Using low poly graphics and retro ambience, one skilled developer is remaking the popular third-person survival horror game Dead Space into a PlayStation 1 game. The popularity of retro-inspired video games and demake projects has exploded in recent years, thanks to technological breakthroughs in independent game development and widely available software that encourages ingenuity and innovation. It’s hard to deny that the nostalgia of retro games has generated a new gaming community that continues to attract developers and fans of earlier games.
From FromSoftware’s Elden Ring to the return of 2D pixelated platformers from the 1980s, there’s a lot going on here. One of the best third-person shooters of the decade, Dead Space was released in 2008 and has since become a cult classic. The game’s cramped settings and sci-fi survival horror gameplay in the third person generated an entirely new kind of terrifying experience for gamers. Dead Space 2 quickly followed in the footsteps of its predecessor and received critical acclaim due to its new features emphasis on psychological horror, with the introduction of a unique dismemberment system that allowed players to remove limbs from the grounded sci-fi world’s numerous disfigured Necromorphs.
As a result of Dead Space 3’s dismal release, EA cancelled Dead Space 4 soon after, leaving fans feeling let down. To give fans a peek of the game’s atmosphere, characters, and dismemberment system in low poly graphics, developer Fraser Brumley is remaking Dead Space as a PlayStation 1 game from the ’90s, as seen on Twitter. A Necromorph attacks Isaac Clarke as he walks through a dark hallway on the mining spaceship in this brief movie. There’s a good chance that the developer has also re-created the original game’s Plasma Cutter and dismemberment system, which can be seen in action in just a few seconds.
With its retro visual and retro feel, the remake is a wonderful match for Dead Space. The PlayStation 1’s restrictions allowed developers to create a horrific environment for horror games, which is exactly what Dead Space calls for in its title. However, Dead Space is now being remade by a creative fan and is expected to be released later in the latter part of the year with some new graphics.
In the planned Dead Space remake, new gameplay features, an extended storey, excised stuff from later games, the return of Issac’s voice actor and modern graphics are all expected to enrich the whole experience with increased visual quality. For gamers who long for the restoration of retro aesthetics and styles, demakes have become an increasingly popular trend in the independent scene. Dead Space is just one of several recent games getting a PlayStation 1 redesign, and more are expected in the future as the nostalgia for low poly graphics grows.