Everything you need to know about EA’s Dead Space remake

Close to 10 years after Dead Space 3 was released and nearly six since the series’ original developer closed, Electronic Arts is developing a remake of the original Dead Space with Frostbite Engine-powered visuals in “a deeper and more immersive experience” that features some “improvement to gameplay while staying true to the original.”

We even have a firm release date on the calendar that’s somehow sooner than Starfield, Bethesda’s decidedly different take on spacefaring sci-fi. Regardless of whether or not you experienced the original’s gripping third-person action horror gameplay, this is a game worth paying attention to. Here’s everything you need to know about the Dead Space remake.

When is the Dead Space remake release date?

Electronic Arts issued a press release on May 12, 2022 confirming a launch date of January 27, 2023, for the Dead Space remake. It will release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Is there a Dead Space remake trailer?

Yes! There have been several trailers for the Dead Space remake. All of them are sufficiently beautiful and scary at the same time. Check out the most recent trailer which was released in preparation for the game’s imminent release.

Additionally, EA also released a lengthy Art Developer Livestream with specific clips as follows:

• Refining Lighting Effects
• Elevating Character Models
• Amplifying Visual Effects
• Creating Immersive Environments

What is Dead Space?

Dead Space is a sci-fi horror franchise that former EA studio Visceral Games created in 2008. The series follows Issac Clark, a starship system engineer who answers a distress signal from his girlfriend. This kicks off a three-game-long fight against the Necromorphs, a race of scary creatures seemingly created by an ancient artifact called the Marker.

The brief story description for the remake offered by EA is faithful to the original game’s narrative:

Isaac Clarke is an everyman engineer on a mission to repair a vast, sprawling starship, the USG Ishimura, only to discover something has gone horribly wrong. The ship's crew has been slaughtered and infected by some alien scourge ... and Isaac’s beloved partner, Nicole, is lost somewhere on board. Now Isaac is alone with only his tools and engineering skills as he attempts to uncover the nightmarish mystery of what happened aboard the Ishimura. Trapped with hostile creatures called “necromorphs,” Isaac faces a battle for survival, not only against the escalating terrors of the ship, but his own crumbling sanity.

Though it’s a bit more action-focused than some other horror games, the Dead Space series still manages to deliver a lot of scares and tense moments. If you’re a fan of the Alien franchise, then you’ll definitely like what Dead Space has to offer. Between 2008 and 2013, we got a trilogy of games following Issac Clarke as well as some spin-offs that expanded the lore.

While the franchise had a solid fan base, the series was never a huge moneymaker for EA. As a result, the series was put on ice after Dead Space 3 was released in 2012 and the developers would go on to make Battlefield Hardline. Visceral Games would infamously be shut down in 2017 after Project Ragtag, a single-player Star Wars game about smugglers was canceled.

EA now seems to be interested in the series once again, so hopefully, the new creative team and EA give Dead Space the attention and care it deserves.

What are the differences between the Dead Space remake and the original game?

The remake will be almost identical to the original Dead Space. The obvious changes are to the graphics, which have been enhanced to beautiful standards thanks to the modern technology Motive is using.

In addition, the team at Motive is using modern technology to help realize the game’s dedication to immersion. The game will be a single shot following Isaac through the Ishimura, similar to the cinematic trick pulled by God of War (2018). The original Dead Space had lots of diegetic design, such as Isaac’s health being represented by a part of his suit rather than a big health bar on the UI.

By bringing the player closer to Isaac who is a “relatable and familiar” according to Dead Space remake Realization Director Joel Macmillan in an interview with Inverse. This will help the game “execute horror really well”.

Many of the improvements that come in the remake aim to help expand upon the original game’s world and realize ideas that never reached their full potential. One aspect of this will be a more visceral combat system. In the original game, you needed to delimb enemies and smash them to be safe. This is being fleshed out even more “you really have to carve away at the meat in the skin and burn it away before you even get to the bone and slice the limb off” in the remake says Macmillan.

There will also be longer space traversal segments, something that didn’t appear in the original trilogy until Dead Space 2.

With so many horror remakes happening in 2023 and beyond, Motive’s priority in the Dead Space remake is to make the Dead Space that Visceral wish they could have made in 2009, without compromising what made the original game great.

Who is the Dead Space developer?

Visceral shut down in 2017, so clearly it can’t handle the development of this title. Those duties now fall upon EA Motive, which is best known for the amazing sci-fi flight combat game Star Wars: Squadrons. This studio seems to know how to make an entertaining sci-fi game, so this project should be in good hands.

Macmillan stated that this project isn’t a “corporate mandate” from EA, but rather a “labor of love from Motive”