Dead Space remake developer Motive regularly played through the original game to compare specific sequences and double-check their work, even going so far as to put two TVs side-by-side in a meeting room to allow for a one-to-one comparison with the remake to ensure authenticity.
In an interview with 12DOVE, creative director Roman Campos-Oriola explains that, "at the beginning of the project, basically we were doing team-wide play sessions where we're all playing the game together, commenting on what we're seeing, discussing why stuff was made, why they were made this way, what type of impact they were having on the player. How are we going to remake those things? At the beginning it was more than a daily thing.
Use these Dead Space tips to help you stay alive. There's help with combat, resources and more to help you.
"But even towards the end of the project, as we were polishing the experience for the sequences," he continues. "Because there are some sequences where we made quite some changes, but other sequences that we kept like the original. We were coming to them on a weekly basis just to check on them and see if we did not miss a little detail here, or if by making a change we did not lose the mood or the tone of that specific sequence. It was part of that development bible that we had to come back to."
"Like Roman said, 'true to the source' was one of our staple statements," adds senior producer Phil Ducharme. "We actually have a meeting room in the studio that has two TVs side-by-side. And what we did around our alpha was that we booted our version, the remake, and the original side-by-side so that we could see those moments and really compare. It's not just about remaking, we want to make sure we don't lose the feeling that was so iconic. Sometimes, the feeling was maybe we actually went too far with some of the changes. And that's what we wanted to make sure we dialed in."
One of the sequences that required a more extensive overhaul was the infamous asteroid turret section that's so emblematic of mid-2000s action games. Campos-Oriola said the team quickly knew that "actually, we want to completely redo that."
Motive's diligence paid off: check out our Dead Space review to learn just how well the reinvigorated horror classic holds up, or if you're playing the game yourself, find out how to fix the Dead Space Comms Array here!
