Dead Space is the 2023 remake of this iconic series title. The sci-fi survival horror returns to offer a more vibrant, frightening, and immersive experience through gameplay, visual and audio enhancements. This is a success, and the new features really add something to the game.

Plot

The story takes place in the year 2508 when humanity started to conquer the universe. As the human race is nearly extinct due to resource shortage, special ships called "Planetcrackers" are tasked to harvest resources from barren planets. The oldest one is the USG Ishimura, which is performing illegal mining on the planet Aegis VII.

You are Isaac Clarke, an engineer on a mission to repair the USG Ishimura, as it seems something went horribly wrong. The Ishimura's crew has been slaughtered, and Isaac's beloved partner, Nicole, is lost somewhere on board.

Armed with your tools and engineering skills, you will try everything you can to unveil what happened and find where Nicole is. Soon, you will meet hostile creatures that have killed everyone in cold blood. Still, they are not what you expected.

Gameplay

Narrative: The whole narrative experience has been expanded to provide a more deep and rich universe. Besides, Isaac now has voice lines, and the voice lines from the original title have been remade for the game and include Isaac in discussions. You will explore the dark secrets behind the tragedy of these events and find out what lies behind the final logs of the ill-fated crew.
Explore: The exploration part of gameplay has been revamped compared to the original title. Indeed, you can now go back and forth between the various areas using a shuttle once you have unlocked them, and you can even travel between some areas on foot via new passages. Another cool area is the zero-gravity sideway, as you will enjoy the finely-tuned flight controls. Interconnections between rooms have not been implemented for the sake of it, it also brings more texture to the whole gameplay as you will be able to explore previously locked zones as your security level increases gradually. One last thing, sometimes, the game will force you to choose where the power goes, like between the light, to unlock a room, or to power a specific elevator. You will quickly realize how frightening reaching a zone can be.

Combats and survival: Combats are more about dismembering those mutant creatures than shooting and wasting your ammo. Many possibilities are available to rip them off or neutralize them. This time, each Necromorph has several layers of bones and flesh you can dislocate, consistently indicating how close you are about to cut limbs and corps. It may seem obvious initially, but Dead Space is not about killing zombies like any other game. Instead, it offers many innovative gameplay mechanics like Kinesis to throw objects, Statis to slow down enemies, razor-sharp guns, or powerful explosives, and lets you mix them to defeat your deadly foes.
Enemies: You will have to face all kinds of different foes called Necromorphs through this challenging journey, including the classic Slasher, the Brute, the Lurker, the Leaper, the Exploder, and many more. Note that the acid-vomiting version of the spike-handed Slasher is now way more common, meaning you will be kept on your toes more often.
Arsenal: You can use many repurposed and upgradable tools to stand a chance against the deadly dangerous Necromorphs. You can count on your precious Plasma Cutter to tear limbs apart (you can upgrade it so the plasma becomes unstable and ignite surfaces on contact). The Pulse Rifle can be loaded in case of riot conditions with proximity mines or grenades, but you can also tune it for faster reloading. The Ripper and its high-velocity blades can cut through rock faces and extract samples. The Line Gun is the bigger version of the Plasma Cutter as it can be used for harder minerals or to deploy laser-targeting survey charges. The Flamethrower is perfect for prospecting on frozen worlds or precision mining, but the nozzle can also spray a wall of flame. The Contact Beam is very effective for powerful energy projections to break hard surfaces quickly, but it can also be tuned to target larger areas. And the Force Gun, a kinetic booster handy for rapidly clearing debris or breaking ore deposits.

Graphics and sound

The game's graphics and audio effects are gorgeous, period. The Ishimura ship is magistrally gore with various and frightening environments full of blood, corps, and disgusting and deadly dangerous creatures. Also, your suits and the intradiegetic elements have been completely revamped and are now more stylish than ever. Combined with high-definition textures, finely dense fog simulation, and state-of-the-art lighting techniques, it is a success.

Duration and game modes

Dead Space (Remake) offers a single-player experience of about 11 hours if you focus on the main objectives, but it can last above 20h if you feel completionist. You can choose from several difficulty settings, including Story, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impossible:

Story: This mode is for players who only want to enjoy the story of the game while having fun tearing monsters apart. You do more damage, take less damage, start with an extra 30 seconds worth of air, and automatically heal when taking damage. Enemy grapples are easily escaped.
Easy: Implemented like the Easy mode in the original title, you do slightly more damage, take less damage, and start with an extra 10 seconds worth of air. Enemy grapples are a little bit easily escaped.
Medium: It offers the default experience for the game. You and your foes take regular damage, there is no extra worth of air, and enemy grapples are unchanged.
Hard: You deal less damage and take way more damage from Necromorphs.
Impossible: It is the same as Hard difficulty, except that auto-save is disabled, and you only have one save slot. Also, otherwise, it would be too easy because if you die, you will have to either restart the game from scratch or continue in Hard difficulty.

What do the reviews say?

Dead Space has received an excellent Metacritic score of 89/100 and has been very appreciated by players, accumulating over 22.000 reviews on Steam as Very Positive.

"Dead Space is a brilliant and terrifying horror experience made better with this release. Everything you remember loving about the original is still here, with added quality and updates that improve it for a new generation. While playing, I could feel my muscles tense, and my hands clam up, desperately trying to use a healing item I didn't have as I nervously rounded a corner. This will likely be something I share with all who play, no matter their past with the series. But, even without the nostalgia, I can't recommend a better survival horror gaming experience than this." (Noisy Pixel)