics nicely, and exploration to create a gameplay loop reminiscent of Resident Evil 4. I can’t comment on this game as a remake because I’ve never played the original. The side quests I feel are a missed opportunity. They make you go into previously explored areas but there’s not any new enemies to fight or places to explore. To me, it seems like just a way to extend the play time and nothing more. However, when DS is in the groove, you really feel it. The gameplay loop is just really satisfying.
8/10
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This gets the same rating as the original because...it is the original. In the nearly fifteen years since the original game's release, the survival horror has gone through a few slumps, a revival in the indie scene and the horror genre as a whole has ramped way up in popularity, so while the remake does make a few intelligent changes, it feels like it's running on an outdated playbook, though it also means it avoids some unpleasant contemporary tropes. The decision to have Isaac talk was controversial, but for the better; in general, every character in the story is given more depth and more direction without dragging the pace of the adventure down, and the removal of mandatory trams at the end of each chapter means that progression feels more natural and immersive, even if the level design is generally one-to-one. While no change feels unwarranted, it does leave the aspects that didn't change on a bit of a sour note.
Zero gravity handles as it does in DS2 and 3 rather than 1, but level design for these sections was only adjusted sometimes, which makes sections like basketball just redundant. The upgrade system was revamped not only to remove wasted node slots but also encourage exploration and scavenging through special upgrade parts to unlock upgrade trees, making the flow much smoother but also arguably decreasing the impact of individual upgrades. The regenerating necromorph is used to much greater effect in this version...but the final boss still sucks. The increase in attention to detail is undercut by the creative desire to fill the scene with "stuff" at all times; total darkness has never looked this good in a game before, but there's too much non-diegetic music and not enough ambient sound effects, so I would argue despite the improved map design, the Ishimura is less immersive than it was the first time around, though that could just be the nostalgia talking.
If these points sound like nitpicks, they are, but it cannot be stressed enough how not different this remake is. It's okay that the basic story is the same and the most memorable setpieces are intact or improved, but why does every minor hallway and every minor jumpscare have to make the cut, with only a couple of side missions and extra areas? Why do we have the old navigator, and not the one from 2 and 3 that also let you find shops and benches? Why no new weapons or necromorphs from future titles? The game has a javelin gun, but doesn't let Isaac touch it. The story represents the only "objective" improvement from the original, feeling more holistic and natural, closer to the lore presented in sequels and spin-offs than the first game was.
Other than that, it's Dead Space 1, a fairly basic but tough and spooky survival horror with fun, if repetitive, gunplay, a dense atmosphere and a commitment to immersion that is still engrossing to this day, though it is slightly shakier here. A must-have for horror fans who missed the boat the first time, but not an instant recommendation for super fans for *how* similar it is to the original. Then again, after Resident Evil 2 and especially 3 got remade with huge chunks of the game missing or adjusted, perhaps a one-to-one recreation is what you might be looking for.
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As a long time fan of the original game, I simultaneously appreciated but was also dissapointed by how closely they recreated the OG. I loved revisiting this setting with prettier graphics, but the first game still hasn't really aged, and I feel like a remake should have taken this opportunity to change up the story more.
This game owns. Incredible art direction, intense score, threatening monsters, it’s all here. Not really all that scary, maybe I manned up since I played Doom 3, but it is nerve wracking. I kinda wish the pc port was stutter free but take it in stride and you will have a blast
the stuttering on pc would kill my immersion every time since it would happen in basically every chapter esp during cutscenes... other than graphics, the story, and esp game mechanics are phenomenal. it's an upgrade for sure, but i think the scary atmosphere is done better in the original.