The original Dead Space was released in 2008, spawning a series with two other main sequels and a number of spin-offs and supporting media. The series ended on a cliffhanger with the DLC of Dead Space 3, Awakening, and we haven’t heard from Isaac Clarke ever since.
While EA’s return to the series isn’t quite the sequel and continuation of the series fans have hoped for, it’s nice to see it being revived. Motive is fresh off the development cycle of Star Wars: Squadrons, and based on the quality of that sci-fi dogfight simulator, Dead Space is in good hands. The Dead Space remake, confusingly also simply called Dead Space, is more than just a remaster. Instead of upscaling any old assets, EA Motive is completely rebuilding the game from the ground up. This means that while the overall story, gameplay experience and setting will be the same, we’re not just talking about the same game with a fresh coat of paint. Level design and gameplay mechanics have been tweaked, and Motive is baking in some of the content that was cut from the original Dead Space. When we return to the gloomy decks of the USG Ishimura, the layout and progression of the environments isn’t going to be a copy of the same levels we stomped out way through over a decade ago. Dead Space, the remake, is running entirely on the Frostbite engine, and will make maximum use of the power that the new generation of consoles provide. This also means that it will only be released on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S - you won’t be able to play this remake on the Xbox One or PS4. However, there is no news about the game’s release date - the trailer we saw is an “atmospheric benchmark”, and Dead Space is still very early on in development. We’ll bring you more news as we hear it!
