Dead Space (2023)

"The sci-fi survival horror classic returns, completely rebuilt from the ground up."

—Official website

Dead Space is a survival horror video game remake of the classic 2008 video game of the same name, developed by EA Motive for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on the Frostbite Engine, known to be used on games such as Battlefield, Mass Effect: Andromeda and EA's Star Wars: Battlefront. The game was announced at EA Play on 22nd of July, 2021, and was released on January 27th, 2023.

Official Description:[]

The sci-fi survival horror classic Dead Space™ returns, completely rebuilt from the ground up to offer a deeper and more immersive experience. This remake brings jaw-dropping visual fidelity, suspenseful atmospheric audio, and improvements to gameplay while staying faithful to the original game’s thrilling vision.

Isaac Clarke is an everyman engineer on a mission to repair a vast mining ship, the USG Ishimura, only to discover something has gone horribly wrong. The ship's crew has been slaughtered and Isaac’s beloved girlfriend, Nicole, is lost somewhere on board.

Now alone and armed with only his engineering tools and skills, Isaac races to find Nicole as the nightmarish mystery of what happened aboard the Ishimura unravels around him. Trapped with hostile creatures called Necromorphs, Isaac faces a battle for survival, not only against the escalating terrors of the ship but his own crumbling sanity.

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN NEXT-GEN SCI-FI HORROR

A sci-fi horror classic returns fully rebuilt from the ground up with elevated visual fidelity and 3D atmospheric audio. From the frighteningly detailed rooms and workspaces of a slaughtered crew to the eerie atmospheric sounds of a desolate spaceship, you’ll explore a stunning sci-fi setting full of unpredictable and tense moments without interruption.

UNRAVEL THE MYSTERY ABOARD THE USG ISHIMURA

What starts as a routine repair mission for engineer Isaac Clarke and the crew of the USG Kellion quickly turns into a battle for survival as the truth behind the horrors on board begins to unravel. Following an expanded narrative experience, uncover the dark secrets behind the events aboard the USG Ishimura through the final logs of the ill-fated crew and your encounters with the few survivors that remain.

IMPROVISE TO SURVIVE

Confront the nightmare aboard the USG Ishimura with genre-defining strategic dismemberment gameplay. Repurpose and upgrade Isaac’s engineering tools to creatively defeat and dismember enemies– peeling them down to flesh and bone.

Plot[]

The game brings back Isaac Clarke as the protagonist, surviving the Necromorph outbreak on the enormous mining ship USG Ishimura orbiting the backwater planet Aegis VII.

Cast of Characters[]

Isaac Clarke: A CEC engineer who went to answer the distress call from the USG Ishimura and got far more than he bargained for. Isaac is reprised by Gunner Wright, who provided character likeness, motion and voice for the character in Dead Space 2 and 3.
Nicole Brennan: Isaac's girlfriend, who accepted a job offer to serve as a medical officer on the USG Ishimura after Isaac coaxed her to do so, saying she would regret losing the chance to have it in her resumé. Tanya Clarke, who voiced and mo-capped Nicole in Dead Space 2, reprises her role.^[2]
Kendra Daniels: Computer specialist sent with the USG Kellion crew to investigate the USG Ishimura. She helps guide Isaac through the ship throughout the game. In the remake, Kendra's likeness and voice are portrayed by Brigitte Kali Canales.^[3]
Zach Hammond: Chief Security Officer of the USG Kellion. He also assists Isaac throughout the game. In the remake, Hammond's likeness and voice are portrayed by Anthony Alabi.^[3]
Challus Mercer: A scientist stationed aboard the USG Ishimura who becomes obsessed with the Necromorphs and with triggering an event called Convergence. In the remake, Mercer's likeness and voice are portrayed by Faran Tahir.^[3]
Terrence Kyne: Chief Science Officer aboard the USG Ishimura who begins to question the teachings of the Church of Unitology. Kyne's likeness and voice are portrayed by Pej Vahdat.
Elizabeth Cross: A horticulturalist aboard the USG Ishimura. She was a minor character in the original game that only appeared in a few audio logs the player could find across the Ishimura. In the remake, Cross plays a much deeper role and is portrayed by Sumalee Montano.
Jacob Temple: The acting-chief engineer aboard the USG Ishimura, and Elizabeth Cross' boyfriend who she desperately tries to reunite with. Temple's likeness and voice are portrayed by T. J. Ramini.
Benjamin Mathius: Captain of the USG Ishimura and a Unitologist. Due to disagreement between him and Dr. Kyne, the latter attempted to sedate the captain while he was under the influence of the Marker, but in a struggle accidentally probed the needle through the captain's eye, killing him. Later, Isaac has to retrieve the captain's RIG from the Medical Deck to access secure parts of the ship. In the remake, Mathius' likeness and voice are portrayed by Jim Pirri.
Aiden Chen: A Security Officer part of the Kellion security team. In the remake, he is reanimated as a Slasher that hunts down Hammond and Kendra on the Bridge. Chen's likeness and voice are portrayed by Chris Wu.
Hailey Johnston: A Security Officer part of the Kellion security team. In the remake, Johnston is reintroduced as a woman and is left behind at the Kellion waiting for medical attention. Johnston's likeness and voice are portrayed by Erica Luttrell.

