While the end of Dead Space and demise of developer Visceral is one of the bigger tragedies in contemporary gaming history, one of the positives of that sort of distance is the stories that eventually come around. In such a case, a recent video putting a spotlight on Dead Space director and creator Glen Schofield gives gamers a ton of insight into just how crazy game development can get. Specifically, this story is about how a giant tentacle game nearly forced the team to break one of their major rules.
As Schofield explains, one of the core rules the Dead Space team aspired to adhere to was interactivity. Essentially, all the big moments were designed to be interactive. This led into the Drag Tentacle sequence, which of course saw Isaac being grabbed by a giant, mutant tentacle monster and fighting it off as it attempted to drag him down a corridor of sorts. While it’s a brief, exciting sequence, it caused tons of pain under the hood, and nearly hurt the game in a big way.
Eventually, Schofield says the team had to change their entire style of work after running into so many problems with this part, eventually settling on animating each part of the scene piece by piece, or in “layers.” This included doing animation for the same scene for each possible weapon, and even reworking how shooting worked to make the dragging sequence functional the way the team wanted it.
This was a ton of work for a moment that, as described in the video, lasts for all of 40 seconds, and Schofield even says two other planned parts of the game were removed to make room for the Drag Tentacle. But the people making Dead Space really wanted that Drag Tentacle, and they totally nailed it in the end.
Now Loading...Should Dead Space 4 Happen?
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Now Loading...Should Dead Space 4 Happen or Should It Remain in Stasis?
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Zarmena Khan
Part of me says yes, part of me says no. Yes because it's one of the few horror games that I found genuinely scary and didn't feel it resorted to cheap scare tactics. No because I don't want it to become a victim of the sequel treatment.
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Chandler Wood
Dead Space is one of my favorite games, and subsequently franchises. It perfected that horror in space, and de-limbing the necromorphs was as fun as it was terrifying, and the "oh my God!" moments were incredible, like doing self induced eye surgery... Sure, it got progressively worse with each release, but I think there's been enough time now that it's due for a re-look. Is love them to pull a Resident Evil 7 and go both VR and 2D, or better yet, make a traditional third person main game, and a smaller first person VR game to compliment it. Either way, Dead Space desperately needs to come back.
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Michael Briers
I'd love to see Dead Space make a comeback. Both Chandler and Zar are right in saying that each new installment swapped traditional horror for spectacle and scripted set pieces, but Visceral's original title is an exercise in nerve-shredding terror. The fact that most of the story unraveled within a single location allowed the Ishimura to become such a memorable and chilling setting — not unlike the Nostromo starfreighter seen in Alien — and you'd struggle to find another sci-fi game that manages to mine inspiration from the likes of Event Horizon in a way that doesn't feel derivative. VR is a fantastic (read: terrifying) idea, too, and if Resident Evil 7 taught us anything, it's that AAA horror games can flourish on the platform when executed correctly.
Come back, Dead Space. We miss you dearly. -
Stephen Bitto
Dead Space should absolutely return but with a focus on survival horror. As the series went on, the shift to bombastic action took away everything that made the original so special. VR seems like a great way to capture the horror of the original in a fresh, new experience.I agree with others' comments that a VR experience could be terrifying. -
Tyler Treese
I hope not. Despite all of Dead Space 3's issues the game managed to put a wrapper on the story rather well, and ended on a serious high note with its final boss fight (how can you top fighting the freaking moon?). That said, I wouldn't mind if Visceral or EA tried the horror genre again (although I think it's pretty obvious now that EA didn't find the genre to be as profitable as they hoped for). If they do go down that route, I'd rather see something new than yet another sequel.
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Cameron Teague
I would like to see them release the original Dead Space but with VR, as I think it was the best in the series and would be the one that works best with VR support. As for continuation of the series, I just want them to get back to what made the original so good. I didn't care much for 2 or 3.
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Alex Co
Hell yeah! I loved Dead Space and the 2 as well. The third one? Yeah, not so much. EA turned it into a shootbang affair that all tension and scare factor were lost.
Will it come back, though? Part of me thinks it's ripe for a reboot or a sequel/relaunch, but who knows? Visceral has been tasked to be a Battlefield studio, so even if it is a go, which studio should make it?
All I know is, it's time we went back into space...and preferably, one that's not all about shooting. Also, imagine Dead Space 4 on PSVR! Damn!
