The biggest news out of this month’s EA Play event was easily the reveal of a next-gen Dead Space remake. Developer Motive Studios is rebuilding the horror game from the ground up. You’ll once again play as the unlucky protagonist Isaac Clarke as he takes on a horde of Necromorphs aboard the Ishimura. Most excitingly, though, the remake will include segments of the game cut from the original.
That’s according to the game’s Creative Director, Roman Campos-Oriola, who mentioned the detail in an interview with IGN. He says that the original game had sections cut due to “technical constraints” that don’t apply to next-gen hardware. This means the game isn’t a straight remake; it’s a re-telling of the story made possible by rebuilding everything for next-gen – “visuals, sound, gameplay, everything.”
Of course, the game is still in the early development stages. It’s hard to say what impact these changes will have on the final product. However, Campos-Oriola makes it seem that it’ll involve new areas of the Ishimura to explore. The Dead Space remake isn’t just a graphical polish. It’ll involve new concepts, ideas, and areas – an exciting prospect for fans.
Campos-Oriola also touches on how the gameplay will now be “seamless” insofar as there’s no cuts at any point. He wants it to be like 2018’s God of War, which takes place in one continuous take. This plays into the horror elements, he says: “Ideal scenario, you don’t actually want to get up to go to the bathroom because you’re so immersed within the universe and you want to play it through in one sit-down.”
We’ll have to wait and see how the final product turns out, but the Dead Space remake developers clearly have a lot of love for the franchise. One of EA’s most acclaimed horror series is finally back – and it’s an exciting time to be a fan.