Enemies[]

Slasher: The most common form of Necromorph. It attacks using sharp mutated bone blades sprouting from the victims' arms.
Brute: A massive Necromorph often considered as a sub-boss in the Dead Space franchise.
Lurker: A Necromorph variant created from the infant clones of the Ishimura's biolabs. Its intestines have been converted into launchers capable of firing high-velocity bone projectiles, which can also be used as a whip. The Lurker is easily able to traverse between the walls, the ceiling and even Zero-G environments.
Leaper: A Necromorph variant resembling a sort of reptile. Its legs have been fused together into a single whip with a razor sharp bony blade at its end. The jaw is split apart with snake-like teeth emerging out of it. Despite essentially crawling on its two front limbs, it is easily one of the fastest enemies Isaac can encounter.
Exploder: A dangerous variant of Necromorph with a bile of explosives attached to its arm. Exploders are the 'suicide bombers' of the Necromorph horde.
Divider: A tall, lithe Necromorph made up of various combined parts of dead tissue which can separate from each other and continue to attack victims.
Tentacle: A fleshy appendage of biomass usually belonging to a larger, unseen type of Necromorph. The tentacles burst out of various points of the ship's hull and unexpectedly drag their victims down into an abyss.
Guardian: A large immobile Necromorph directly embedded into the walls of the ship within growths of Corruption.
The Leviathan: A massive Necromorph that grew itself into the USG Ishimura's hydroponics' food storage unit. As a result, the creature begun to poison the whole ship's life support.
Infector: A bat-like Necromorph that uses flaps of skin to fly towards its victims and uses a proboscis to inject material through the cranium to change them into Slashers, usually an Enhanced Slasher.
The Hive Mind: A colossal Necromorph variant embedded deep within Aegis VII's core. After the planet crack operation, the Hive Mind and its nest were revealed to the colony. It is suspected to be the main controller of the impending Necromorph horde.
The Hunter: A strong, regenerating variant of new Necromorph created by Challus Mercer. It is the most successful 'result' of his experimentations.
The Corruption: A 'docile', non-combatant type of Necromorph that is made up of dead human tissue recombined by the Marker signal. Infects and spreads anywhere throughout the ship, making the area 'terraformed' for the rest of the Necromorphs, and making it harder for Isaac or any other survivor to move around. Also changes the air quality and blocks off accessible areas.
Wheezer: A variant of non-combatant Necromorph that is responsible for poisoning the air supply of the Ishimura along with the Leviathan.
Enhanced Necromorphs: Stronger and more durable variants of the Necromorphs with unique, easily identifiable black or dark green necrotic tissue and glowing eyes.
- Enhanced Leaper.
- Enhanced Slasher.

