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You played the Dead Space remake. Now check out its ‘demake’

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Three months or so in, 2023 has been the year of the remake, as some of this year’s best-reviewed games have been new versions of Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime, and Dead Space. Now, developer Fraser Brumley is looking to go the opposite way. Dead Space Demake is available for free on itch.io and clues us in on what it might have felt like if Visceral Games released Dead Space in the PlayStation 1 era.

It’s not even close to the full game — you should be able to get through it in around a half-hour — Brumley’s Dead Space Demake is a novel little Unreal Engine indie project that adapts some of Dead Space‘s iconic gameplay moments and locations into a much more retro-feeling formula. The PS1-era aesthetic works shockingly well with Dead Space‘s formula. The rough, pixelated edges of the space station corridors and the Necromorphs that attack Issac within them are just as creepy as the remake’s highly detailed versions of these same things.

Issac shoots a Necromorph in Dead Space Demake.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Even if you’ve played the original and EA Motive’s remake, the Dead Space Demake should still be a novel experience as you now have another way to experience some of the best parts of one of the greatest horror games of the past two decades. It speaks to the appeal of something Digital Trends has written about in the past, which is that remakes that reinvent and reimagine something well-known are just as interesting as the remakes that give an already great game a simple coat of fresh paint.

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Dead Space Demake is available for free on itch.io, although you should also pick up the Dead Space remake for PC, PS5, or Xbox Series X/S if you want to compare the two. 

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Tomas Franzese
Tomas Franzese
Gaming Staff Writer
As a Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
I played the original Dead Space before the remake — and I regret it
Issac stands tall in the Dead Space remake.

After skipping out on The Callisto Protocol once it became clear it wasn't going to become the next sci-fi horror classic, my eyes became fixed on the rapidly approaching Dead Space remake. While not made by the 2008 version's original team, developer Motive had been extremely transparent about how it was approaching the project through the entirety of its development. This was going to be a faithful remake, sticking true to what the original was, and only modernizing the look and making key changes here and there. This was meant to be a replacement for the original, not a companion piece.

Perhaps my expectations of Dead Space being closer to a spiritual successor came from the sort of marketing cold war going on with The Callisto Protocol. Both were heavily advertised and had high expectations; Callisto because it had Dead Space's original creators working on it, and Dead Space for being, well, a remake of Dead Space. While the former game turned out to be a major departure from what I was looking for in the genre, I decided instead to bide my time waiting for Dead Space by going back and replaying the old version one last time.

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The best guns in Dead Space
Isaac Clarke aims at a necromorph in Dead Space.

If there's one thing Dead Space is best known for, it's got to be using its unique selection of mining tools and guns to dismember the disgusting mutated corpses roaming around the USG Ishimura. Luckily, the team at EA Motive has only improved upon this experience in its remake of the popular survival horror title, implementing a helping of updates to protagonist Isaac Clarke's makeshift weaponry to ensure that even returning players may want to rethink their favorite loadout. Read on to see what we consider the best guns in Dead Space and where you should focus your upgrades.
Equip these guns
These four guns tend to be useful in a variety of scenarios and are worth keeping equipped in a weapon slot throughout the entirety of the game.
Plasma Gun
The Plasma Gun is the first weapon you'll come across in the game, and in many ways, it's also the best. While some other guns may be better at specific things – especially in regards to crowd control or brute force – the fast firing rate and ability to rotate the Plasma Gun's beam help to make it an immensely powerful all-arounder that is ideal for dismembering necromorphs. When upgrading this gun, focus on hitting nodes that increase your damage and capacity so that you can hit hard while reloading less often.

Pulse Rifle
The Pulse Rifle is another gun found fairly early, and it may initially seem like a weak option compared to the Plasma Gun, but it can be quite a beast once you've invested in some upgrades. Perhaps most exciting about this automatic gun is its secondary fire, though, which can unleash a proximity mine, allowing you to set up some dastardly traps for those nasty necromorphs. Your upgrades for this one should focus on moving directly upward on the track so that you can toss a node in the Kinect Autoloader (SP1) and greatly increase your fire rate.
Contact Beam
The Contact Beam is found in the first few hours and is the most powerful weapon in the game in terms of raw damage output, but it doesn't do much for you in terms of dismemberment. Use it against enemies that you just need to burst down quickly with its overpowering beam, then make use of its secondary fire (a strong laser shot) to pummel bosses. In terms of upgrades, just prioritize capacity so that you can use it longer – though bear in mind that you'll burn through ammo quickly, and buying it at the store can get pricey.
Line Gun
The Line Gun is somewhat similar to the Plasma Gun, but it's much more focused on crowd control due to its wide attack. It'll make quick work of the legs on a pack of standard necromorphs or take out all three of a Lurker's projectile-firing tentacles with one shot, so once you get this weapon, you should keep it on you at all times. Due to needing it for handling groups of enemies, prioritize the upgrade path that grants it additional capacity and damage.
Store these guns
These three weapons have situational uses and can be fun to use, but they just aren't as versatile as the choices above. You're probably better off keeping them in your storage and only bringing them out on rare occasions, if at all.

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The voice of Dead Space’s Isaac Clarke explains the remake’s character changes
dead space interview gunner wright issac clarke aiming at a monster in remake

When the original Dead Space launched in 2008, it ushered in a new age of video game horror. Gamers were introduced to the now iconic and initially silent protagonist, Isaac Clarke, a space engineer stuck in a nightmare that makes The Thing look like a preschool date. This installment was followed by two sequels that ratcheted up the horror and gore, as well as gave Clarke a full voice.

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