Livestream reveals new look at Dead Space remake

The remake of the 2008 survival horror game Dead Space is getting a whole new look and fans got a peek today at just how close the developers are keeping to the original.

The hour-long livestream started with a trailer for the new game. Viewers were taken through the steps on how the development team went about creating each layer of art that went into making the environment of the game.

Fans even got some actual gameplay footage, which is rare for a game that was just announced in July. There was a lot missing in the game, but the developers were able to show some of the aspects of the gameplay through some pre-production development builds.

One of the things shown during the pre-production development section was the dismemberment feature. When players shoot an enemy, there’s instant feedback to the player regarding what part of the body they hit.

The body damage system allows players to remove the flesh from the bones of their enemies and gives an indication to the player of how much health the enemy has left. Different weapons are better at removing flesh than others and some are better if players want to completely dismember an enemy.

One of the biggest features in the game is also the zero gravity room. The mechanic has been overhauled from the original and allows players to have complete freedom. There are thrusters that allow the player to propel forward and new paths, environments, and challenges for players to explore.

The storytelling and narrative were also discussed. The developers were quite clear that the story isn’t going to change. There may be some enrichment to the themes and characters of the game, but the main storyline will remain intact.

“The things that we want to enrich in terms of story or narrative is the bigger universe of Dead Space,” creative director Roman Campos-Oriola said on the stream. “We want to have more ties to what came after, whether it’s the books, whether it’s the anime, whether it’s Dead Space 2, we want to put back the original in a better way inside that broader universe.”

In addition to the lore, Gunnar Wright is reprising his voice acting role as Isaac Clarke. But one of the biggest aspects and themes of the game is isolation. The developers created two rules for Isaac’s voice lines. Isaac will primarily only speak when spoken to and he’ll sometimes speak in a situation where it’d feel weird if he remained silent.

Lastly, the developers revealed that the purpose of the livestream was to get feedback from the community. Dead Space fans will be happy to know that the developers want to hear feedback and craft the game around what their community wants.

Based on their desire to be transparent while they’re developing the game, the developers are likely to produce more streams of this nature in the future.