EA Hopes To Do More With ‘Dead Space’s Comeback
Dead Space was MIA for 10 long years only to return better than ever. Now it looks like the game’s studio EA Games is ready for more.
The year 2008 saw the release of the greatest space horror game ever made. Dead Space was created by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey and published by EA Games. It was heavily inspired by Event Horizon, Solaris, and Resident Evil 4. The story follows starship systems engineer Isaac Clarke and a small team sent to a seemingly-abandoned ship, the USG Ishimura, after they receive a request for repairs. Isaac goes on the repair mission to see his girlfriend, having not seen her for 6 months – only to find that something has gone horribly wrong on the ship.
Courtesy of EA Games
When the game came out, it blew critics and gamers away. It won several awards the year it was released. EA saw the potential in the franchise, eventually releasing 2 sequels, 2 spin-offs, 2 animated movies, a mobile game, a comic book, and a novel. There have even been talks of a movie since 2013. The franchise seemed to be a big hit, until EA meddled too much with Dead Space 3. Sadly, this was the demise of Visceral Studios in 2017. Dead Space disappeared after that. EA has left the series dormant – until now.
“Death is Only the Beginning.”
Dead Space was revived by EA in 2021 when the company announced a remake at EA Play. The game would be developed by Motive Studios, known for Star Wars Squadrons and Star Wars Battlefront II. The announcement was a welcomed one, and the studio let everyone know that it wasn’t a remaster. The new game would be built from the ground up using the Frostbite Engine. The game was finally released a week ago and is an absolute masterpiece of a remake. I recently finished it and I can testify – this game took everything great about the original and just built on top of it. The brand-new lighting, audio, visuals, level design, and performances of the new cast just all blended into a game that never once felt like a remake.
Senior Producer Phil Ducharme and Creative Director Roman Campos-Oriola of Motive Studios spoke with GQ about remaking the classic horror game. When asked by Sam White if they had any ideas for what’s next for Dead Space, Phil Ducharme answered –
“For sure, it’s, it’s a hope that we have. There’s interest on my side and I think on Roman’s side – you can see his smile – in exploring Dead Space more. There are ideas, that’s for sure. We’re finishing this week, we’re going to be making sure that that launch goes well and that there are as few technical issues as possible. We’re gonna be heading out on vacation and then we’ll sit down and we’ll have those discussions within EA to say, ‘Well, what’s next?'”
The answer is an exciting one – after all, the series was thought gone after Dead Space 3 failed to live up to its predecessors. The only thing many gamers are wondering now is if this means a sequel to the remake will be a remake of Dead Space 2 or a whole brand-new story. I personally wouldn’t mind a remake of the sequel and a brand-new third game in the series. Motive Studios proved it cares immensely about the franchise with this remake. The sky is the limit with such a passionate team in control and I can’t wait to see what is next for Isaac Clarke.
Let us know in the comments what you want next from Dead Space.
“Stick around, I’m full of bad ideas.” – Isaac Clarke
