Dead
Space

Dead Space (2008) is a remake of an adventure horror game where you must survive on an abandoned spaceship filled with mutated humans. You explore and solve puzzles, all while shooting enemies and carefully managing your health and limited resources. Like the 2008 original, it offers scares as well as excitement and creates immersion with environmental storytelling that leads you to unravel the mystery surrounding the ship.

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You play Isaac Clarke, who's sent on a mission to repair the USG Ishimura after the ship falls silent. As you carry out your objective, your crew is attacked by terrifying mutated human corpses called Necromorphs. You must fend for yourself while also saving the survivors and uncovering the cause of the ship's apparent desertion.

Play involves making your way through the ship and completing various physics-based puzzles, such as using zero-G to push items through space or reach platforms and key items. Completing these puzzles allows you to unlock doors and new areas and make progress. As you explore, you use your weapons to shoot the Necromorphs that appear. Depending on how you wound them, they may mutate even further, so tactics and careful and thought-through planning is essential in taking them down.

As you progress, you need to remain acutely aware of the sounds around you, as they often cue you into incoming attacks and even your own state of health through your heartbeat and your breathing. Additionally, there is no head-up display, with your health, oxygen level, and even ammunition displayed on your suit and weapons instead, increasing the immersion and meaning close attention must be paid at all-time to you and your surroundings to ensure you don't end up cut off from escape or overwhelmed.

The result is an immersive survival-horror experience that draws you in through strategic combat, puzzles and environments and forces you to stay alert through diegetic information and sound. Trying to survive and unravel the mystery of USG Ishimura is equal parts fun, engaging, and a high-adrenaline scare, akin to watching a good horror film.

The Dead Space franchise has spawned several games and spin-offs:

• Dead Space (2008) PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
• Dead Space: Extraction (2009) Wii and PlayStation 3
• Dead Space Ignition (2010) Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
• Dead Space 2 (2011) PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
• Dead Space (mobile spin-off) (2011) Android and iOS
• Dead Space 3 (2013) PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
• Dead Space Remake (2023) PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Dead Space 21 months ago. It was re-examined by Ellen Robertson and updated 3 weeks ago.