It is as fascinating as the deadspace remake manages to effectively combine old and new, specifically the classic elements of Visceral Games' survival horror masterpiece and completely overhauled cosmetics, making extensive use of next-gen technologies to power the PS5 and Xbox series , obviously, to the Windows platform.
The latter can count on the best version of the title developed by EA Motive, thanks to the presence of more advanced presets that do not have to suffer from frame rate limitations, as long as you have a configuration capable of supporting a similar load. : we tell you in ours review of the PC version of Dead Space.
Story: Back at USG Ishimura
As we explained in the comparison between Dead Space and The Callisto Protocol, the history of Isaac Clarke and his expedition aboard the USG Ishimura continues to exert great fascination today, especially thanks to some narrative elements that the developers tried to enhance in the remake, even without really giving the story a cinematic plan.
The protagonist goes with a rescue team to the enormous spaceship that has been left adrift after receiving a call for help from his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Nicole Brennan, but once he arrives he only finds death and horror. In fact, the crew has apparently been exterminated by hordes of hideous creatures, i Necromorphs: The unhealthy union between an alien parasite and a human body, most commonly developing long, sharp appendages.
The only way to eliminate these monsters is literally tearing off his limbs, and after witnessing the massacre of some of his companions, Isaac finds the perfect tool for that purpose: the Plasma Blade. The iconic weapon from the original Dead Space is for long periods the absolute protagonist of the action, as we strive to explore the different sectors of the USG Ishimura in an attempt to recover Nicole and find an escape route together.
If in the 2008 original the main character did not say a word and remained with his face covered until the final sequence, in an attempt by the developers to increase the player's level of identification, in the remake they chose to give him a face and a voice immediately, that of actor Gunner Wright, who played Clarke in the first trilogy: a decision that seemed understandable but controversial, and that inevitably takes away some of the charm of the experience.
Playability and structure: you see and improved
The new version of Dead Space not only revolutionizes the technical aspects of Visceral Games' masterpiece, but also introduces several innovations in terms of game y structure, managing to offer an even more solid system but above all in keeping with the times, in the context of solutions that are very reminiscent of the work of Capcom that we described in the review of the remake of Resident Evil 2.
The developers have decided to stick to the Classic survival horror canons. and to an already credible setting, that of a protagonist who cannot move with great speed or agility due to the armor he wears, also designed to carry out repairs on the external elements of ships and therefore capable of moving in open space, this time thanks to the use of a pair of thrusters.
Il combat system Therefore, it is necessary to keep your distance from the Necromorphs, trying to use the weapons that are gradually becoming available to dismember them: a solution that emphasizes the monstrosity and danger of these creatures, and that is combined with the use of Stasis and the Kinetic Module to Complete a repertoire that paves the way for shooter action mechanics capable of giving great satisfaction.
An even more solid system not only due to the excellent characterization of each individual instrument, but also due to resource and ammunition management that requires dedicating time and attention to the exploratory phase, which in the new version takes advantage of the security clearance file to promote a recoil which is still optional but can actually add something to the experience.
Behind the sounds, the sudden exits and the positioning of the Necromorphs within the stage is, in fact, theDirector of Intensity, a system developed by EA Motive to fundamentally manage the game's ability to take us by surprise. Thanks to it, returning to places already visited, perhaps to recover the contents of some chests or to access previously inaccessible rooms, can lead to unexpected events, such as furious confrontations with newly "activated" creatures.
In this sense, the Dead Space bestiary is phenomenal, both in terms of monster design, which truly inspire fear, both for their variety. The primal instincts of many of these creatures, which charge headlong regardless of the weapons at our disposal, are also combined with the unpredictable behavior of the Lurkers, who tend to hide from sight and then hit us with their darts.
Technical realization
It is true that EA Motive's remake does not take the opportunity to take the narrative to a cinematic level, preferring to maintain the standard character models during most of the intermediate sequences, with everything that follows also and especially in the foreground. of facial animations and general details, at the level ofeffects There is no doubt that the game meets a new generation experience.
Therefore, the key elements of a sci-fi survival horror the alternation of lights, shadows and fog, can count in this case on extremely sophisticated and convincing technologies, which also contribute very clearly to the game mechanics. The fog that you will find in certain places, for example, will prevent you from seeing enemies and even aiming with the weapon's laser, which is projected over the smoke.
