In the Dead Space remake, your old guns have new weight, thanks to the smart use of the DualSense controller and a redesigned dismemberment system. They’re a great incentive for backtracking or replaying the story again in New Game+. The security ratings are locked behind levels of clearance from level 1 and up, which grant you access to everything from secret doors hiding goodies to extra side missions, chests, and schematics. It’s a small inclusion, but it means that you’re often thrown into desperate struggles instead of just gingerly walking down a hallway or doing some light puzzle-solving. Circuit breakers let you kill the lights in an area to power up a lift or doors a set of doors you need to get to your objective, heightening the tension by forcing you to fight blind, in other moments, you can turn off the life support, keeping the lights on but meaning you’re running on limited time. New mechanics spice up the established formula, such as circuit breakers and security gate doors, which give you a way to modify encounters.

If the Leviathan grabs you, it feels like your fault for not getting out of the way, not a failure of the fiddly controls like in the original game.

It’s not that the fight is easier, but you have more responsibility for your failures. Boss fights, like your battle with the Leviathan, a gaping maw armed with grabbing tentacles, are still tough, but your new freedom of movement gives you finer control to dodge attacks. This is helped by the new zero-gravity flight controls, retrofitted from Dead Space 2. Some of the first game’s more frustrating moments have been retooled, to become more enjoyable, while still challenging. EA Motive hasn’t been beholden to the original game’s design, making transformative changes for the better.

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