New details on Dead Space’s next-gen remake suggest game may include content cut from original
Dead Space. (EA)
Fresh details have emerged on the newly announced remake of sci-fi horror game Dead Space.
In an interview with IGN, Senior Producer Philippe Ducharme and Creative Director Roman Campos-Oriola discussed their vision for the game.
Though originally developed by Visceral Games, EA Motive are now creating the remake from the ground up and aim to balance modernisation with faithfulness to the original.
Ducharme and Campos-Oriola explained that they’re using original assets and development data to support their new vision. Excitingly, some of these were not actually used at the time due to “technical constraints.”
“We started with the original level design of the original Dead Space. What’s funny is that you can see some of the iterations that were made prior to ship by the team. In the first chapter, you can see some corridors that they wanted to do first in a certain way, and then you can understand why they changed it for technical constraints or [some other reason],” says Campos-Oriola.
“Then in terms of visuals, sound, gameplay, everything, we are rebuilding all of these assets. We are not porting them, it’s not uprezzing the texture or adding more polygons to the model. It’s really rebuilding all these elements, shooting all the animations, et cetera.”
They’re also looking to use the power of next-gen consoles and PC, specifically the SSD for faster loading times. As such, there will be no cuts in the experience.
“We want to make that immersion even deeper with a fully interactive experience, from the start screen to the end credits. We don’t want anything to pull you out of the experience and we don’t want any cuts,” Campos Oriola said.
“[The faster SSDs of new consoles mean] there’s not going to be any loading. There’s not going to be any moment where we’re going to cut your experience, where we’re going to cut your camera. You can play it from the start screen to the end credits seamlessly.”
A key element of the game’s immersion is maintaining the in-universe HUD elements, like protagonist Isaac’s health displayed on his suit and conversations using in-game VR.
Through improved visuals and the use of 3D audio, the team are aiming to create the original’s “dirty, industrial look, but with the level of detail that we can afford now”.
That’s exemplified in the recent teaser trailer, acting as an atmospheric benchmark.
They’re also looking at the Dead Space sequels to inform gameplay and story further.
“We’re doing it from a narrative standpoint, but we’re also looking at it from a feature standpoint in the improvements and some of the content that evolved throughout the franchise,” said Ducharme.
“So we’re looking at what can be taken and reinjected within the first game from a future standpoint.”
Announced at the recent EA Play Live stream event, the Dead Space remake doesn’t have a release date yet, but will be out on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC in the future.
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