If it is true that the design of the Necromorphs has remained faithful to the 2008 original, under their horrible exterior they hide layers of muscles and bones that under the blows of our weapons they reveal themselves horribly, thus giving us a precise idea of the damage caused and how much more we will have to insist so that those monstrous appendages are cut off, finally stopping the advance of the enemy.
It's interesting to see this aspect as an addition to Dead Space's historical graphical interface, allowing you to control the indicators of his life energy and Stasis directly on the protagonist's armor. In short, we move between fidelity to the past and the need to renew a product for 2023, which we find in particular in the animations of Isaac, less rigid just as his steps are more agile and quick through the corridors of the USG Ishimura.
The enormous spaceship plays a fundamental role in the adventure, which it once again performs with great competence and conviction thanks to a solid design and in its iconic way, once again a successful middle ground between respect for the original work and the desire to present something new; even in regards to the secondary characters, who are better characterized not only from a narrative point of view but also visually.
In this sense, unfortunately, the Spanish dubbing it's unconvincing and ends up taking away from the experience rather than adding to it. Could it be the fault of a blind interpretation without references, as usually happens in video games? We don't know, but the result often leaves something to be desired in terms of intensity and conviction, with the sole exception of the actor who plays Isaac. Oh obviously in the remake we save Dario Argento, iconic director but nightmare voice actor.
The PC version
So how is the Dead Space remake doing on PC? At the beginning we talked about "best version" not by chance: although the qualitative presets adopted by the developers are basically the same as those used in the PS5 and Xbox series, the best compromise in terms of resolution effective and frames per second.
Of course, in all cases some improvement technology is not ignored, be it DLSS 2.0 or FSR 2.0, which seem to behave in a similar way but with a slight advantage of the system developed by NVIDIA: apparently the graphics of the EA Motive title are so complex that at the highest resolutions Literally ruins any GPU, with the sole exception of the flagship models of the still inaccessible 4000 series.
Using a configuration that includes an Intel Core i5 13500 processor, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and what is currently one of the most popular graphics cards among PC gamers, the RTX 3070, this extraordinary weight translates to approximately 50 fps at 1440p effective, with all settings at maximum (excluding ray tracing) and without DLSS or FSR. By activating these latest technologies with the "quality" preset, the game receives a substantial boost, exceeding 100 fps.
However, we are going to enable the ray tracing, which the remake of Dead Space applies to ambient occlusion, the situation changes a lot and to keep everything at a maximum of 1440p and reach 60 fps you have to opt for the "balanced" preset or activate the dynamic scaler, which decreases the resolution where there is a need, thus managing to reduce performance enough to fill small gaps.
Another path is clearly that of fine adjustments, after all there is no shortage of options if you want to experiment: in addition to resolution and vertical sync, we have the opportunity to use VRS or not, choose antialiasing between TAA, DLSS and FSR, then configure the quality of light, shadows and reflections, volumetric resolution (which largely affects fluidity), the aforementioned ambient occlusion with or without ray tracing and the quality of the depth of field.
According to our tests, with an RTX 3070 it is possible to successfully achieve 4K and 60 fps output, but not without reducing presets and activating image enhancement technologies. In all cases it is important to deactivate the "grainy film" effect, which adds noise to a situation already prone to reconstruction artifacts, and try to maintain a certain percentage of excess performance to avoid incurring obvious noise phenomena. stuttering, especially when moving from one section to another.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam, Origin Price 59,99 € Holygamerz.com 8.5 Readers (25) 8.5 your voteDead Space is an excellent remake, capable of transmitting all the positive energies of Visceral Games' masterpiece and channeling them in the right way, improving not only the technical sector but also the gameplay and refining the narrative and the characters, despite some choices that I don't feel like sharing fully. The PC version offers the possibility of enjoying a visual impact greater than that seen on PS5 and Xbox Series, but fortunately there is no shortage of options.
PRO
- A technically spectacular remake
- Various improvements to the game.
- Fascinating story, refined for the occasion.
AGAINST
- Significant weight on PC
- Isaac has lost his aura of mystery.
- The Spanish dubbing leaves a lot to be desired.
