In a new post talking about the development of the upcoming Dead Space remake from Motive - which rebuilds the entire game in Frostbite with new lighting, textures, models, and animation - the team outlines one of the benefits of remaking the game for modern hardware. No cuts, no loading screens, unless you die.

“We’re also actually creating the entire game as one sequential shot,” says Senior Producer Philippe Ducharme. “From the moment you start the game to the moment you end the game, there are no camera cuts or load screens—unless you die. The Ishimura is now fully interconnected, so you can walk from Point A to Point Z, visit the entire ship, and revisit locations you’ve already completed to pick up things you might have missed—that’s all new. It’s now a completely unbroken experience.”

A style reminiscent of God of War (2018) which presented its action and story in a cinematic no-cut single-take fashion. Of course, the original Dead Space was awesome in how it incorporated the UI and its menus as part of the experience. From health metres visible on Isaac's suit to bringing up inventory as a projected display from his visor. So having no loading and keeping the camera constantly fixed on the action will only add to the immersion and atmosphere.

The remake is also expanding the story, drawing on the lore found in Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3, and giving Isaac a voice.

“The story, for example, hits all the main beats and main events of the original,” Philippe says, “but we looked at the lore of the whole franchise, which is a lot wider than the original game. There was Dead Space 2, Dead Space 3, the comic books—these all added additional lore that we re-injected into the game.”

“We wanted to make it fit better in the overall story and lore of the Dead Space universe that evolved after the first one,” says Creative Director Roman Campos-Oriola. “As an example, Isaac has a voice here, just like in Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3. And some characters who were a bit more secondary, who only appeared in audio logs, like Dr. Cross—we gave them some actual screen time. And we wanted to give a bit more background and agency to some of the characters from the cast, like Nicole. So we’re creating a whole layer of narrative side-quests that will allow you to see, for example, what happened to Nicole during the outbreak.”

Dead Space launches January 27, 2023, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.