Game:

Dead Space (2008)

Duration: 12:40

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Developed by EA Redwood Shores, (who would later be rebranded as Visceral Games before being shut down in 2017); Dead Space was released in October 2008 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. And it would be remade with the Dead Space remake in 2023.
The player takes control of series main protagonist Isaac Clarke, a spaceship engineer sent to investigate and repair a deep space mining ship that has gone silent.
When he and the other members of his small crew enter the ship they find themselves stranded, and that the ships crew have succumbed to an Alien scourge named the Necromorphs.


Dead Space is a game I have fond memories of, and played not on release, but pretty shortly after it came out, maybe two or three months after.
It released during a very, very crowded Autumn 2008, alongside about a hundred million other games, but still managed to stand out thanks in part to being a horror game, a genre that, even back in 2008 was already becoming more of a rarity.
I remember enjoying it quite a lot when I first played it, all the way up until completion.
I thought it was fun, pretty scary, and just all round dope AF. And with the Remake having just came out, I thought We’d go back for a retrospective review in 2023.
Isn’t it crazy that we’re at the point now where we’re remaking games that had day one DLC and preorder bonuses. If that doesn’t make you feel old, I don’t know what will.

So, beginning with presentation; Dead Space was a really good looking game when it released, and playing it now I can say it does hold up well. The only thing negative I have to say is that there is some noticeable aliasing, meaning around some objects the edges can look jagged with that kinda staircase effect; which to be fair is something you’ll notice on probably any game from this era, especially on a larger TV. But it’s still acceptable and doesn’t take you out of the experience once you’ve gotten settled in.
One of my favourite touches they did was designing the game with no traditional HUD, which was quite innovative for the time, there’s absolutely no onscreen clutter with things like your health bar and ammunition all being in-universe.
Isaacs health is displayed on a light bar running along his spine, and then your remaining ammo, inventory, and communicating with other characters is all handled via in game hologram screens.
Everything takes place from a single perspective, there are no cut scenes or flashbacks or segments where you play as another character, from start to end everything you see is from Isaacs perspective, so you only ever know what Isaac knows. I like this, as you get to experience everything in real time as it’s happening around you, and coupled together with Isaac being a silent protagonist in the first game, all your reactions and thoughts are purely your own, without the more modern trope of characters announcing out loud telling us what we’re meant to be feeling, or making quips or jokes, or saying the answers to puzzles before we’ve even had time to work out the answer ourselves.
The environments we find ourselves in have a very dark, moody, and oppressive feel to them; while it takes place 500 years in the future and we are inside a spaceship for the majority of the game, it never looks or feels too high tech, but rather industrial, and heavy duty. The ship looks grimy, dusty, and oily, and has a very Alien look to it like the Nostromo, Hadley’s Hope, or Fiorina 161.

There are also lots of little touches that add a lot to the atmosphere, like how when you’re travelling through rooms and corridors you’ll hear sounds like pipes and machinery hissing, clanging, and banging, making you wonder what horrors could be lurking round the next corner, or beyond the next door, or if something’s gonna jump out of the wall right next to you.
Whenever you witness someone else die, their rig will make this flatlining noise, which I thought was a really nice subtle touch that really helps make the death of another character that bit more impactful.
Another real strong point for the game is in its enemy variety. There are loads of enemy types each with their unique looks and behaviours. They really did not skimp out on the character models and animations, especially with the Necromorphs. And every couple of hours you’ll be introduced to a new enemy type, which helps keep things fresh and interesting. There are also some pretty gruesome death animations when the player runs out of health, I can imagine people letting themselves get killed by different enemies on purpose just to see all of them.

Although I wasn’t scared playing it now, but the first time I do remember being pretty tensed up as I was playing. That’s maybe because I’m older than I was back then, but I think it’s mainly because I’ve already completed it before, as a lot of what makes the game scary the first time playing is the fear

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