STACK #219 January 2023

GAMING FEATURE

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Back in 2008, EA released a game that struck awe – and fear - into the hearts of gamers everywhere in survival horror epic Dead Space . Now, in 2023, it’s ba-ack!We had a chat with developer Motive’s creative director, Roman Campos-Oriola, about what to expect from this year’s model. Words Amy Flower

were excited to dive into the code and see what we were up against. After going through the old tech and porting that over to a new engine we began to see what kinds of opportunities it could open up, and that’s when we knew we wanted to do something more than focus on visually updating the game. Every animation, every texture, every effect or piece of enemy behaviour has been rebuilt from scratch in the new Frostbite Engine for current gen hardware and PC. Still remaining true to the original game’s thrilling vision, the remake offers enhanced audio and crisp, harrowing visuals that have been carefully reimagined to evoke a new level of immersion and quality. We’ve also refined some system mechanics to create a more dynamic and strategic experience when combatting enemies. Will those who played through the original be able to pick this up and feel in familiar territory? Even though we rebuilt the game completely from scratch, we used the original material as a foundation for the experience. Concept art, of course, but also all the level design maps

The original Dead Space is still regarded by many as not only one of the greatest survival horror games, but one of the greatest games, period.What sort of pressure, if any, has the weight of expectation put upon you and your team? Of course, the pressure is quite high, not only because Dead Space is an amazing game cherished by a dedicated community of fans, but also because I’m a massive fan of the game and the franchise! And the biggest pressure you can have is the one you create yourself. Being a remake, how do you go about recreating all the things that people remember fondly from the original?

Does any of the original code survive, or is it a total blank page right through to a final recreation type affair?

When we came to Motive to work on Dead Space , we

40 JANUARY 2023

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