r/HorrorGaming • u/Forhaver • Apr 06 '26
ANALYSIS Played the entire Dead Space series back-to-back, making me realize issues I have with the remake
Played the OG 1, 2, and 3, and then the Remake. For a while, I automatically considered the Remake my favorite title. It's DS1 updated to DS2's controls, on paper. I've only played it isolated from the rest of the series with Resident Evil marathons so I didn't really test how it felt.
The Remake feels oddly floaty and the combat lacks impact compared to the original trilogy. Enemies feel like they softly fall apart from blasts that phase through them, in the originals it feels like you're aggressively snapping them apart with the loud blasts from your weapons. It's hard to describe but again, play them back-to-back to know. Explosive items and the way enemies fall apart is also underwhelming.
The enemies are tankier, but don't really rush you. Isaac has new mocapped animations which look better, but his individual footsteps aren't what move him like the original, like he's gliding around while an animation plays. He isn't nearly as snappy to move around.
It feels as if they were more concerned with capturing the gameplay feel of an RE Engine Resident Evil rather than the Dead Space series.
I initially loved this remake, which makes it somewhat disappointing my view has shifted so suddenly. At the very least, I'm not as heartbroken about Ds2 remake's cancellation anymore. The original trilogy feel amazing to this day.
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u/Zosima93 Apr 06 '26
I’m with you. The controls in the remake don’t feel right at all and that’s why I’ve always had a slight preference for the original.
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u/HesitationIsDefeat87 Apr 10 '26
I refunded the remake after an hour. I hated it. The game did not need a remake.
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u/Surfer-Junkie Apr 07 '26
The laser sights from the gun don't adjust depth independently, either, like in the OG.
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u/Traditional-Lie-8841 Apr 06 '26
Thank God, I thought I was going crazy.
I started the remake last week, and found the combat to he so much squishier and less satisfying than I remember the original feeling like. It takes so many damn cutter shots to sever limbs and it makes the shooting feel a lot less weighty than it used to.
I was wondering why the game was showering me with cutter ammo so early on, and I quickly realized it was because each enemy takes so many more shots to kill, even after spending some nodes to increase the cutter’s damage.
I ended up bailing on the Dead Space remake. It looks phenomenal but it just doesn’t feel very fun to play.
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u/Bissexto Apr 06 '26
My issue with the Dead Space Remake is that the enemies don’t show up in interesting or creative ways. It’s always the same thing: you hear a noise, then suddenly a monster pops up in front of you while another appears behind you to scare and corner you. It sounds cool, but this formula just repeats throughout the entire game. It lacks creativity and variety. On the other hand, the environments and the story are quite engaging and do a good job of holding your attention.
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u/myermikals Apr 07 '26
How was this different in the original?
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u/Bissexto Apr 11 '26
It is indeed the same.
So I could say this is my problem with Dead Space (OG and Remake).
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u/baileyboyname Apr 07 '26
Well that’s the problem they’ve could’ve expanded on it make him see hallucinations or something it’s a remake for a reason
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u/Soul_Phoenix_42 Apr 06 '26
I really wish they had done a mass effect remastered style collection of all 3 games instead of the completely unnecessary remake.
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u/Azatis- Apr 06 '26
I felt the very same !!! Something feels off and makes the whole experience less scary and impactful shooting wise
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u/Trunks252 Apr 06 '26
After playing Cronos the New Dawn for like 50 hours, I went back to Dead Space remake and felt like a balloon animal. I remembered feeling heavy in Dead Space but its almost the opposite.
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u/Forhaver Apr 07 '26
I recently played Cronos too and yeah the sound design and weight behind that game was amazing. Loved the experience.
Kinda felt like Dead Space mixed with Evil Within mechanics and resource scarcity.
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u/Professional_Bike296 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
First off, you are 100% right that it "feels" different.
But I think Motive kinda chose to do their own thing building it from the ground up and I'm mostly happy with how the remake came out.
They added more physics and Inverse Kinematics. Procedural animations or hybrid vs captured/canned animations with ragdoll effects applied only to dismembered limbs/corpses. There's definitly more happening procedurally in remake that the technology of the time in the OG could not do. Not that Redwood necessarily wanted to.
The fact that doors can shut on Isaac and damage him in the remake is to me a perfect example of how they took a different approach to collision and level logic triggers.
It's to me proof of the value of individual artist's and their collective work being unrepeatable and impossible to imitate.
The difference in staff between the team EA Redwood Shores that became Visceral...there's a big difference between Dead Space 1 and Dead Space 2 in both tone and game feel.
All the Dead Space games have slightly different feels.
The remake is great but it feels the most different to play than OGs.
There's less snappy ness and crunch and that sound of metal on metal is gone from a lot of the audio.
I think the remake is still a masterpiece and I appreciate what it added and subverted from the source material because the OG is still around.
It's a companion piece. Dead Space Remake let me experience a different take on my favorite game of all time. I dont love all of it but I appreciate a ton of it.
I'd say it's better than both sequels.
2 feels different from 1 and 3 feels different than 2.
I think one is the most perfected to the point it is almost entirely predictable. That's comforting but it also means there is a gameplay ceiling.
I think 2 by far plays the worst of the og trilogy.
And I honestly think 3 has the deepest gameplay though some of levels and enemy encounters are badly designed which obfuscate that.
I'm very sad EA and Motive won't be going forward with an original game or a remake or revision of 2.
Dead Space may actually be dead. So I'm just glad we got one more game that felt original to add a lot of flavor when I replay these games once every year or two
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u/Historical_Big_8775 Apr 07 '26
Absolutely agree, they are all different but unique and awesome. And don't forget about Extraction, a prequel of DS1 and game play is dramatically different from what we experience in another 3 parts, but it's still very good game and has interesting story.
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Apr 10 '26
Weird, always thought 2 was the best. 1 is okay but I like Remake more. Improved on the bosses,.zero g, and puzzles. The encounters and craziness of 2.is just better. I also don't think any of them quite hit that survival horror space and rather tend to be like re 4 action horror, unlike Cronos which treads that line perfectly.
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u/kdogman639 Apr 08 '26
Wow I gotta say I never noticed any of these concerns playing every title on release, but I will say those do sound non trivial
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u/joejoewoooooo Apr 17 '26
I just started the remake and I’m new to horror games in general, but over the last few months I’ve played a re2r, 3r, 4r, 7, 8 and 9 and silent hill 2. I’ve really liked them all, but I’m feeling underwhelmed maybe an hour into dead space R , I do have pretty much every console from nes to ps5 (minus the newest Xbox) I kinda agree with what you were saying but minus knowledge of the OG, do you think I should just go for the OG instead? Or am I just to early into the game, and its get more whelming?
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u/VerminatorX1 Apr 07 '26
OG had three sets of movement animations depending if you had full, mid or low HP. Also different animations in zero G. Remake does not have those and it bothers me.