I gave The Callisto Protocol a fat nine back in December, and stand by that rating with conviction even today. It was arguably less good for the game that so many reviewers found it lacking in technology, something that it has taken Striking Distance until today to correct. But technical issues are difficult and you can ultimately only report on what you see and experience, and with the Xbox Series X I experienced exemplary technical performance, and therefore had no complaints either.
That’s why it’s great to be able to relive the inspiration that made The Callisto Protocol possible just a month and a half later. Dead Space is the scifi/horror genre’s answer to Resident Evil, a series that continues to be referenced in various contexts to this day, despite EA officially putting the brand in a dark grave about ten years ago after the sequels tried to change the basics to something more commercial – and failed.
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But regardless of this, it is impossible to get away from the fact that Dead Space – the original – really was a success. For the remake, EA Motive has looked at every texture, every lighting effect, every scenario and updated and recreated the original adventure with such attention to detail that this remake looks like it was created today for the latest console platforms. Volumetric effects impress around every corner, exciting details can be discovered everywhere and the fact that all user elements exist naturally within the framework of the game itself feels, if possible, even more modern today.
Trust me, Dead Space Remake is semi-ridiculously beautiful to look at. Every part of the ship ISG Ishimura glistens, or perhaps “glistens” is the wrong word, for the walls are naturally drenched in fresh blood and everywhere the immediate effect of infection by a virus that is slowly breaking down its prey is visible. The bottom line is that the game looks amazing, and if you play in the Xbox Series X’s Performance mode, there are no glitches or other technical issues to report.
Incidentally, this is not all, Motive has also made a number of strategic updates to the overall structure of the game, without, of course, compromising the game on which they base everything. ISG Ishimura is now a coherent world, where you can always search your way back without having to load via some kind of subway. Everything is smoothly done, and they’ve also updated a number of Zero-G sequences so these are freer and more in line with those found in Dead Space 2, for example.
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However, my praise is not quite the same as Dead Space Remake being absolutely perfect. The ammo economy is still a little wonky in the first half, requiring you to “play” the adventure by, say, carrying a weapon just to collect ammo for it and then selling it to buy the ammo you really want. Motive has also been vocal about how they redesigned the Necromorph enemies to have skeletons with realistically placed flesh on them, which should make for more satisfying battles. However, it doesn’t really feel like it in practice, and while it’s extremely satisfying to chop off limbs with your plasma cutter, the battles aren’t very exciting in the long run.
But the world is more intentionally designed, and the gameplay is still so brilliant that you want to sit back in your chair and enjoy it all in one long sitting. You can count on about ten to twelve hours of gameplay, and then there’s the New Game Plus, and there’s also a secret ending that you really have to see.
Dead Space Remake is a faithful, loving, gorgeous but also careful update of everything that made the original game iconic, and if you enjoyed Visceral’s gameplay, you can safely reinvest in this, which is one of the best remakes I’ve played.
Check out the video review below for tons of gameplay.
