It was probably for the best that we parted ways with Dead Space back in 2013. With two sequels, numerous spin-offs, and a massive cross-media push, EA had overplayed its hand as it tried to stretch the survival horror series as far and fast as possible.
Many years and many rumours later, a Dead Space remake is now officially in development. It’s not hard to imagine this zombie-splicing classic getting the Resident Evil 2 treatment – a top to tail makeover, flexing the Frostbite engine on new consoles. And don’t worry, the most terrifying thing in this game will be its Necromorphs, not its microtransactions.
Rumours of a Dead Space remake cropped up in the middle of last year, shortly before it was officially announced at EA Play Live 2021. Reportedly spurred on by the popularity of Capcom’s recent Resident Evil remakes, EA turned to EA Motive to revisit their popular horror franchise and return it to its roots with a remake of the original. They’ll no doubt have gained a little confidence in their plan after seeing the announcement of The Callisto Protocol, a new horror game coming from some of the creators of Dead Space at their new studio Striking Distance.
EA Motive’s remake will remain faithful to the original, but will rebuild it from scratch in the modern Frostbite engine and dramatically enhancing the visuals in the process. However, they can also update the game in other ways and have talked about how gameplay can be enhanced through letting players control the lighting in certain parts of the ship or doing away with some ideas that don’t work for a modern audience and platforms.
Perhaps the most exciting is that EA Motive have been looking to potentially restore cut content from the original game’s development and seed some of the narrative hooks from Dead Space 2 into the remake to embellish the story and set up a retelling of that game as well.
The Dead Space remake doesn’t yet have a release date, but reports suggest that EA is hoping for a FY2023 release that could see it out by the end of 2022 if development goes according to plan. Considering that it’s in our Most Wanted games list for 2022, we’re hoping it goes to plan too!
Want to see what else is on our list? See out full set of Most Wanted Games of 2022 here.
