EA’s upcoming remake of Dead Space won’t be identical, like the recent The Last of Us: Part I. With its return to the Ishimura, developer Motive has taken the opportunity to revise certain aspects. The most obvious of these is the fact that protagonist Isaac Clarke now talks, although there are other subtle tweaks – he no longer finds his iconic Plasma Cutter, for example, but builds it himself. Well, he is supposed to be an engineer, after all!

Rather than a series of segregated areas, the Ishimura is now one large interconnected location, and that means there are sections you’ll be able to return to, where the developer has built in extra areas you’ll only be able to access with improved security clearance. Furthermore, when revisiting certain sections of the ship, the Intensity Director – a new feature which effectively determines what kind of encounters you face – will ensure you never know quite what to expect.

There’s a ton more work been invested, specifically in the Zero-G sections. In the original, these were effectively on-rails sequences, where you could jump from boost pad to boost pad. Now, however, you have full freedom to fly in whichever direction you want, creating truly topsy-turvy combat gauntlets that add even more to the intensity of the action. It all looks and sounds superb – the side-by-sides in the video embedded above demonstrate just what a leap forward this version is.

[source youtube.com]