Plasma Cutters and Necromorphs Return with Confirmed Dead Space Remake

The EA Play live stream yesterday was a great show of what we can expect from the publisher in the future. But, one reveal stood out amongst the rest. And, for those in the know, the first notes of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” was enough of a hint. After what feels like forever, EA has finally officially confirmed a remake is in the works for Dead Space.

Developed by Visceral Games and published by EA, Dead Space is easily one of the most iconic and well-loved horror franchises of the previous generations. While the third installment left much to be desired in terms of horror, the first two captured the atmosphere of dread and feeling of claustrophobia like no other game before.

However, this isn’t just a re-skin, and there are some significant changes being made. Most notably, it is now EA Motive, not Visceral Games, behind this Remake project. While this shouldn’t be much of an issue, especially if they follow the same narrative as the original game and just improve on the gameplay and visuals, not everyone is super trusting of EA.

Developers from Motive have stated that this is not just an upscaling job. Instead, the entire game will be built from the ground up using EA’s Frostbite engine.

We are not porting them, it’s not uprezzing the texture or adding more polygons to the model. It’s really rebuilding all these elements, shooting all the animations.

Roman Campos-Oriola, Creative Director

Campos-Oriola also stated that not everything is going to be the same as the original game. They will bring some of the unused level designs into this Remake, possibly to add new scares and fights to the game. The sound is also going to be getting a significant upgrade, as well as the graphics.

Motive is also planning on introducing some expanded accessibility options while incorporating references from Dead Space 2 and 3 in the story or pulling in improvements from the sequel. While the crafting system in Dead Space 3 wasn’t to everyone’s taste, the microtransactions were universally disliked. And luckily, they won’t be coming back to the Remake.

Development is still in pretty early stages, and EA Motive has stated that the teaser was an “atmospheric benchmark” for the studio to target. So, we’ll be waiting a while before we see more from this project, especially gameplay, but it’s shaping up to be well worth the wait.

About Dead Space Remake

Dead Space Remake is the next-gen remake of the 2008 sci-fi action horror franchise developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts. The Remake is being handled by EA Motive and is set to feature various upgrades to the visuals, sound, and gameplay.

Dead Space follows the story of Isaac Clarke, an engineer on board an intergalactic mining ship called the USSG Ishimura. On discovering an ancient artifact known as The Marker, the ship is overrun by a species of aliens called Necromorphs. With the aliens turning the crew into one of their own, Isaac must fight through the hordes as he tries to find a way to get back to Earth.

The gameplay is reminiscent of the Resident Evil franchise, with inventory management being a key component. Players have access to a variety of mining tools that become weapons and must navigate the claustrophobic corridors of the Ishimura while fighting off the Necromorphs.