My recent dive through survival horror finally led me to the Dead Space remake, and I must say, this game DEFINITELY puts the “horror” in survival horror. I knew the first time it forced me to turn off the lights MYSELF that this was going to be scarier than I had expected. The only things I had ever heard about the Dead Space series when I was younger was that it was supposed to be the scariest game ever, and while I imagine that might have been a bit of an exaggeration, it definitely had moments that had me yelling curses into the void. Incredibly glad that I decided to give it a try. Signalis, RE4, now Dead Space…can I say I’m a survival horror fan now?
Pros:
- The atmosphere and environment design is what makes Dead Space so good. From the moment engineer Isaac Clarke steps onto the USG Ishimura mining vessel, the cold and uninviting hunk of metal is already eerie enough without the necromorphs (the main enemy) popping out of vents and climbing over walls. There are all sorts of different sounds to keep you company…whether it's the distant sound of machinery or alien roars or the very loud and sudden sound of a vent fan overloading and shooting right out of its housing.
- Of course the visuals are just as good as the audio. Nothing about the environment is welcoming at all and it made me dread what kind of mess I was going to find myself in next. The infected parts of the ship were the worst parts for me. Walking across pulsating, lattice-like organic matter as it squelches beneath my feet was just absolutely uncomfortable and it’s probably my favorite part of the world design. The minimal HUD makes this even cooler since all your attention is on the environment. It really made me feel like there was no “escape” from the horror since there wasn’t that degree of abstraction to reassure you.
- The combat was INSANELY awesome. It happens essentially randomly since a lot of encounters are procedurally generated, so you’re always on your toes. I had a lot of fun with the whole limb-cutting mechanic, and it ended up making the Plasma Cutter one of my favorite weapons, alongside the Ripper (buzzsaw go brrrrr) and the Contact Beam (wanna see this necromorph disappear?) Dead Space also has a great variety of enemies, some of which are super freaky like the crawlers that are just undead, lab-grown infants. Like, what the hell? That’s disturbing as shit.
- The gunplay wasn’t the only gameplay aspect I had fun with. I loved picking things up and launching them with Kinesis, especially when the thing I picked up and launched impales enemies to the wall. Stasis also is great to slow enemies down and cut them down to size like a surgeon. The zero gravity mechanic was also really well done since it’s super enjoyable (and scary) to have to dodge enemies that might be jumping at you from any angle while you float helplessly in the center of the room. The gore is great and also intensifies the horror, and I loved the sections where you have to choose between “game progress” and “not being in scary-ass pitch darkness” with the circuit breakers.
- The story is probably one of the only things this game doesn’t do too well in, but it does its job for the game and leads to some great moments and encounters (which is the point anyway). Put alien infection and cults into a blender and bam, Dead Space. Love it. Chapter 1 goes right into the action and was a really strong start, meanwhile Chapter 4 with the spacewalk to shoot down asteroids was probably one of the coolest events in the game. Chapters 5, 6, 9, and 12 had great end sequences, meanwhile Chapter 10 was probably the most eerie since most of it is done in relative silence with only the sounds of the Ishimura to listen to. The worldbuilding is done mostly through text and audio logs, and while it is kind of verbose, it’s really interesting to see what the rest of the Ishimura’s crew went through while the infection tore through them.
Cons:
- The only problem I really had with Dead Space is that the characters are just whatever. They don’t have much going for them in the way of personality and I never felt for them when something didn’t go their way (if you know what I mean). The narrative is the one thing holding this game back from being a truly flawless experience, but with how entertaining literally everything else is, it doesn’t bother me much. The actual sequence of events and what happens in the story gameplay-wise was good though.
- I think the oxygen mechanic is really pointless and doesn’t bring anything to the table. Nothing about having a limited supply of oxygen made the game any harder, more scary, or more fun. If anything it was annoying having to worry about running out of air, but at least it’s only confined to a few segments here and there. If the developers removed this mechanic I would have no complaints.
Objective rating: 4.5 stars
Subjective rating: 4.5 stars
Pros:
- The atmosphere and environment design is what makes Dead Space so good. From the moment engineer Isaac Clarke steps onto the USG Ishimura mining vessel, the cold and uninviting hunk of metal is already eerie enough without the necromorphs (the main enemy) popping out of vents and climbing over walls. There are all sorts of different sounds to keep you company…whether it's the distant sound of machinery or alien roars or the very loud and sudden sound of a vent fan overloading and shooting right out of its housing.
- Of course the visuals are just as good as the audio. Nothing about the environment is welcoming at all and it made me dread what kind of mess I was going to find myself in next. The infected parts of the ship were the worst parts for me. Walking across pulsating, lattice-like organic matter as it squelches beneath my feet was just absolutely uncomfortable and it’s probably my favorite part of the world design. The minimal HUD makes this even cooler since all your attention is on the environment. It really made me feel like there was no “escape” from the horror since there wasn’t that degree of abstraction to reassure you.
- The combat was INSANELY awesome. It happens essentially randomly since a lot of encounters are procedurally generated, so you’re always on your toes. I had a lot of fun with the whole limb-cutting mechanic, and it ended up making the Plasma Cutter one of my favorite weapons, alongside the Ripper (buzzsaw go brrrrr) and the Contact Beam (wanna see this necromorph disappear?) Dead Space also has a great variety of enemies, some of which are super freaky like the crawlers that are just undead, lab-grown infants. Like, what the hell? That’s disturbing as shit.
- The gunplay wasn’t the only gameplay aspect I had fun with. I loved picking things up and launching them with Kinesis, especially when the thing I picked up and launched impales enemies to the wall. Stasis also is great to slow enemies down and cut them down to size like a surgeon. The zero gravity mechanic was also really well done since it’s super enjoyable (and scary) to have to dodge enemies that might be jumping at you from any angle while you float helplessly in the center of the room. The gore is great and also intensifies the horror, and I loved the sections where you have to choose between “game progress” and “not being in scary-ass pitch darkness” with the circuit breakers.
- The story is probably one of the only things this game doesn’t do too well in, but it does its job for the game and leads to some great moments and encounters (which is the point anyway). Put alien infection and cults into a blender and bam, Dead Space. Love it. Chapter 1 goes right into the action and was a really strong start, meanwhile Chapter 4 with the spacewalk to shoot down asteroids was probably one of the coolest events in the game. Chapters 5, 6, 9, and 12 had great end sequences, meanwhile Chapter 10 was probably the most eerie since most of it is done in relative silence with only the sounds of the Ishimura to listen to. The worldbuilding is done mostly through text and audio logs, and while it is kind of verbose, it’s really interesting to see what the rest of the Ishimura’s crew went through while the infection tore through them.
Cons:
- The only problem I really had with Dead Space is that the characters are just whatever. They don’t have much going for them in the way of personality and I never felt for them when something didn’t go their way (if you know what I mean). The narrative is the one thing holding this game back from being a truly flawless experience, but with how entertaining literally everything else is, it doesn’t bother me much. The actual sequence of events and what happens in the story gameplay-wise was good though.
- I think the oxygen mechanic is really pointless and doesn’t bring anything to the table. Nothing about having a limited supply of oxygen made the game any harder, more scary, or more fun. If anything it was annoying having to worry about running out of air, but at least it’s only confined to a few segments here and there. If the developers removed this mechanic I would have no complaints.
Objective rating: 4.5 stars
Subjective rating: 4.5 stars