“Altman be praised” that we’re finally getting the remake that we’ve all been wanting.
In 2008 the bars were set pretty high for the horror-survival genre when the third-person shooter, sci-fi horror survival, Dead Space, first released. Thereafter two more main installments of the Dead Space series were released in 2011 and 2013, respectively. There have also been three spin-offs that were released in 2009 (Dead Space: Extraction), 2010 (Dead Space: Ignition), and 2011 (Dead Space – a mobile release).
This sparked off a string of horror-survivals being released such as Resident Evil 5 & 6, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Silent Hill: Downpour, Outlast, and many more. However, over time the genre has gradually dissipated; finding a genuinely good horror or horror-survival has become increasingly difficult, sure there are a few decent ones that have been released, including Indie horrors like Slender: The Arrival, At Dead of Night, and Escape the Ayuwoki, but it just hasn’t been quite the same for a while now.
That is until the announcement on 22 July from EA Play Live 2021 came out that EA Motive is currently working on a remake of our beloved 2008 Dead Space, with Erik Baptizat being the current game director of this gem.
Dead Space – Official Teaser Trailer
About Dead Space
Just in case you aren’t familiar with the Dead Space series, it was originally developed by Visceral Games.

With Earth having gone through near-extinction in the year 2508 due to the extortionately avaricious use of resources, the few hominids that remain realize that they are in desperate need of resources if they are to survive, resources which are no longer available on Earth.
This is where the CEC (Concordance Extraction Corporation) jumps in, the CEC is the largest solar mining & extraction company on Earth.
The CEC had devised a plan to mine valuable resources, from other planets, that are imperative for the survival of the remaining earthbound dwellers; leading to their creation of the USG Ishimura in 2446 upon the foreseen desperation. The USG Ishimura, named after the astrophysicist and inventor of the ShockPoint Drive, was the flagship engineered with the primary focus of planetcracking.
The Ishimura was in the process of beginning her 35th planetcrack on the remote planet, Aegis VII, where the rediscovery of the Marker 3A takes place. Fast forward a bit – Contact was briefly lost with the residing colony but shortly after was re-established, which is when the discovery was made of the freshly slaughtered colony, with but a few survivors.
Through all of the chaos, the no-fly order that was given by Captain Mathius was ignored by two shuttles, leading to the boarding of an Infector onto the Ishimura; this being the start of Necromorph take-over. The USG Kellion gets dispatched to investigate the distress signal sent out by the Ishimura, although as expected there are complications when the Kellion tries to dock the Ishimura, leading to heavy damage.
Eventually, the Kellion manages to dock and the crew sets off in search of the Ishimura crew, soon discovering that the ship is desolate.

It’s not long before Isaac Clarke, the Kellion crew engineer; of whom you play the role throughout the game; is one of the first to experience the events of what has happened, when he, along with several others, are jumped by the creatures which have wreaked this havoc. Forced to run for his life, Isaacs’ fight for survival begins. It’s good to note that the sole purpose for Clarke even embarking on this mission was to visit his girlfriend, Nicole Brennan; a senior medical officer on the USG Ishimura and one of the few initial survivors of the Necromorph outbreak.
Dead Space Remake – Gameplay Showcase
What We Know So Far
The Dead Space remake is primarily being developed for next-gen systems; PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC; which is great for the majorly enhanced graphics and mechanics that will be implemented through the Frostbite game engine which is being used for this overhaul – Did someone say VR Edition?… Hopefully.
EA Motive is also working closely with the fan community for this development, taking value in the opinions and feedback in order to truly give us what we so desperately crave. Motive have even pulled in Michael Yazijan, Dead Space 2’s art director, for assistance; Mike even managed to find his original notebook on the concepts –
“I actually found my old notebooks from Dead Space 2! So that really comes in handy, seeing all the notes from the sequel, everything the Visceral team had shared with us as we were making the game with them. We’ve got concept art, visual guidelines, source materials, notes on the conversations we had with them, the knowledge that they gained — it’s all here. It’s all going into this game.”
One of the focus points is to cut out loading screens, meaning that they will need to come up with some creative ways to allow Clarke to travel between areas & scenes. They also plan to include a lot of content that was cut from the original game as Roman Campos-Oriola, EA Motives creative director, stated that they still had access to the assets of Dead Space.

We can also expect to hear Isaac Clarke actually speak this time around too, being voiced by actor Gunner Wright. Although this is somewhat of a big change, they aren’t going to overdo it. Clarke will only speak “when spoken to” or in moments where it’s considered just a little odd to not have some sort of comment while exploring the environment.
The combat will also have a few slight tweaks to it such as flesh that rips off as an indication of how much damage is being dealt and the dismemberment of Necromorphs is being made to feel a little more realistic in terms of weak points not being blatantly shone in your face with glowing joints.
The lore will also be greatly expanded on while still keeping true to its roots. They want to pan out fellow characters’ stories & experiences and just give us an all-round amelioration of the Dead Space story.
What’s more, to note is that although this is an EA release…it has been confirmed that there won’t be any microtransactions.
If you have a keen eye, you might have also noticed the Morse code message on the official Dead Space remake site in the form of the red light emanating from the USG Ishimura. Some have deciphered it to be calling out “M-A-K-E-U-S-W-H-O-L-E”. This is surely a nod at what to expect; if you’re familiar.
Yes, this is a complete remake from absolute scratch instead of just a remaster of the original. The developers are adding in a lot for the enrichment of the experience, to give us all the best that they can. Although they are making some changes, I wouldn’t quite call it “changes”, they’re taking what was already there to make it even greater. They are being sure to emphasize that Dead Space will still remain Dead Space. EA Motive is aiming for pure, enthralling, nostalgic immersion; and by heck, that is what they are going to give to us.
Dead Space is scheduled to launch in 2022, but it could also end up slipping into the first trimester of 2023, depending on how things pan out with development and all of the nitty-gritties in between. They have however been kind enough to throw us a bone with some majorly early, still-in-development-content but man-oh-man, does this not pique the intrigue even more?!