Dead Space Review

Dead in space:

Many years ago, when Dead Space was released … it was directly a huge hit! It was a very intense, survival horror game that many of us still have great memories from. It rapidly became a classic game.

This “new” Dead Space takes up the founding characteristics and distinctive features of the cornerstone of videogame horror, and embellishes them with a series of effective and shrewd interventions, including unprecedented narrative elements, revisited characters and welcome improvements on the playful front.

Welcome to the abyss:

Of the more than 400 starships that make up the fleet of the CEC, the largest planetary mining company in existence, the USG Ishimura is certainly the flagship , a tireless hunter of precious minerals that occasionally needs repairs by figures highly skilled. After intercepting a distress call, the engineer Isaac Clarke and his team then reach the imposing “Planet Cracker” convinced they have a routine operation on their hands, but inside the vessel they find only chaos, blood and death .

In this whirlwind of events that throws man into an abyss of horror and madness, there is room for personal motivations, the deviated aims of an organization with a religious background, intrigues and the shadow of a mysterious artifact . Just as in the case of the original, the story intelligently exploits the clichés of the genre, which become pieces of an effective and articulated screenplay, enriched by a wide assortment of text files and audiologs.

On the Ishimura:

15 years after our first exploration of the Ishimura, we found ourselves wandering into the dark recesses of an unnerving theater of horrors like never before, powered by state-of-the-art level design . The claustrophobic corridors and the more labyrinthine areas of the vessel therefore become the pulsating veins of an intricate but at the same time “manageable” scenario, provided that the tension aroused by the constant threat of necromorphs is tamed, ready to violate the player’s senses with sudden appearances and potentially lethal.

EA Motive has included a New Game + in the package with some variants of the necromorphs and the possibility of unlocking an alternative ending . In addition to a new difficulty level designed for newbies (story mode), we also mention the “Impossible” option, which has the same characteristics as “Hard” but does not allow users the luxury of the occasional death. To win an exclusive weapon and armor, players will have to stay alive for the entire duration of the campaign: a hardcore experience that will offer even experts bread for their teeth.

Mindful of the feedback accumulated at the time of Visceral, the developers have rethought the interface and the composition of the map, which is now more readable and functional. In short, reaching a floor of a given area of ​​the vessel is an easier operation, also thanks to the transport system that interconnects all sectors and the absence of loading , both during exploration and when going from the main menu to the last save. In addition to proceeding to complete his duties as an engineer, Isaac can retrace the steps of important characters and collect significant items for progression, during secondary missions organically inserted in the frame of the offer. Being divided into several objectives to be completed between the stages of the adventure, the side quests naturally encourage extending Isaac’s stay aboard the Ishimura as the engineer will be granted new security permits, which if we want represent the decorated keys of Resident Evil in Dead Space format .

In the recreational areas of the Ishimura, as well as in the private rooms or in the areas responsible for the functioning of the vessel, it is possible to find trunks, lockers and entire loot rooms (previously accessible by spending the precious Nodes), all unlockable elements only if in possession of a sufficient level of security. Between additional upgrades for weapons, precious ammunition and semiconductors to sell at the shop to earn large amounts of credits, robbing these rooms has a concrete importance, not only for upgrading the arsenal but also for another new system of mint that regulates the gaming experience: the Intensity Director.