Dead Space REMAKE (Xbox Series X|S)

Game description:

Dead Space is a 2023 survival horror game developed by Motive Studio and published by Electronic Arts. A remake of the 2008 game of the same name developed by EA Redwood Shores, it is the first release in the Dead Space series since 2013's Dead Space 3. Like the original game, it is set on a mining spaceship overrun by deadly monsters called Necromorphs following the discovery of an artifact called the Marker. The player controls engineer Isaac Clarke as he navigates the spaceship and fights the Necromorphs while struggling with growing psychosis.

Gameplay:

Dead Space features various changes from the original game. Unlike the original game where he was a silent protagonist, Isaac now has voice lines of his own. In addition, previous voice lines and conversations remade for the game were adjusted to include Isaac, allowing him to engage, argue, and bond with the other characters. The game also features more gore than the original, introducing a "peeling" system in which the player can tear and destroy the bodies of the Necromorphs. Various weapons are more suitable for severing limbs, while others are more suitable for completely destroying bodies. The remake also improves on the "zero gravity" element of the original, providing Isaac with thrusters to freely move across designated areas of the Ishimura.

Game review:

With its stunningly redesigned spaceship, smartly and subtly enhanced story, and spectacularly reimagined action scenes, Motive Studio has managed to successfully breathe new life into the seminal sci-fi horror universe of Dead Space. Despite the fact I’ve returned to the 2008 original several times over the years and found it to hold up fairly well, my latest journey through the darkened hallways of the USG Ishimura still managed to consistently surprise me and pull me into Isaac’s plight far more than ever before, while still satisfying my desire to butcher undead astronauts with an enjoyable arsenal of wildly unsafe mining tools. It’s clear that this superb Dead Space remake has been a labour of love for the team at Motive Studios, who’ve very carefully balanced innovation and renovation with preservation, and to their credit the end result is undoubtedly the definitive way to experience – or re-experience – one of the best survival horror shooters that Capcom never made.