The success of the Dead Space Remake brought the series back into the spotlight, but EA Motive may have set the wrong goals in the future…

Dead Space 2023 was a masterful reimagining of the 2008 classic. Praised by critics and fans alike, the remake provided the first Dead Space with many of the improvements made by the sequel. This made the core mechanics much more fluid and fine-tuned. After the massive success of Dead Space Remake, rumours began to surface that developer EA Motive was planning to remake Dead Space 2.

While this would be a welcome experience for many fans, it sets the series down a peculiar path as it’s remixed past titles rather than advancing the series.

Dead Space has remained largely under the radar in the time since its release. The rest of 2023 was filled with massive critical and commercial success. Fans hope that the first game’s success will lead to more Dead Space series. But it seems likely that EA Motive will follow the modern and frustrating trend of remaking old titles instead of giving fans a new adventure. However, the original Dead Space trilogy ended by failing to assemble a fourth instalment. A remixed trilogy may well suffer the same fate.

The reimagining of the Dead Space trilogy faces more potential problems than the original

The original Dead Space trilogy occupies a special place among survival horror. But the ending is the best example of how to ruin a series by “over-modernizing”. The first title took players by storm with its unique scares, dismemberment mechanics and sci-fi horror immersion. Dead Space 2 greatly improved upon the core mechanics of the series and dazzled fans with a far more grandiose and psychologically gruesome masterpiece. However, Dead Space 3 tried to inject the series with certain hallmarks of the era. Namely with the action-horror focus and the local cooperative campaign.

In doing so, it removed the things that Dead Space fans loved most about the series, which was not well received and killed the series’s momentum – a sequel to Dead Space 3 was never made.

The Dead Space remake trilogy runs the risk of meeting the fate of the original game. Unless the games can really differentiate themselves from their predecessors. However, this leads to another problem. Among other things, the Dead Space Remake was so successful because it implemented and improved upon the core features of the sequels. The title sounds more like Dead Space 2 than the game it’s based on. While this allows the first remake to stand out, it creates a unique situation where a Dead Space 2 remake would struggle to distinguish itself. By the time the Dead Space 3 remake comes out, the series may no longer have the momentum needed to make a fourth instalment.

Could EA Motive be on the wrong horse by focusing on Dead Space remakes?!

Dead Space (2023) breathed new life into the series. It reintroduced a forgotten masterpiece to a new generation of gamers. However, its success should indicate the viability of a fourth instalment. Not a desire for a remake trilogy. Fans already had to wait an entire decade for a modern Dead Space title, the 2023 remake. The development and release of the next two sequels could take nearly another decade. If EA Motive were to focus their efforts on recreating the trilogy instead of expanding the series, they would be setting themselves the wrong goal.

Dead Space fans are burning with desire for a new instalment in the series, and the success of last year’s remake proves that the series holds its own in the modern environment.

Because of this, long-time fans may not be enthusiastic about re-entering the original trilogy. Especially if we take into account the significantly weaker last part. Developers should strike while the iron is hot. Invest in the future of the Dead Space series rather than its past. Until there is an official announcement about the next part of the series, we can still hope that the fourth part of the Dead Space series will appear sooner or later.

Source: PC Gamer