Motive Studios and EA have finally released the remake to their critically acclaimed horror video game, Dead Space. With the review embargo lifted, many reviewers have revealed what they think of the game and how it compares to their experiences with the original Dead Space from 2008.
Dead Space puts the players in the shoes of Isaac Clarke, a crewman on a repair vessel. Isaac Clarke and his team are on a mission to investigate a distress signal sent out by a massive planetary mining ship. While investigating the reason behind the distress signal, Isaac and his crew are attacked by mutated human corpses known as Necromorphs. Because of this, Isaac is forced to defend himself and find the remaining survivors as he continues to uncover the truth behind the events that happened on the planetary mining ship known as the USG Ishimura. As events unfold, twists and turns happen that makes Isaac question everything around him and with that, examine if what he is really seeing is the real thing.
Originally released in 2008, Dead Space has always been a hallmark video game in the horror genre. This is because of the unique tension and suspense that the game originally had. With the remake having been announced and subsequently released, many wondered if this remake would do the original game justice and carry with it the same horrific impact that the original once had. With the review embargo lifted, it seems that many reviewers felt that the remake really did justice to what the series originally stood for. With that being said, let’s get into what the critics have to say about this remake of an iconic game.
In Metacritic, the Dead Space Remake was given a Metascore of 89. Given that the Metascore is a summary of the scores given by critics to the game, a score of 89 can be considered pretty high. Looking at the statements from many of the Critic Reviews, it can be seen that most critics gave it critically acclaimed praise with some even saying that it surpasses the original in a lot of aspects. A lot of praise was emphasized on how the team of developers were able to get the horror atmosphere from the original game and just straight up make it better and more immersive due to having more access to modern game engines. Furthermore, praises were given to how the game is just straight up more terrifying than the original with the level designs being improved upon. In summary, critics are loving how this remake is able to further improve the already terrifying experience the original game from 2008 had and amplify it further through various improvements of a lot of the game’s aspects.
Gamespot also put out a review for the Dead Space Remake. For this remake to a classic horror video game, Gamespot gave the Dead Space Remake a review score of 9 out of 10 and rated it as Superb. In this review, they examined the different aspects of the game that they liked from the original game back in 2008. When looking at these aspects, they found that these were greatly improved upon and it made the game more engaging and entertaining. This was especially noticeable in the combat situations throughout the game. The review noted that while a lot of the weapons were reworked for a more modern platform, it still featured the “uniquely gratifying” feeling that the players felt when they were used. It could even be said that these reworks also served to deliver an even better experience than the original. In addition, they gave praises as to the additional combat features that the remake has such as a secondary fire to the weapons. This gave the players more options and more ways to play around with the weapons that they obtained throughout the game. Aside from the combat, other gameplay sections of the game were improved upon such as the zero-g sections. These zero-g sections are one of the weaknesses of the original game as they were originally very rigid and linear. With the remake, these were improved upon and were made much more engaging and interesting. However, praises were not only handed out to the gameplay aspect as the review also pointed out that there were a lot of improvements to the setting and story as well. Compared to the original, the new voice acting of Isaac Clarke by Gunner Wright really showed Gunner Wright’s improvement as a voice actor. This new voice acting gave Isaa Clarke more agency over his character. In addition to these, the story was further expanded and made more cohesive and interesting through various quests throughout the game. Despite all these praises, Gamespot still had a bit of a minor criticism against the game. They stated while there is a lot of improvement over the original, the side quests in the Dead Space Remake really did the game no favors as they got stale due to all the backtracking. In the end, they still consider this game as one of the most iconic video games in the horror genre.
IGN also reviewed the Dead Space Remake as well and gave out similar praises to the game as the other reviews. IGN also gave the Dead Space Remake a score of 9 and even awarded the game with an Editor’s Choice. When it comes to the review by IGN, they gave a lot of praises to the environment and atmosphere of the game. Because Dead Space is a remake of the original game of the same name from 2008, they mostly used that as a comparison point and tried to see what improvements were made by the team. One of the most noticeable and significant improvements that the review noted was how they had made the environment more eerie and terrifying. They had made an already frightening environment even more chilling. This improvement to the atmosphere and environment really helped keep them immersed and interested in the game. In addition to the improvements to the atmosphere, they also gave a lot of praise to the gameplay. The new and improved combat system in the Dead Space Remake really helped the players become more creative and allowed for more variance in their combat strategies. The unnecessary bloat in the weapons system was removed and this served to make the system really cohesive. Gameplay aspects aside, IGN also commended what Motive Studio did with the story. For Dead Space Remake, they further expanded the story and gave more details that made the overall narrative feel more complete and cohesive. They also gave praise to the voice acting of Isaac Clarke by Gunner Wright as it allowed the character to have more depth. It could even be said that it made him more human. Overall, their verdict for this remake is that the Dead Space Remake is a remake for the ages as it is able to improve upon the original iconic horror game from 2008. They felt that this remake was able to balance “innovation and renovation with preservation.”
Finally, Game Informer also put out a review about the Dead Space Remake. In their review, Game Informer gave Dead Space Remake a score of 9. Just like in the previous reviews, Game Informer commended the way Motive Studio took the original game from 2008 and just simply, made it better. They first pointed out how Dead Space Remake expanded on the story based on plot points from the sequel games. This made the overall narrative more expansive and cohesive. It also gave more depth to the characters involved in the story. In addition to the improvements to the narrative, they also commended the improvements made on the gameplay aspects such as the level design of areas and making the combat system clearer. In summary, Game Informer felt that the Dead Space Remake was able to improve upon the core experience of a horror game from 2008 and simply, just made it better.
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