PLAY
Dead Space
We’re only a few minutes into Motive Studio’s respectful remake when we encounter its first major departure from the original survival horror: previously silent protagonist Isaac Clarke has found his voice. It doesn’t come as a great shock – after all, it’s the same one with which he spoke in the series’ later instalments – but quickly sets the tone. His shift from totally mute to merely laconic is exactly the kind of judicious alteration we find popping up time and again, fleshing out what was previously lacking.
Welcome back, then, to a refurbished but not totally revamped USG Ishimura, the doomed ‘planet cracking’ mining vessel that Clarke and his comrades have been sent to fix: a repair mission even newcomers will sense is about to go awry. Sure enough, they soon discover that a hive of necromorphs (Dead Space’s brand of mutant zombies) has taken up residence on the allbut-empty ship, leaving you to plot an escape while unravelling the truth behind this nightmare. Though the remaining crew has gone insane, the necromorphs have their heads firmly screwed on, making their limbs the most vulnerable tissue to tear apart using your arsenal of engineering tools turned makeshift weapons.