In the original Dead Space, Clarke was a silent protagonist. Rather than stuffing in microtransactions and controversial co-op (though I enjoyed playing with a friend), it’s threading a throughline between all three games by giving Isaac Clarke a voice. Though, now I’ve come to terms with the original game benefitting from a renovation, I can be excited for the new features the team is adding in the Dead Space remake. While it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Dead Space Remake looks good, it’s working with the power of the Xbox Series X and the PS5, it’s the smoothing of the original’s forgotten rough edges that could make it special. Isaac moves with weighty agility, and the camera is close in over his shoulder but not sluggish and buffeted by the scenery, and the dismemberment looks to be smooth like butter. I can see that the game in the trailers isn’t just what I’ve played before, but it looks like the game I thought I remembered playing.
With my vizor raised on Dead Space’s issues, I take another look at the footage of the remake. There are many times I fire off several plasma lines before a cut is made, which means ammo conservation and accuracy go out the window. I had forgotten how often it doesn't work, with my hits going seemingly undetected. In Dead Space you can slice off limbs to disable your foes before stomping them to death (again), it's brutal, it's something too few games let you do, and it's really not as good as I remember. Though, most surprising as I replay Dead Space, are the cracks I find in the dismemberment system, the series’ defining feature. Getting jumped by a Slasher that popped around a corner, isn't scary, it's just irritating. The camera controls are tight to your back, and while that immerses you in the action, it makes simply seeing your enemies a challenge. Keeping an enemy Necromorph at bay with Deadspace’s trademark Plasma Cutter and Line Gun works well from a distance, as you slice off limbs and stomp corpses like nobody’s business, but getting up close and personal is a death sentence. This rusty Isaac is frustrating to move and it causes problems in combat. Yes, he’s clunking around in an incredibly heavy engineering outfit, but there’s a stiffness to his movements that were ironed out in the sequels. However, this warm and fuzzy feeling is quickly swept aside when I get reacquainted with the controls. Docking on the USG Ishimura again after all this time brought back a wave of nostalgia.
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