It goes without saying that Motive’s Dead Space Remake is one of my contenders for the best horror game of 2023 – and there’s been some good ones so far. Putting a new spin on the iconic Ishimura adventure, one developer has unveiled their Dead Space Demake, which is available for free right now.
While it may not be the very real Dead Space Remake remake we promised on April 1, Fraser Brumley’s Dead Space Demake is absolutely worth playing.
Inspired by the pixelated graphics that define the 90s and early 2000s, the Dead Space Demake sees you traverse the hallowed halls of the once proud Ishimura as a bright orange, glowing Isaac Clarke.
The trailer shows off the starting sequence of the game where you collect plasma cutter. Scrawled in blood above the iconic weapon is the ominous “cut off the limbs,” and when you raise it to cut off said alien limbs your met with an aqua, binary UI. Pull the trigger, and a loud ‘pew’ echoes off of the ship’s metallic walls, with the laser looking like it’s straight out of Tron’s Grid.
As the next door opens we catch a glimpse of the Necromorph, which somehow looks even more like a mound of twisted flesh because of how pixelated it is. As it lumbers towards Isaac with a warped, twisted expression, he lasers off its limbs, reducing it to a bright red mound of flesh and bone on the floor before the trailer returns to its starting point.
I was terrified of Dead Space as a kid, and reliving that terror as an adult with the remake was so much fun. Weirdly, the demake feels even more creepy to me, because while graphically it can’t compare to Motive’s, there’s something so unsettling about a huge mound of square flesh launching itself at you out of the shadowless dark. For avid fans of the series, this is an absolute must – but even if you love a good demake, I’d consider taking this for a spin, too.
The Dead Space Demake released on April 10, and can be downloaded on itch.io. You can follow Brumley there, too.
If you haven’t played the Dead Space Remake (there’s a lot of ‘makes’ here) then be sure to load up the best Dead Space Remake settings so that you’re suitably terrified. If you’re a lover of that retro style because, let’s face it, games aren’t as good as they were in the ’90s, we have a list of the best old games and PC classics to keep you entertained.