Dead Space Remake
Electronic Arts announced a soft reboot for the franchise “Dead Space” last week, beginning with a remake of the first game in the original trilogy.
A trailer reveal was released shortly before the official announcement, with the video highlighting iconic visuals that made the first game a stand-out in the horror genre overall.
Despite the remake, one indisputable difference is the director: Original director Glen Schofield will not be returning, and will instead be replaced with Eric Baptizat, who is known most recently for “Assassins Creed: Valhalla.”
“Directing the original Dead Space was one of the highlights of my career,” Schofield tweeted. “Excited to see what the EA team does with it!”
The last entry for the “Dead Space” franchise was released in 2013, and considered a colossal failure. Despite the entire game revolving around co-op, the game fell flat with many issues in development along the way.
“It eschewed the ideas that the first two games were building on and contained all of the worst bits of the modern games industry,” said Peter Glagowski in an article from 2014.
Issues in the third game alone included falling short of what EA expected to make, creative differences over core mechanics in the game and studio versus publisher differences.
The general consensus is that EA pushed for a game that was more modern action and less horror, something the studio disagreed with and struggled to compensate for. The result was a less than lackluster game that featured a co-op narrative throughout, with fumbled quick time events (QTE’s) and action sequences that lacked any real tension.
The remake boasts an improved take on the 2008 game.
“The horror survival game, which is set on board a spaceship overrun by monsters, will be remade using Frostbite's powerful engine to create an immersive and terrifying playing experience whilst also preserving the legacy of the original release,” said Alexander Cox in an article with Space.com.
This reboot comes after a series of reboots that have taken over the gaming community. “Dead Space” will now be among games like “Resident Evil” which are working to remake each of their original entries in the franchise, too.
Though a release date is far from being established, many speculate that EA is looking to release “Dead Space” in fall 2022. One can be sure to look for any teasers that may come with the game as it continues to be developed.
In the meantime, the original “Dead Space” is still available to buy everywhere and packs a punch that most horror games today lack entirely.
