Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are?” a dying woman sings over the elevator speakers as I climb through the decks of the doomed ship Ishimura. I’m not a big fan of that whole nursery rhyme horror cliché, but it fits for Dead Space. This was never a series about exploring the wonders of the universe or of space as a wild frontier where the worst evil we can imagine is corporate greed dominating the stars.
No, this is a game about how space is downright scary; an abyss into which we gaze and see our nightmares reflected right back. It’s hard to marvel at the universe with a Necromorph’s blades in your gut. Necromorph is a fancy space word for zombie, by the way, and you’ll come to know them intimately in, as they jump-scare you every few minutes for the next ten or so hours. If there’s one thing I’m glad this remake didn’t change, it’s the Necromorph jumping-out-of-vent scream that almost sounds as if they’re as surprised as you are. It’s good to be back on
