Dead Space (Remake) is a science fiction survival horror game. The original game was released in October of 2008. It has been 15 years and now they have brought it back this year upgraded and looking great! The story/gameplay mostly takes place in space on the USG Ishimura. Ishimura is a world cracking ship that’s stopped digging. You play as an engineer on a small team that was sent for what they thought was a repair job. Once the teams ship, named USG Kellion, is docked with Ishimura, it becomes clear that something is going majorly wrong. If you enjoy a stress inducing gory nightmare then read on.

The first screen I saw when loading up the game was a disappointing menu that didn’t look fancied up to me. Now that I have played the game for a couple of days though, I see that the main menu didn’t matter because it’s so quick and easy to jump in where you left off, because there isn’t a fancy show to load past at the start. The menus are easy to see and navigate which is necessary in a fast paced survival situation.

Like my first playthrough a hundred years ago when I preordered the original, I got to relive how nerve wracking the Ishimura is less than a minute after going through the first set of automatic doors. It is a mess and there are no people in what would normally be a very busy area with security on a ship of that size. Fast forward from there and I have now put in about three and a half hours of time and for those of you who know the story already, I’m working on getting the engines back on.

The first few monsters are the scariest to me. It had been so long since I’d had to fight them that is was like the first time. I was lucky there was a reminder on the wall (in blood) when picking up my first weapon to “cut off the limbs”. It seems to be two limbs that kills them for good. Eventually, because there are so many of them, I became accustomed to running into them, and again like in the past started to love dismembering them and stomping on their juicy corpses. It is also enjoyable to stomp on human corpses, even though you get nothing out of it except the joy of watching their heads pop off and squirt blood everywhere. Near the time when I started trying to remember if there were other varieties of the monsters because it seemed like the same one kept coming, the monster family started to trickle in. I have lost count already of how many different types I have seen now. I think it is less than 10 but possibly more than 5 and it always keeps me guessing about which type of weapon to have out and ready.

(Dead Space Remake)

(For comparison, Dead Space original)

I love how the game looks. It might not be quite as good as if the game was a new title with everything current, but it still looks great. The graffiti all over the walls made from various substances is enjoyable to read, but I keep wondering who had time to write all of it? Especially those using blood that got some thick fonts and full sentences finished. I don’t expect perfection, and story-wise I enjoy it, so I wouldn’t want to go without the crazy scribbles.

The weapons seem improved. I get excited each time a new one appears and I’m now up to three different types which have very different uses. They are all futuristic and I don’t remember their official names even though I have used them quite a bit, but the first one you find is basically a pistol. It’s great for focusing in on individual limbs. The second one is like a machine gun and even unupgraded it’s pretty good at mowing multiple monsters down. The third is the one I was most excited for and it is like a saw that has a levitating blade that just cuts through everything. It is the most satisfying way to kill in my opinion. I like to carry it when walking through tight spaces like hallways and going through doorways so I can cut down anyone in my way. I did get too into it and was killed multiple times when I clearly needed long range weapons, but it’s just too good. I recommend aiming for the legs of most enemies, especially the faster moving ones to slow them down a bit.

I think it’s a high quality remake. I don’t normally get those, but I was excited to see it again remembering how I felt about the first version. It looks and feels better. The sound quality is so good and I recommend turning up the volume so you can hear all of the little things they throw in to make you uncomfortable.

Hey guys, this is Andy, the usual writer of this blog. I didn’t pick up Dead Space, but Chelsi did and suggested that she could do a guest First Impressions post for it. I thought that was a great idea, so here it is. If you enjoyed it, make sure you check out her horror blog over at http://corpserecycling.blog. She’s planning on doing a full review of the game over there once she’s finished it.