Development[]

Prior to the official announcement, numerous leakers came forward with a rumored Dead Space remake in the works at EA, and that the studio behind the 2020 video game Star Wars: Squadrons would be making it for the Frostbite engine. The game was rumored to be inspired by Capcom's 2019 Resident Evil 2: Remake.^[4]

It is the first game in the franchise to be announced after a hiatus of 8 years since the release date of Dead Space 3 and its DLC, not considering the scrapped Dead Space 4 project. It is also the first game not developed by Visceral Games after their disbanding, and the first main game in the series not developed for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.^[5]

With the power of next generation hardware, the developers were said to be able to expand more areas with more ways than what was technically being limited in 2008 during the original game's launch, while trying to keep the vision for the game the same. Assets were remade from scratch while also reusing some original ones, such as the audio. Improvements to the atmosphere were also made by bringing new 3D audio technology as well as the dismemberment system with more gore effects.^[6]

The game was said to not include micro transactions^[7] and to possibly re-use content cut from the original game^[8] while removing criticized aspects of the original game.^[9] The remake was led by Eric Baptizat, the same director from Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, who left Ubisoft in 2020 after 16 years of career there.^[10]

On August 6th, 2021 the website Games Beat shared allegedly inside information that the game was aiming for a release in late 2022,^[11] to which Electronic Arts declined to comment further. When directly asked about the remake, Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, limited himself to only highlight how much it was demanded by the fans, without giving any hints about the development schedule.^[12]

Gunner Wright, the voice actor of Isaac Clarke from Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3, was confirmed to reprise his role. Dialogue was changed to have Isaac speak when spoken to and in situations that would feel awkward if he was silent,^[13] similar to how Isaac's dialogue was handled in the second game.

On September 10th, 2021, the community manager at the time released a short video on the Dead Space sub-reddit showcasing the new Frostbite level editor, which allowed the developers to dynamically add detail onto object surfaces.^[14]

On March 12th, 2022, the developers released a livestream showcasing new technology used for different aspects of the audio. Sounds now used proper occlusion systems to muffle or silence themselves at the developers' command behind walls. Heart and breathing rate were based on studies of 40-year-old men's stamina. Depending on whether the player was running, walking, injured or in distress, the breathing and heart rate wiould dynamically change. Suffocation would now change to normal dynamically once the oxygen levels reached normal as opposed to instantaneous change like in the original game. Dialogue would change dynamically between the state of the player, eg. Isaac sounds out of breath after or while running and has difficulty speaking if grievously injured. The developers also showed work-in-progress footage of the Plasma Cutter and Pulse Rifle as well as a 2 minute showcase of a work-in-progress reimagined version of the Maintenance Bay area from Chapter 1 of the original game. First release schedule was announced for early 2023 and the developers hinted at another preview of the game in the near future.^[15]

On May 12th, 2022, developers released another livestream showing more progress on the improved visual aspects of the game. These included improved level geometry and textures, VFX as well as highly detailed character and NPC models, with behind-the-scenes looks on one of Isaac Clarke's RIG suits as well as one of the Slasher models. Finally, a short preview of the reimagined engine room from Chapter 3 of the original game was shown, with massive leaps in visual quality compared to the original. The release date was also announced for January 27th, 2023, marking almost a decade since the last game in the franchise, Dead Space 3, was released.^[16]

On September 6th, 2022, the official Steam store went live with the first PC system requirements.

On September 29th, 2022, EA Motive released a new blog post with additional info:

Previously visited areas can be backtracked on the USG Ishimura even pretty late to the game.
Seamless gameplay with no camera cuts or loading screens.
Minor characters that appeared previously in just audio logs receive a bigger spotlight, such as Dr. Elizabeth Cross.
Newer established lore from Dead Space 2, Dead Space 3 and any extended media will be adapted to the remake.
Nicole Brennan's exact fate will be finally unraveled.

In the same week of September, 2022, EA Motive released a series of QR codes in various websites that redirected, once complete, to a private video on EA's official Dead Space channel on YouTube. The video is over 8 minutes long, showcasing parts of the USG Ishimura with in-game music and ambience playing. At various parts of the video, Marker symbols would flash on the screen. The Marker symbols, once assembled, would read "@thebench". thebench was another official site for the marketing of the game on Instagram, which had a diagram of a Bench's upgrade node system, with the first node being a teaser for the first official trailer of the game releasing on October 4th.

