Our Most Wanted Games of 2023 – #4 Dead Space Remake

Stefan L 04/01/23 Comments Closed

EA Motive’s Dead Space remake is something of an immovable object on our Most Wanted list, having clung onto the #4 spot that it had last year while other games have come and gone. That’s no doubt helped by each reveal of how EA Motive are balancing their obligation to stay true to the original form and feel of the original Dead Space, while also looking to expand and modernise it for the new consoles.

Officially announced at EA Play Live 2021, a Dead Space remake was first rumoured to be in development since mid-2020, with EA reportedly a little envious of the success and popularity of Capcom’s recent run of Resident Evil remakes. But by the time of Dead Space’s announcement, this was no longer a one horse race. The Callisto Protocol had been announced in 2020, a new horror game coming from some of the creators of Dead Space at their new studio Striking Distance, dividing fans on who would make the better successor to the action horror great. Not only that, but who would manage to get their game out the door first?

As fate would have it, the two games will release less than two months apart and on either side of Christmas and the New Year. The Callisto Protocol went first, and while a good effort that made some significant changes to stand apart from its spiritual predecessor, it’s probably only increased the desire of EA Motive’s effort.

So what is Dead Space remake? Well, it’s a ground-up remake of the 2008 action horror classic, rebuilt from scratch in a modern Frostbite engine to take advantage of the current generation PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S console (and PCs, of course!). Along the way, EA Motive are making changes to modernise some of the storytelling and gameplay, some of which will be a little controversial. For one thing, Isaac has a voice in the remake, with Gunner Wright reprising the role from Dead Space 2 and 3 – some stick in the muds still don’t like this change!

Through the last two years, EA Motive has held semi-regular developer streams, showcasing different parts of their remake and how they’re improving the game – one key example is how modern game engines can make positional sound much more accurate and realistic. But then came the big gameplay reveal, and this really showcased the overall efforts.

Dead Space remake will now feature a single cut camera style, popularised by 2018’s God of War, with players having to navigate between the different areas of the USG Ishimura without hopping onto the ship’s tram system. That’s led to some brand new areas and gameplay changes, so Isaac is now able to fly through a zero-G area to get through the Ishimura Hangar. That gameplay also transforms the Centrifuge encounter, which is a much larger space that Issac can fly around instead of having to leap and reattach to surfaces.

Other gameplay changes include new decision points over powering different ship subsystems, potentially sacrificing the lighting in an area so that there’s a breathable atmosphere, while the Intensity Director will come into play if you backtrack through the ship to explore further, mixing things up with different enemies, ambience and lighting.

It’s all looking and sounding rather positive, and thankfully we won’t have to wait too much longer to find out whether this is a second coming for the franchise.

Dead Space Remake is out on 27th January 2023 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Want to catch up on our Most Wanted games list so far? We’ve got handy links for you to catch up right here: