EA Motive dropped several Dead Space hands-on previews today alongside a new extended gameplay walkthrough. In the nearly 10-minute video, we continue to see how much care has gone into the remake and how important it is to the team working on it.
Senior Producer Philippe Ducharme narrates Issac’s unending nightmare aboard the Ishimura. If you want to read along, a new entry on the PlayStation Blog is available as it breaks down several recent changes.
One of the most significant changes in Dead Space is Issac’s lines are now fully voiced. In the original Dead Space, Issac Clarke never had an active voice. Now, he’s not only speaking he’s yelling the names of his teammates, explaining the situation aboard the Ishimura and trying to restore the ship’s Centrifuge.
When Dead Space launches in January, you’ll notice that there are few, if any, loading sequences. Motive states that the goal is immersion and feeling like the ship is truly connected.
Zero-G makes a significant return and now Issac will have the freedom to float in zero-gravity sections across the Ishimura. In the original Dead Space, Issac used special boots to leap across platforms but those are no longer required and now include a propulsion boost to get across the station.
Previous sections were relegated to cinematics. Now, those same moments like the Captain’s corpse turning into a Necromorph will be playable sequences.
Also, new junction boxes require Issac to reroute power between different ship functions. Motive gives an example of rerouting power to a fueling station so you can choose between cutting lights or oxygen to achieve this. This leads to sections in the dark over dealing with sections with no oxygen.
To really take advantage of the new hardware, Motive put a lot of work into lighting and visual effects. This can be seen above as Issac reactivates the centrifuge.
If you ever felt like your experience wasn’t creepy enough then you’ll be curious to try out the Intensity Director, which turns up suspense with “creepy noises like creaking vents, surprised like bursting pipes, and unexpected necromorph attacks.”
Weapons also include new upgrades including the Plasma Cutter, Pulse Rifle, and more. Speaking of weapons, when Issac upgrades his Plasma Cutter, he now builds it to showcase his engineering skills. Previously Issac would pick the parts up across the ship.
