Episode 157 - A Big Weed Whacker - Dead Space

Dismember their podcast. Welcome back to NOCLIP! Today, we’re going
to be talking about our first horror title for the Halloween season
with Dead Space. Specifically, we’re talking about the 2023 remake
of the game with only a limited understanding of the original. That
said, this is a game that makes a pretty brutal impression very
quickly, so we did pick it up quickly. Dead Space is an action
survival horror game in the same vein as Resident Evil 4, with an
over the shoulder camera. The game’s hook is centered around its
enemies, the necromorphs, forcing the player to cut off their limbs
to dispatch them efficiently, and this is accomplished in about the
most inelegant way imaginable: with power tools and a phenomenally
heavy boot. The game is gory and over the top, and while it
stumbles over some of the more nuanced elements of the artform,
like character development and story, sometimes an extremely
raucous horror title is exactly what you want. Which isn’t to say
this game goes full Doom. The violence is extreme, yes, but it has
scary moments, sometimes maintaining something resembling quiet for
seconds to even minutes at a time. It builds and releases tension
in quick bursts, and uniquely handles its music cues so as to allow
the player to jump scare themselves at times, making it a perfect
game for that mid-October horror kick. We’re going to be talking
about the arsenal and how the game’s take on weapons sells its
premise and mechanical hook, how the remake’s expanded take on
Isaac Clarke impacts its narrative and storytelling, and we produce
two extremely professional box quotes for them to use on any future
physical releases of the remake. Thank you for joining us again
this week! The remake of this game re-sparked our interest in doing
it for Halloween, despite continually putting it off for other
things, and honestly I’m pretty glad we waited. The visual
spectacle of this game is one of its major selling points and the
more modern version of it probably helped it take effect. That
said, have you played the original version of the game? Do you
think we should have played the original over the remake? Let us
know over in our Discord or in the comments! Next time, we’re going
to be talking about Dredge, the Lovecraftian fishing game that
released earlier this year and took the world by storm. Or at
least, by drizzle. By squall? Some people liked it, for sure.