The Dead Space remake is something I've personally been waiting for as someone who considered 2 to be one of my favorite action-horror titles. I didn't get the chance to play the first installment so I was excited to see the origin story of our engineer for the first time. The game held me all the way to the end, something which doesn't happen a lot these days, so here's my review of my experience. Disclaimer, because I haven't played the original my views on the remake aren't based on how it differs to the original, for better or worse.

Cut off their Limbs

Dead Space is a horror game with action elements with clear inspirations from games like Resident Evil 4. You explore an alien infested space ship as an engineer with a knack for using industrial tools for unintended purposes. In order to kill necromorphs (a corpse reanimated by a cosmic entity), you must physically remove enough of their appendages with mining gear, until they stop moving.

As the 4th entry in the series, the dismemberment mechanic isn't anything new but that doesn't stop it from being insanely fun to do. There are 7 obtainable tools at your disposal and a good variety of enemies to test them on, which keeps the gameplay loop as fresh as you want to make it. Spinning a circular saw to grind off legs or lobbing a wall of hydrazine to burn hoards never got old in my roughly 11 hour playthrough. I believe the hallmark of an engaging horror game is how many elements of fun they can fit on top of a strictly scary foundation. Pulling a metal pipe of a wall to impale an enemy is fun. Desecrating corpses, dead or alive, with your foot is fun.

Now you might be wondering how a game could possibly be scary when you're playing a guy as badass as Isaac but there is absolutely nothing to fear in that regard. The improved graphics with DLSS support create an absolutely sinister environment in which the narrative prods you through. Classic cinematic horrors combined with random encounters create a tense journey in the isolation of space, because of the implication. Dead Space blends just the right amount of alien dread and alien-killing-tools to deliver a thrilling ride.

Immersion

One thing I like about this series is how they completely integrate UI elements into the scene. You're never distracted by an arbitrary UI overly hovering over half the screen because projection is built into Isaac's equipment. Health is indicated by glowing bars up the suit's spine and ammo is projected near the rear sight when holding up your weapon. Navigating your inventory happens in real time so you have to be aware of when to check those logs. It's a neat style that I'm surprised more games haven't utilized given the original idea was used in 2008.

Performance

Unfortunately the game isn't stellar in terms of performance. During the first couple of days (which was when the majority of my playthrough took place), the game suffered from an issue with variable rate shading (VRS) which made all the textures blurry. This was fortunately remedied in a hot-fix, but it's puzzling how an issue which was evidently fixable in a couple days was shipped in the first place.

Aside from that there's also the issue of persistent stuttering throughout the game. Dead Space compiles shaders on it's first run so it seems like something other than shader stutter is causing the hitches when loading new areas; Several late-game fights are choppy as well. Digital Foundry does an excellent job of describing the technicalities as well as optimal settings to improve your experience. The stuttering didn't sour my experience enough to prevent me from reaching the ending but it's something to consider when buying the game.

Verdict

If you want a solid action horror package with little to no filler, the Dead Space remake hits just the mark, just don't expect next-gen performance.