Dead Space (2008) Still Looks Good!

I'd been hearing the hype around the Dead Space for years. In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, I finally pulled the proverbial trigger and picked up the original trilogy. With that in mind, and considering that the first game recently got a remake, I wanted to share my thoughts on those games.

The Scariest Game of the Genre

The original Dead Space was developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts in 2008.

Development started in or around 2005, with the original plan being to make the next entry in the System Shock series (System Shock 3). The team didn't get much support, though, which, if I had to guess, stemmed from the debacle surrounding the System Shock IP at the release of System Shock 2.

The idea was to make the scariest horror game possible. The focal shift to horror was influenced by the release and popularity of Resident Evil 4 at the time.

When it was released, Dead Space was met with critical acclaim and is still considered one of the best videogames ever made. By November of 2008, Dead Space had sold a massive 193,000 units and reached the No. 10 spot in North American sales. There were two direct sequels - which I'll discuss another time - and a few spinoffs and tie-ins (novels, comics, etc.) which have expanded the property quite a bit.

What's the Story?

The USG Ishimura is a planet cracker, a mining ship in the Aegis VII system that has gone completely radio silent while on a job. Assuming that it's a simple communications breakdown, a small repair team from the USG Kellion goes to fix it and ends up crash landing in the ship's hangar.

The small team soon discovers that the Ishimura is not as deserted as it seems, the ship is crawling with bloodthirsty aliens.

I could say more, but I'm not going to - I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't played the game...although, if you haven't played it, what are you doing? Go play it, seriously...after reading this, of course.

The Good Stuff

Dead Space does a number of things right.

Atmosphere and Visuals

The atmosphere is critical to any horror game, and it's easy to mess it up with jump scares. Thankfully, Dead Space manages to avoid that problem. Everything from the lighting to the sound design and visuals serves to create this unsettling feeling of dread and discomfort.

You're constantly wondering what's going to appear around the corner, and you almost always have the sense that you're being watched.

Visually, the game is absolutely gorgeous and still looks great 15 years after its initial release. The textures and shadows are just phenomenal and you get a real sense of isolation. It's like watching Aliens when they arrive at the colony on LV426 and find everyone missing and later cocooned.

There's a strong sense of isolation and loneliness aboard the Ishimura. This makes contact with your shipmates something of a lifeline to keep you sane.

The Sound Design

Speaking of the sound design, let's discuss that next. Sound design in a videogame is crucial because the audience uses both sight AND sound to process what's going on around them. When it came to the sound design of Dead Space, there were plenty of times when the game straight-up trolls you.

"What we were looking for was how could we scare people just with sound, no monster, no nothing." - Glen Schofield

Some loud bang or a creak of the ship will happen, or you'll hear a necromorph somewhere. You expect the monster to jump out but nothing happens, then you round the corner after the scary sound and SURPRISE! there's a monster waiting to rip you in half.

Creatures, Combat, and Scares

The creatures in Dead Space are 100% nightmare fuel - especially later in the game when you find them stuck to the wall...you know, like this:

As for the scares...well, Dead Space relies heavily on atmospheric fear but there are a few jump scares as well. Those jump scares are few and far between - making them effective every time. Building on that point, the combat is very well done. It's not something that you're going to struggle with - the gradual increase in difficulty makes sure of that.

The Two Biggest Flaws in Dead Space

There were only two major problems with Dead Space.

The ADS Cannon Segments

The ADS Cannon segments are a slog. There are two of them, the first is in chapter four. The Ishimura is being bombarded by asteroids and the ADS (Automated Defense) systems are offline. The system is sort of fixed but it needs to be calibrated.

Unfortunately, that means Isaac has to operate one of the cannons manually and shoot asteroids into stardust or the ship will fall apart. Now, don't get me wrong, the suspense and tension in the sequence is fine but...and this is a big 'BUT' who thought a shooting gallery minigame was a good idea? The whole game so far has been dark corridors, spooky ambiance, and scary monsters, and suddenly you're in a shooting gallery-type minigame.

The cannon itself is slow and clunky - even with the mouse sensitivity cranked up all the way and the whole thing drags the pacing to a grinding halt. It took me MONTHS to get through that section, and by the time I managed it, I was just so fed up with the game that I went on to play something else and didn't go back to Dead Space for a good couple of months again. Now, I saw a bit of footage from the remake and the ADS minigame is present there too but it looks far more manageable.

The Difficulty Bug

Okay, this bug frustrated me big time! Usually, when you log into a game's main menu, you click 'continue game' and you pick up where you left off - no biggie - it doesn't change anything. Dead Space has a bug or glitch of some kind that makes clicking 'continue game' a very risky move.

You see if you click 'continue game' instead of 'load game' your previous save will load but the difficulty will have changed. I prefer playing on Easy because that's less daunting than the other options. Imagine my horror when I found that my difficulty setting had been changed. Yes, you read that correctly, a single button press on the MAIN MENU can change your in-game difficulty.

This is Definitely Worth Playing!

All in all, the original Dead Space is an absolute blast to play. It's tense, it's atmospheric, it's challenging, and, most importantly, it'll scare the living daylights out of you!

If you haven't played this, I highly recommend giving it a shot a remake was released earlier this year so there's no better time to introduce yourself to the series.