Playtime: 19 Hours
Score: 9/10
Dead Space reimagined for a new era! So back in the day, I was a HUGE Dead Space fan! The first blu-ray movie I ever bought was an animated prequel film, called Dead Space Downfall, as I just loved the sci fi horror setting, unique weapon arsenal and terrifying creatures. That said, I never actually beat the first game as I always got stuck on the ADS cannon section and could never get past it as a kid. I did play the heck out of Dead Space 2 though, which I do plan on revisiting after having finished this. So what did I think of it?
This remake does a fantastic job of recreating the Ishimura with modern graphics. Many rooms or areas look almost exactly the same as the original with some expansions here and there. The ship is also now 100% interconnected like any classic survival horror game which is awesome. You can now travel back to older areas to open up lock doors or do the very few side missions the game has. These locked rooms are now handled through a security clearance system as opposed to you having to sacrifice an upgrade node to open them, which I definitely appreciate. Getting the last master lock level was a pain but it was worth it in the end.
Most importantly though, is the game's atmosphere is retained as you constantly feel on edge when exploring the Ishimura. Creatures will now randomly attack you from anywhere, and there are very few places that are actually safe. This did get a little annoying when I was trying to use the item shop or upgrade my weapons, as the game world still goes on in the background and there are a few times where I got attacked and had to slowly back out to defend myself. But overall, I loved exploring this derelict spaceship though the backtracking did get tedious, mainly in trying to remember how to get back to older rooms as each main area, as multiple levels.
The sound design is also fantastic with the music being very eerie and tension filling. There are times where you're exploring a room and rather than throwing enemies at you, you will just hear distant voices and screams, to make it sound like someone else is being brutally murdered, but you never see what happens to them. Also Isaac's iconic yells and grunts when he stomps on enemie corpses is still awesome to hear and such a unique feature that not many other horror games have done. It's all great stuff.
The necromorphs themselves are terrifying and gross looking, with some designs taking elements from the Alien or The Thing films. The gore is amazing as you blast them with your high powered weapons, severing their limbs or blasting off what little skin they had left, making you see nothing but their flesh and bone. Its nightmare fuel for sure, and I just love that they went that far!
The upgrade system is also vastly improved. In the original there would be these blank slots that you spend a node in order to get to the next upgrade. Here, every slot offers some kind of upgrade to your weapons or suit, which just made it all the more satisfying. You now find weapon upgrade parts and have to take them to an upgrade bench to expand the amount the skill trees of your weapons, even giving you some special upgrades here and there. You now pick up all the weapons through story progression except for the line gun that is locked behind one of the security clearance doors. Oddly though when you pick up a gun for the first time, and you see Isaac physically holding the weapon, it does not automatically equip, rather you have to manually equip it from your inventory. That was kind of annoying, especially in the beginning when I had free weapon slots open for it.
The story as well is fantastic and is very true to the original. I know I said I never finished the first game, but I ended up watching lets plays instead and it's cool to see the differences between the two versions. Characters like Daniels and Hammond still serve the same roles in the story but their personalities have been changed to be more realistic. In the original they were almost always screaming at each other, which made you feel like the awkward middle man, in order to give off an oppressive feeling and like you couldn’t trust anyone. Here in the remake, they are a lot more collaborative towards each other and Isaac, which at first I didn’t like, but I grew to appreciate it more as time went on. It makes sense that they would work together to get off this alien infested ship and not yell at each other constantly, over petty differences. Isaac is voiced this time around by the actor who voiced him in the sequels, and I liked this addition. While I do like silent protagonists in RPGs, it makes more sense for the main character to be voiced in a horror game, with everything going on around them. I thought it added a lot to the story and made Isaac more sympathetic and cool.
Overall, I got to say this remake was amazing and I’m glad I got to play it! It made me remember why I loved this series so much growing up as a kid and I hope we get remakes of the second and third games in the future!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 9/10
Dead Space reimagined for a new era! So back in the day, I was a HUGE Dead Space fan! The first blu-ray movie I ever bought was an animated prequel film, called Dead Space Downfall, as I just loved the sci fi horror setting, unique weapon arsenal and terrifying creatures. That said, I never actually beat the first game as I always got stuck on the ADS cannon section and could never get past it as a kid. I did play the heck out of Dead Space 2 though, which I do plan on revisiting after having finished this. So what did I think of it?
This remake does a fantastic job of recreating the Ishimura with modern graphics. Many rooms or areas look almost exactly the same as the original with some expansions here and there. The ship is also now 100% interconnected like any classic survival horror game which is awesome. You can now travel back to older areas to open up lock doors or do the very few side missions the game has. These locked rooms are now handled through a security clearance system as opposed to you having to sacrifice an upgrade node to open them, which I definitely appreciate. Getting the last master lock level was a pain but it was worth it in the end.
Most importantly though, is the game's atmosphere is retained as you constantly feel on edge when exploring the Ishimura. Creatures will now randomly attack you from anywhere, and there are very few places that are actually safe. This did get a little annoying when I was trying to use the item shop or upgrade my weapons, as the game world still goes on in the background and there are a few times where I got attacked and had to slowly back out to defend myself. But overall, I loved exploring this derelict spaceship though the backtracking did get tedious, mainly in trying to remember how to get back to older rooms as each main area, as multiple levels.
The sound design is also fantastic with the music being very eerie and tension filling. There are times where you're exploring a room and rather than throwing enemies at you, you will just hear distant voices and screams, to make it sound like someone else is being brutally murdered, but you never see what happens to them. Also Isaac's iconic yells and grunts when he stomps on enemie corpses is still awesome to hear and such a unique feature that not many other horror games have done. It's all great stuff.
The necromorphs themselves are terrifying and gross looking, with some designs taking elements from the Alien or The Thing films. The gore is amazing as you blast them with your high powered weapons, severing their limbs or blasting off what little skin they had left, making you see nothing but their flesh and bone. Its nightmare fuel for sure, and I just love that they went that far!
The upgrade system is also vastly improved. In the original there would be these blank slots that you spend a node in order to get to the next upgrade. Here, every slot offers some kind of upgrade to your weapons or suit, which just made it all the more satisfying. You now find weapon upgrade parts and have to take them to an upgrade bench to expand the amount the skill trees of your weapons, even giving you some special upgrades here and there. You now pick up all the weapons through story progression except for the line gun that is locked behind one of the security clearance doors. Oddly though when you pick up a gun for the first time, and you see Isaac physically holding the weapon, it does not automatically equip, rather you have to manually equip it from your inventory. That was kind of annoying, especially in the beginning when I had free weapon slots open for it.
The story as well is fantastic and is very true to the original. I know I said I never finished the first game, but I ended up watching lets plays instead and it's cool to see the differences between the two versions. Characters like Daniels and Hammond still serve the same roles in the story but their personalities have been changed to be more realistic. In the original they were almost always screaming at each other, which made you feel like the awkward middle man, in order to give off an oppressive feeling and like you couldn’t trust anyone. Here in the remake, they are a lot more collaborative towards each other and Isaac, which at first I didn’t like, but I grew to appreciate it more as time went on. It makes sense that they would work together to get off this alien infested ship and not yell at each other constantly, over petty differences. Isaac is voiced this time around by the actor who voiced him in the sequels, and I liked this addition. While I do like silent protagonists in RPGs, it makes more sense for the main character to be voiced in a horror game, with everything going on around them. I thought it added a lot to the story and made Isaac more sympathetic and cool.
Overall, I got to say this remake was amazing and I’m glad I got to play it! It made me remember why I loved this series so much growing up as a kid and I hope we get remakes of the second and third games in the future!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/