During their EA Play presentation earlier today, EA Games officially announced that the rumored Dead Space remake is, in fact, really happening. As a huge fan of the original Dead Space, I have to admit that I’m pretty excited to see how EA’s Motive Studios will deliver a ground-up remake of one of the best sci-fi horror games of its era — or, really, of all time.
As we longtime gaming enthusiasts already know, remakes can be hit or miss (like anything else in life, I suppose), either knocking it completely out the park (like Shadow of the Colossus, Mafia: Definitive Edition, or The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening) or completely whiffing it (like XIII, MediEvil — depending on who you ask — and, simply because I like to stir a little controversy now and again, the as-yet-to-be-officially-announced The Last of Us remakes).
As for me, I am not against the concept outright.
My problem with a remake of Dead Space, however, is that, for as much as I would love to play a version with current-gen graphics and all those haptic feedback bells and whistles, the original Dead Space still plays incredibly well. Like, frighteningly well. Having literally just played through the first few hours a couple of months ago (thanks to Xbox backward compatibility), I can attest to how well it holds up. I recall like literally saying to myself — out loud, for crying in my space potatoes — “These controls feel damn good, Julian, you handsome fellow.” They aren’t perfect, but I would argue that they’re still on par with the controls of anything the Gears of War franchise is still pumping out. The sound design still delivers the goods, and even the Xbox 360-era graphics are still decent enough to look at.
I’m not saying I would balk at a shiny new version of Dead Space, especially if it utilizes that buzziest of terms, ray tracing. In fact, not only would I not balk, I would actively go about procuring a copy.
That being said, I would much rather see EA’s deep pockets and corporate energy go toward creating a brand-new proper entry in the Dead Space series. And although I imagine this remake will serve as a barometer to gauge interest in the IP — as well as a testing grounds for Motive Studios going forward — I would much prefer we skip the formalities and just get straight to the next new game.
But again, I will buy this game. It will be mine.
You can check out the teaser announcement trailer for the Dead Space remake below. Don’t get your hopes too high, as it’s really just a bunch of in-game set assets with a reveal of the back of Isaac Clarke’s Resource Integration Gear in final few seconds. There’s nothing heart-pounding or fear-inducing here.
But at least we finally know it’s real, and that’s something.