On October 4th, 2022, the first complete official trailer was released of the remake.

On October 14th, 2022, an 8 minute walkthrough of the game was released along with a livestream of the developers discussing the game.

Design Changes[]

Isaac Clarke has a new light source in between his Stasis and Health Bars, an upside-down pentagon that brightens when Isaac looks at an object he can use Kinesis on.
- Now Isaac has voiced dialogues, with Gunner Wright reprising his role.^[17]
The dismemberment system has been completely overhauled for current generation. Damage is completely unique depending on the site of the impact and the models are made up of layers, which means that the layers of a given body part can be peeled off all the way to the bones.
The Zero Gravity gameplay mechanic has been reworked to act similarly how it did in the sequels, utilizing thrusters to allow fully 3D movement rather than jumping and attaching directly to surfaces.
Certain areas have been extended with the addition of new props, lighting effects and new rooms. For example, the spaced out section near the zero-g therapy room in the Ishimura has a second floor, which can be accessed via the suit's thrusters.
The game uses state-of-the-art audio systems to occlude or disable sounds depending on the surface between the origin of the sound and Isaac, with this system being fully controlled by developers to be able to be customized at will.
Power Node doors have been removed, replaced in spirit by Security Clearances.
Weapons are now found directly in the world instead of purchased by Schematics. Schematics are now used to expand the upgrade tree of weapons.
Isaac's heart and breathing rate are based on studies of 40-year-old men. The game uses a complex system to dynamically change these depending on what state of the player is in (eg. running, walking, injured, distress). Breathing dynamically changes from asphyxiation to normal.
The tram system is no longer the sole transport method on the Ishimura. Isaac can enter the vacuum, for example, through the airlock at the main hangar and enter the Engineering Deck of Chapter 3 via external maintenance shafts, though the player can still traverse through the tram if one pleases.
The Ishimura, unlike in the original, can be backtracked almost at any time of the game (aside from the final Aegis VII planetside section), with brand new encounters the player can face thanks to an intensity director.
Characters like Isaac Clarke, Nicole Brennan, Challus Mercer, Kendra Daniels, Zach Hammond and Terrence Kyne have different roles or significant changes within the story.

Merchandise and Promotions[]

DeadSpace MockUp Market Banner CE PS5 — *Dead Space* 2023 Collector's Edition with a PS5 copy of the game.

DeadSpace Deluxe BeautyShot UPDATE 610px — Deluxe Edition content of the game.

The remake is offered in multiple versions: Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition and a Collector's Edition. Standard Edition includes the base game. Deluxe Edition includes the base game + 5 unique RIG variants: Infested, Lone Survivor, Venture, Sanctified and Bloody. The Collector's Edition includes:

Physical Standard Edition copy of Dead Space 2023 for platform of own choosing
Dead Space Collector's Box
Isaac Helmet
Full-size wearable helmet with working lights
Dead Space CD Soundtrack
Lithograph Print
Foil Stamped Lithograph Folio
Four Mini Posters
Ishimura Patch
Marker Enamel Pin
Metal 4" Marker Statue
Dead Space SteelBook

System Requirements (PC)[]

MINIMUM:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Window 10 64-bit +
Processor: Ryzen 5 2600x, Core i5 8600
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD RX 5700, GTX 1070
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 50 GB available space

RECOMMENDED:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Window 10 64-bit +
Processor: Ryzen 5 5600X,Core i5 11600K
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Radeon RX 6700 XT, Geforce RTX 2070
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 50 GB available space
Internet connection; Steam Account; acceptance of EA User Agreement (terms.ea.com) required to play.

Trivia[]

The red light flickering on the Ishimura at the end of the reveal teaser trailer is morse code and translates to "Make Us Whole".
Pre-ordering the game on Steam gave players Dead Space 2 for free on the platform.^[18]