Dead Space Remake Review: A Master Class in Survival Horror, Starting All Over

When you hop on USG Ishimura and put on blind spot Protagonist Isaac Clarke, you’ll unearth horrors like never before in the form of Necromorphs. These alien horrors, combined with hints of religious fanaticism, make USG Ishimura one of the scariest settings in the survival horror genre.

As with Alien: Isolated, there’s something claustrophobic about being trapped in outer space; the immediate threat of physically terrifying aliens, the religious fanatics who encourage them to eat, and this huge container with its myriad breaks… everything . It gets into your head. Dead Space is a test of Isaac’s patience and resilience, and by the time you get to the game’s third act, you can tell he’s thinning out.

There is no safe space and no escape from USG Ishimura. Even in rooms with save stations and shops, you can’t be sure that a Lurker or Slasher won’t appear. This sense of insecurity is paired with a satisfying combat system, and Dead Space just wouldn’t feel the same without it. On USG Ishimura, your headshot doesn’t matter. All for dismemberment. With abilities like Stasis and Kinesis, which let you slow down enemies and impale them with common items, the fights start off overwhelming. However, when you get into the twists and turns of things, you can get really creative when it comes to killing hordes of Necromorphs.

Thanks to Dead Space’s “Intensity Director”, the way hostile enemies are spawned and the lighting or audio features are completely unique to your individual experience of the game, so combat won’t play out the same way. Do you know what this means? You really never know what’s going to happen. This, combined with a stunning soundtrack, ensures that Dead Space is as deeply rooted as Isaac.

Dead Space’s musical and orchestral score reaches haunting peaks, echoing John Carpenter’s work (why doesn’t he direct Dead Space movies anymore?), but not just when you’re in danger; even In moments of safety, the score will also creep up on you and scare you. At no point does Dead Space choose to slow down; it constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat and makes you question everything with its various crescendos and racing rhythms. What is that phantom? Why does Nicole say Isaac “makes everyone whole again”? What the hell is going on here?

Dead Space has a genuinely interesting plot, and it doesn’t rely on cheap scares when it comes to building up the tension. If anything, the game is a masterclass in effectively creating tension and suspense in a horror game—even now, some 15 years after the original was released. Take entering an elevator, for example. You’re thinking you’re safe now, and the Necromorphs chasing you definitely don’t fit in here. Suddenly, it bursts through the door, and you spit out the drink you thought was finally safe to take a sip. Or, when you’re walking down a long hallway, the turbine at the end suddenly fails. You immediately aim your gun, ready for trouble, but in this case, it was a false alarm; now you get nervous again for no reason.

These are just two of the many basic fears that keep your attention on Isaac and USG Ishimura. I could talk for hours about all the thrills hidden in Dead Space, but if you know it, you know it. If you don’t, it’s best to experience it for yourself.

When the music isn’t lulling you into a false sense of security, or you’re not fending off acid-spitting babies who climb walls, you’re fitting in. Lighting, fog, film grain. Most importantly there is no user interface of any kind. Dead Space knows how to keep you immersed. That is, until the second half of the game. As Chapter 7 unfolded and I continued with the task at hand, the gameplay started to become confusing and repetitive. What was initially a raw pace quickly became blurred. At one point, it felt like every other room I entered had become a quarantine area where I was dealing with a large group of people. After that, it feels like the puzzles are endless and the combat very little.

While the repetitive tasks ruined my immersion in the second half, I can’t help but think that’s working in Dead Space’s favor in some way. After all, can you imagine how Isaac felt when the final chapter of the game came out? His mental state slowly deteriorates over time, heading into the final chapters with both the player and the player characters feeling drained, which really brings Isaac’s experience to the surface. That said – even if I excuse the game’s repetitiveness in hindsight – it wasn’t the only issue I had.

More than once, my game failed miserably. While playing on the Xbox Series S, I’ve had a few instances where my game would freeze, usually freeze, and have to be restarted. This, along with glitchy enemies throughout the show, took me out of this well-planned, well-crafted world.

Enemies will sometimes stand in front of me, stare at me and do nothing, and more often than not, if I kill an enemy in a doorway or corner etc, its corpse will keep spasming, worst case it will fly out around the room. This caused a lot of confusion when dealing with hordes of Necromorphs, and often resulted in me stomping entire rooms to pieces just to make sure everything was dead. That said, Dead Space’s autosave feature often plays a key role, and I hope to see these small quality-of-life issues resolved in the near future.

Finally, let’s not overlook our protagonist, aerospace engineer Isaac. This time he talks, giving him more personality and emotional flesh, and he’s the key to making you feel anxious. After a tense battle with hunters and dealing with the dangers of a deranged Dr. Mercer, I took a break and just saved, and I didn’t pause my game.

I could even hear my heart beating in my head as I sat there flipping through my notes. My physical reaction to the game terrified me even more, until I realized after checking my BPM that it wasn’t actually my mind. This is Isaac’s. I listened carefully and could hear him holding his breath too. I’m actually fine, but I don’t feel well.

Dead Space doesn’t just put you in the character of Isaac Clarke, it forces you into his head as well. You’re constantly questioning whether the apparitions he’s seeing are real, and his physical reaction to the incredible events on the spaceship only pushes you further. You’re totally at the whim of USG Ishimura, and it’ll never let you forget that. Ultimately, Dead Space is a game that many horror game developers can learn from how to create suspense and dread in players.

As far as remakes go, Dead Space made me feel nostalgic for the decade-old series. It was a success, if you ask me.