Hands on with the Dead Space Remake shows it channels the original's terror beautifully

There is a cacophonous, neverending jump scare at the heart of the Dead Space remake in the few hours I've played so far. The spaceship you're on is a broken metal haunted house, constantly jangling your nerves with sparking, shorting electrics and unspecified clangings in the dark. It's a relentless sensory assault, where being attacked by alien corpse monster Necropmorphs actually ends up being a relief because at least then you can stop worrying what the noises might be.

Things to do

The constant mix of 'what was that' noises behind you, spooky whispers, and general uncertainty about what the next few minutes will bring just refuses to let you acclimatise or settle. The opening also creates an endless pressure that never lets up, after crashing on the apparently abandoned mining ship, the USG Ishimura. The engines need fixing and you'll collide with the planet below if you don't do that – BUT there's also a debris field above that will tear the hull apart once you gain altitude, so you need to get some defences online. All while dealing with a cosmic corpse infestation that starts, maybe, two minutes in? There's no teasing out any monster reveals or tension-building in Dead Space, as soon as you press start it's immediate wall-to-wall alien death and imminent calamity. And this is just the first three hours. It's like you're putting out fires with more fire and pocketing the still hot ashes as you go. 

While I only played the first three chapters, I was impressed with how well the remake keeps this unending horror alive, for want of a better word. The constant, pressing dread of bad things happening should just wear you down after a while – and at this point I've no idea how the pacing will space out over the entire game – but what I've played managed to somehow sustain itself without overstaying its welcome. That tick list of priorities presses in on all sides: the engines need fuel and restarting, there's a centrifuge to repair and get spinning, an asteroid defence system to reactivate, and so on. There's no time to catch your breath, and the fact that alien corpse monsters are never quite at the top of your list of problems is almost impressive. Where horror is usually about balancing big scares with quiet patches to let you sweat, this just keeps you busy enough to somehow put the flesh monsters on the backburner with a note that says 'problems for tomorrow me'. 

When Tomorrow You does have to deal with Necropmorphs, it's a stressful exercise in self-controlled vulnerability. Wailing on enemies with uncoordinated gun fire just makes them angrier – the way to kill them, famously, is to cut off their limbs. Sever enough bits and then they die, forcing you to try and stay calm enough to take careful shots while gibbering blade-armed cadavers run flailing at your face. As horror game mechanics go, it's up there with things like Resident Evil's restrictive view and turning circle or Fatal Frame's photography, as one of the greats, forcing you to try and retain a sliver of rational thought in the face of something that just wants to make you panic. 

Monster mash

One necromorph soon becomes manageable – lop off the legs to buy some time and then deal with the arms – but then there are multiples, or combinations of variants with different patterns and attacks. Things like basic necros bum rush you, while the alien corpse babies hang back and attack from range; or Leapers, fittingly, jump suddenly to launch themselves at you from way further back than you expect. Like a lot of good action horror, you have to constantly stay focused in the moment and make good, tactical decisions to survive. The weapons are violently impactful too, with a thud that makes every shot feel like it's got a starring role. There are also various alt fire modes adding another layer of strategy – timing when to best use the Pulse Rifle's limited grenade launcher for example (hardcore fans will probably notice that this is the Dead Space 2 firing mode, replacing the original's less useful 360 burst). 

Mastering the weapons becomes even more important when you realise creatures can spawn and appear from vents at almost any location at any time as well, thanks to something called the Intensity Director. This new bit of tech looks at how things are going and, if it's been quiet for a while, throws a few enemies in here and there to keep things exciting. It means you can never feel safe, even when backtracking well trodden areas. 

It's all appropriately gory for the series as well. There are bodies everywhere, bloody messages on the walls, and unhinged civilians hurting themselves and others. The Marker, an alien artefact behind all this, drives people insane with the resulting deaths and suicides providing the bodies needed to create Necromorphs, and do some other stuff I won't spoil here if you don't already know. Interestingly, director Roman Campos-Oriola tells me the Remake will rework elements of the original story to incorporate certain things that were only established in later sequels, spin-offs and comics. All you need to know at this point is, generally, it looks like someone ran a blender through every corridor in the ship and you're stomping through the chunky aftermath. 

Future shock

It's always a good sign when a demo ends and it leaves you wanting more. When I got home from the preview event I immediately started playing the original because I wanted to carry on the experience. What I found really interesting is how the remake is basically the same game, just more 'now'. There are obviously huge improvements to the visuals, with lots of new atmospheric and lighting upgrades, while the sound design takes all the haunted whispering and metal banging and turns it all up to a more contemporary level. The game overall, however, basically feels like an incredibly accurate recreation of the original. There are a few notable changes, though – the opening objectives at the start are slightly reordered, for example, following some redesigns to the ship layout which is now a fully traversable open space, and some differences in how you get some gear. Things like that, and the story retcons, make me wonder how close things will track over the whole thing. 

Even if this was to play out as a one-to-one remake, that's no bad thing, as what I've seen proves the original still has the chops. But I'm curious to see how the new ideas change things. I get the feeling that the opening's accuracy is almost a homage, it's so spot on, and that we'll see more interpretation in the later stages. Which could make an already strong remake, even more exciting. 

If you want to pre-order the Dead Space Remake then we've all the info you need, including how to get the Collector's Edition with Isaac's helmet.