Dead Space (2023 video game)

Dead Space is an upcoming science fiction survival horror video game, developed by Motive Studios and published by Electronic Arts. A remake of the 2008 game of the same name developed by EA Redwood Shores, it is scheduled to be released in early 2023 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. It is the first entry in the Dead Space series since 2013’s Dead Space 3.

Synopsis
The game retains the same basic plot as the original. Set in the 26th century, the story follows engineer Isaac Clarke, a crewman on a repair vessel assigned to the USG Ishimura, a massive planetary mining ship that has gone silent. While investigating a distress call sent by the ship's medical officer (Issac's girlfriend), the vessel's crew is attacked by mutated humans; Issac is forced to fend for himself as he tries to save his surviving crewmates and learn the truth behind the loss of Ishimura.

Development
Games journalist Jeff Grubb of GamesBeat reported that a remake of Dead Space was in development at Motive on July 1, 2021. He speculated that the success of EA’s single-player Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order and Capcom’s remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3 were instrumental in the publisher’s decision to green-light the Dead Space remake.

The game is being developed using EA’s proprietary Frostbite engine, which Motive Studios previously used to develop Star Wars: Squadrons and the single-player campaign of Star Wars Battlefront II. The game will retain the same story and structure as the original but feature redesigned assets, character models, and environments. The developers intend to take advantage of SSDs on the ninth generation of consoles to have the game be presented as an “uninterrupted sequence shot”, absent of loading screens. Content that was removed from the original game due to technical constraints may also be added. The game will not feature any microtransactions, in contrast to Dead Space 3, where the addition of microtransactions resulted in a negative reception.

The art director for the game, Mike Yazijan, previously worked as art director at EA Montreal assisting Visceral Games in developing Dead Space 2. Gunner Wright will be reprising his role as Isaac Clarke, who will be fully voiced, much like his appearances in Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3.

Marketing
The game was announced at EA’s Play Live event on July 22, 2021, accompanied by a teaser trailer, with an initial target release date of late 2022. On March 11, 2022, it was announced that the game was being pushed to early 2023.