While it hasn’t been officially confirmed just yet, it seems incredibly likely that aDead Space 2 Remakeis currently in the works somewhere at EA. Even ifEA Motive has its hands full with its Iron Man game, the high level of critical and commercial success thatDead Space Remakefound earlier this year isn’t something to take lightly, and if EA is still the company the industry knows it to be, then it’s not one to pass up the opportunity to make some easy money.
But it’s important that EAlearns the right lessons fromDead Space Remake. While brand recognition and nostalgia certainly played a role in the game’s sales, its commercial success should be more accurately attributed to the game’s exceptionally high-quality, taking the great groundwork laid by the 2008 original and improving upon it in some key ways. A potentialDead Space 2 Remakeshould follow a similar pattern and build upon the original, and that means including one of the series' most underrated stories.
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One of the best aspects of the recentDead Space Remakewas its ability to elevate and expand on the original’s foundations. WhileDead Space Remakestill followed the same overarching story as the original, contained a lot of the same set pieces, and had the same general combat mechanics, EA Motive managed to improve upon each of these aspects in some noticeable ways, all while the vast majority of the original’s content intact.
Dead Space Remakeadded voice acting formain protagonist Isaac Clarke, giving him much more of a defined personality. The game also added a Metroidvania-esque level system, whereby the player could access previously locked areas of the game by obtaining new key cards, encouraging exploration and backtracking while increasing the game’s runtime naturally. These new areas also came with a handful of brand-new side quests that not only reward the player with more resources for upgrades, but also fleshes out the game’s story and character relationships. And on top of all that,Dead Space Remakeeven includes its own alternate ending for those dedicated enough to complete New Game Plus and collect all the game’s Marker Fragments.
For a hypotheticalDead Space 2 Remake, it’s imperative that the developers follow a similar formula for success, not only including everything that made the original so beloved, but improving and expanding on it. In this vein, it would be great to seeDead Space 2 Remakeinclude the original’sSeveredDLC. Released just a month and a bit after the game first launched,Dead Space 2’sSeveredDLCis a fairly short two-chapter expansion that takes place concurrently withDead Space 2’s main story, albeit following a different set of characters.
Dead Space 2: Severedputs players in the magnetized space boots of Gabe Weller, one of the main characters of theWii-exclusive on-rails shooterDead Space: Extraction, which in itself is a direct prequel to the events of the firstDead Space. After narrowly surviving the Necromorph outbreak on the USG Ishimura, Gabe Weller joins the Sprawl Security Force and is transferred to Titan Station. On a routine patrol in the mines, another Necromorph outbreak occurs, and Weller is stuck right in the middle of it. The majority ofDead Space 2: Severedfollows Gabe Weller as he attempts to rescue Lexine, another survivor fromExtractionand Gabe’s pregnant wife, and escape the station. Though it’s short,Dead Space 2: Severed’s story is a personal one with extremely high-stakes, and it would make for a perfect side mode in a potentialDead Space 2 Remake.
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