Imagine yourself walking slowly down the dark, dank corridor aboard a desolate space station. You’re being stalked relentlessly by hundreds of unimaginable grotesque horrors, under-equipped and unprepared for the desperate situation you find yourself in, and the long, arduous night ahead. You’ve found a few others along the way. But entrusting your survival in anything other than the makeshift weaponry you’ve made out of mining equipment scavenged along the way seems like a sure way to perish in the silence of space.
If you’re a horror sicko and this harrowing scene sounds like a fun way to spend 12 to 14 hours, then you will no doubt enjoy the original Dead Space. Thankfully, developer EA Motive preserved Visceral Games’ 2008 classic with one of the most overlooked and well-made remakes of the decade.
This month, PlayStation Plus is giving away the 2023 remake of Dead Space. While this remake mostly retains the terrifying setting and atmosphere inspired by sci-fi classics like Ridley Scott’s Alien and 1997’s Event Horizon, it also makes some smart tweaks to level design, enemy encounters, and of course, presents the most gorgeous visuals of the console generation.
Dead Space follows Isaac Clarke, a space engineer for answers to what happened to his girlfriend aboard the USG Ishimura. As Clarke and other members of the unlucky search party arrive, they try to piece together what went wrong aboard the now derelict spacecraft. The search and rescue job quickly spirals out of control when the monstrous necromorphs interfere with their efforts, threatening their very chances at survival.
Dead Space’s core gameplay holds up remarkably well, playing a lot like Resident Evil 4 with a few added wrinkles. Players use various weapons (which are engineering tools in-universe) to dismember these half-human abominations limb-by-limb. Combined with Isaac's telekinesis abilities, which can be used to throw objects in the environment (or the detached limbs of enemies), stasis, and his ability to stomp, Dead Space’s combat is about as visceral as it gets for a survival horror game.
With the added power of current-day hardware, enemies now have added layers of gross detail. Every shot fired into a necromorph reveals a layer of their internals. You’ll shoot off skin and muscle tissue and snap bones as you fight, giving you visual cues for how much damage you’re dealing. Dead Space has always been a disgusting series in the best ways, and EA Motive clearly understood the assignment when remaking the original.
Where the remake does depart is in how it presents its world and setpieces. Instead of separating the game into levels and chapters like the original, this version makes the Ishimura a Metroidvania-style interconnected level. Players collect security level clearances and make ship repairs to progress to the next part of the game. The new level design also provides a better sense of space now that load screens have been eliminated.
The game is also much darker than it was before. Isaac's flashlight is crucial to the adventure as many rooms players encounter are near pitch black. The result is a scarier game that demands players to always be on their toes. EA Motive also created a dynamic AI system to ensure enemy encounters always play out differently. This means replays on harder difficulties and New Game Plus will terrify players in surprising new ways.
2023’s remake of Dead Space is the definitive way to play an already timeless classic. It offers some of the most effective scares in the medium for horror fans while being a satisfying and fun game to play. And thanks to sensible changes that improve the overall experience of navigating this haunted ship, it is also one of the best remakes of the modern era. Dead Space is an absolute steal at the low price of free, and PlayStation Plus subscribers should rush to claim this one in time for the Halloween season.
