This Week In Retronauts: Dead Space [2008] (Patreon)

October 13, 2008: CUT THEIR OFF LIMBS

by Diamond Feit

The Resident Evil series lives rent-free in my head, as evidenced by its frequent appearances in my work for Retronauts. One of the many reasons I adore it so, particularly the 1996 original, is how it hides a science-fiction twist behind a spooky horror facade. First-time players will arrive in the Spencer Mansion, encounter its seemingly undead inhabitants, and assume this story must involve the supernatural. Instead, the endgame reveals this entire encounter has been an experiment gone wrong, seasoned with dashes of conspiracy and corporate greed. Yes, just like real life, the primary "evil" in Resident Evil is capitalism.

Science fiction and horror go together as well as peanut butter and chocolate, since both genres excel at dropping ordinary humans into extraordinary circumstances, often in isolated locations like underground laboratories, remote outposts, or ships at sea. Yet there's one location, ideal for either category, that trumps all other options: Outer space. Whether you want to frighten or fascinate your audience, nothing beats setting your story in the vast unknowable void that surrounds our planet.

15 years ago this week, Electronic Arts introduced a new title that deftly blended science and scares with a Resident Evil-style experience set far beyond our solar system. Instead of sending cops to investigate a crashed helicopter, Dead Space sends an engineer to investigate a missing spacecraft. Regardless, Issac Clarke's mission aboard the U.S.G. Ishimura goes about as well as Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield's night in Raccoon Forest.

Dead Space opens as Issac and a small team of associates approach the Ishimura to find out why she cut off all communications. They keep hailing the massive vessel but get no response, eventually receiving a garbled signal that convinces them there's a major malfunction to blame. When docking with the Ishimura doesn't go as planned, the new arrivals find no one waiting to greet them, even after the crash should have warranted an immediate response. They're not alone for long though, as a surprise quarantine alarm separates Issac from his shipmates, and then bizarre creatures appear and separate the security team's flesh from their bones.

Issac's new mission of survival compliments his initial orders, as he'll never repair the Ishimura or his own ship if the monsters get him first. While he's not a soldier and has no access to pulse rifles or hand grenades, Issac does carry a plasma cutter, a device that fires three bolts of energy vertically or horizontally. Like a modern-day nail gun or chainsaw, this futuristic tool proves effective as a weapon, lopping off limbs like a frugal shopper clipping coupons.

Dismemberment is a major component of combat in Dead Space, as the Necromorphs roaming the Ishimura incur more damage from losing an arm or a leg than shots to the torso or even the head; decapitation won't stop one from continuing its attack. These humanoid creatures look like malformed space zombies at first glance, but they're far more agile than a run-of-the-mill shambler. Adept at climbing and fond of tight spaces, the Necromorphs have a habit of appearing out of nowhere, scaling a catwalk or bursting out of air vents without warning.

From the moment players get to control Issac as he boards the Ishimura, Dead Space excels at creating and maintaining an oppressive sense of dread and tension. Early HD games tended to rely on dark, muddy textures no matter the setting, but that palette perfectly suits a decades-old mining ship. Too many science-fiction stories present the future as a series of impossibly clean, well-lit lounges, as if human beings will someday cease making messes wherever they go. Dead Space traps players in a brown and gray industrial environment, one that gives off bad vibes before any Necromorphs appear.

Remarkably, the game integrates its UI into Issac's surroundings, removing the usual on-screen indicators in favor of in-world elements. Colorful readouts on the back of Issac's suit communicate his remaining health and power. His plasma cutter's laser sights double as a light source, cursing the darkness in the event of a power failure. All menus and computer interfaces appear as holograms in front of Issac, reinforcing the illusion that he—not the player—is sorting through his inventory or checking his location.

Along with all this visual information, Dead Space features exceptionally strong sound design. While Jason Graves' musical score enhances major story beats and scripted conflicts, it's the incessant incidental noises that really get to me. As Issac explores empty hallways and abandoned workstations, metallic scraping, bestial growls, and even human whispers perpetually disrupt what should be utter silence.

Dead Space's overall aesthetics combine with its diegetic UI to keep the player on edge at all times as Issac is never truly safe. Opening a menu or looking at the map does not pause the game, and finding a save point is no guarantee you can let your guard down. The snarls of Necromorphs always echo in the distance, as they can spawn in just about any room large or small; I found myself constantly rotating the camera, convinced that some thing was inches away from Issac's back.

EA Redwood Shores, later known as Visceral Games, were open about their influences in making Dead Space. Designer Ben Wanat told PC Gamer in 2017 that the team made "Resident Evil 4 in space," and executive producer Glen Schofield admitted to Ars Technica in 2019 that he "wanted to make something like [Event Horizon]." This combination of action survival horror and science fiction horror proved lucrative, as critics heaped praise on Dead Space upon its 2008 release. Consumers responded in turn, nabbing a million copies within a few months.

Multiple sequels would follow, turning Dead Space into a legitimate franchise for Electronics Arts. Unfortunately, this increased public profile brought with it increased sales expectations. When Dead Space 3 topped the charts in February 2013 by moving over 600,000 copies, EA called the figures "below our forecast" a few months later; there would be no Dead Space 4. In a span of just five years, the series entered our collective gaming orbit and then flew too close to the sun.

Yet like a Necromorph suddenly pouncing into view from off camera, EA surprised fans with a 2021 announcement that Dead Space would return, not with a sequel or remaster but as a remake. After nearly a decade of radio silence, Issac Clarke stepped onto the deck of the U.S.G. Ishimura again for the first time in January of 2023. Ironically, just two months later Capcom launched its own AAA-remake with an all-new version of the game that inspired Dead Space, Resident Evil 4.

As two big-budget survival horror titles with a shared history have made major splashes this year, clearly the stars have aligned for another legend to resurface. Paramount Pictures, your destiny is clear: The time for an Event Horizon revival is nigh.

Diamond Feit lives in Osaka, Japan but is forever online, sharing idle thoughts about video games, films, and dessert.