Making Us Whole Again

Some Thoughts on the Dead Space remake (Spoiler-Free...ish)

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This game has been begging me to review it. Almost like the in-game eldritch artefact, The Marker, is calling out to me to share it’s insidious gospel.

For those of you who don’t know Dead Space, it’s a 2008 survival horror videogame that recently got remade - I believe, from scratch - with a bunch of new features added in. It follows an engineer (the ever-resourceful Isaac Clarke, voiced by Gunner Wright, who first took up the role in the second game - the original taking the silent protagonist approach) and a team of other assorted professionals on a mission to the “planet-cracker” mineral-harvesting space ship, the USG Ishimura. As it happens, Isaac’s girlfriend Nicole is a crew-member, and the resident Senior Medical Officer.

Upon their arrival in a dramatic but fairly minor crash landing, the group quickly begin to suspect that everything is a bit off, and then have these gut-feelings confirmed. Everything is completely fucked. Chen, one of the team sent along with Isaac, is eviscerated by a hideously contorted monster, and everyone is separated after a frantic chase sequence.

This is where the fun really begins.

Before I begin on what makes this such an excellent remake, I have to say, a lot of what makes it so good is the creative genius of the original, and my nostalgia for it is boundless. However, the new edition has a lot going for it. For example, it is truly stunning, visually. From the putrid oozing flesh-walls, to the grim and grey corridors, you feel as if you are onboard. The monsters, or Necromorphs, as they’re known in-game, are somewhere between Evil Dead’s Deadites and Carpenter’s The Thing. They are corpses mutilated into horrific new shapes, with mandibles, claws and disgusting new appendages. They look absolutely grisly even before you start blasting them apart, and in this newest version, they feel as real as the control in your hands. I’d be almost as wired having a psychotic burglar blast into my room as I am playing this game.

The new takes on the weapons are excellent. Drilling through scores of monsters with such tools as a gun that shoots sawblades, a gun that blasts skin and tissue clean off, and even telekinesis, you really do feel unstoppable at times. The gory slog through the dark passages of the ship are horrendously tense, and the design of how things look as you carve your way forward is a huge part of it.

The score is also killer. Reminds me somewhat of Robert Egger’s Nosferatu (2025) - shrill, shrieking and sudden. It blends together with clever sound design to build a uniquely oppressive atmosphere. I can’t tell you how many times I reloaded a gun, opened a door, or turned on a fuse and jumped slightly because of how similar these sounds are to a Necromorph shrieking at you. You are always on your guard.

Another point to highlight is how accessible the story becomes in this release. Characters have new depth, particularly Nicole, who we follow mostly through holographic tapes. She gains a great deal of agency and her improved characterisation satisfies a nearly twenty year itch for more. Optional side missions pull you deeper into spiralling and disturbing mysteries, revealing more about those onboard the ship when everything kicked off. The best added story element is absolutely Isaac’s voice lines though. No longer a brooding Jason Voorhees smashing silently through the story, Clarke shouts, screams and curses. He justifies decisions and works through problems out loud. We get to know him better than ever before, and this makes it all the nastier when we are killed in-game, whether it be decapitation or incineration.

To conclude, Dead Space (2023) is an excellent remake of an already brilliant game. It builds on the story, the characters, and looks ridiculously good. If they never make another one, I’ll die happy.

Let me know if you’d like to see more reviews of the non-movie type,

And as ever, thanks for reading,

Until next time,

H.E.

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