Skip to main content

Watch ‘over 15 minutes’ of singleplayer gameplay from Dead Space 3

Dead Space 3 co-op
Image used with permission by copyright holder

When Dead Space 3 hits the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC platforms on February 5 of next year, fans of the space horror series will once again enter the shoes of protagonist Isaac Clarke (or Sergeant John Carver in the game’s co-operative multiplayer mode) to brave the vast universe of terrifying abominations unto nature. Though we’ve seen quite a bit from the upcoming survival-horror title (E3 revealed that co-op feature we mentioned, while Gamescom brought a new trailer), today publisher EA and developer Visceral Games have decided to generously bless fans with a surprisingly long, guided video walkthrough of one section of the game’s single-player experience. 

Described as an internal singleplayer demo for the game, the walkthrough (which you can find embedded below) drops players onto a spaceship known as “Eudora.” As one would come to expect from the Dead Space series, Eudora is a poorly-lit wreck, with fires burning out of control in places and ominous cascades of electrical sparks pouring from likely necessary electronics. As Clarke you’re immediately tasked with escaping this flying coffin, but of course it couldn’t be as simple as just finding the exit. Thus, Clarke undertakes a number of minor quests to find his way off of the ship that just happens to serve as a nice segue for new players into the mechanics and quirks of the Dead Space franchise.

Recommended Videos

Though the clip is often interrupted by the game’s creative director and senior audio artist who serve as hybrid hosts/narrators for the walkthrough, this is undoubtedly the most concrete look at the game we’ve seen to date. Obviously the title has yet to be completed, but the opening segment’s tonal and aesthetic similarities to the thrilling zero-gravity opening sequence from Mass Effect 2 proves that making players weightless is always an exciting concept. Surrounding that weightless player with explosions and ominous noises that may or may yes be unspeakably horrific space monsters is simply a solid extension of the brand’s key attributes, and offers a good reason to follow the in-game instructions demanding that you exit the rapidly deteriorating Eudora.

Following that initial burst of excitement though, things return to “normal” for the franchise. The latter half of the walkthrough is full of pitch-black corridors, jump-scares and tense audio cues. Though we initially didn’t understand why Visceral would tap its senior audio artist to narrate the walkthrough, it all makes perfect sense when you listen to him point out the game’s various aural tricks and attempts to one-up the typical Hollywood horror movie audio routine. If nothing else, we’re impressed by how each character maintains an individual, instantly-recognizable tone while speaking to one another through their standard-issue space explorer headsets. The amount of static during conversations is just right, but more importantly, Visceral doesn’t seem to rely on these communication devices to mysteriously cut out immediately prior to the appearance of big, scary monsters. 

In sum, the clip offers either ample reason to be excited for the game’s imminent release, or abundant evidence that you can continue to ignore EA’s premier horror series. Whichever way your opinion shifts, it’s nice to have something like this months before the game hits store shelves.

Earnest Cavalli
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Earnest Cavalli has been writing about games, tech and digital culture since 2005 for outlets including Wired, Joystiq…
You played the Dead Space remake. Now check out its ‘demake’
The cut off their limbs sign in Dead Space Demake.

Three months or so in, 2023 has been the year of the remake, as some of this year's best-reviewed games have been new versions of Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime, and Dead Space. Now, developer Fraser Brumley is looking to go the opposite way. Dead Space Demake is available for free on itch.io and clues us in on what it might have felt like if Visceral Games released Dead Space in the PlayStation 1 era.
It's not even close to the full game -- you should be able to get through it in around a half-hour -- Brumley's Dead Space Demake is a novel little Unreal Engine indie project that adapts some of Dead Space's iconic gameplay moments and locations into a much more retro-feeling formula. The PS1-era aesthetic works shockingly well with Dead Space's formula. The rough, pixelated edges of the space station corridors and the Necromorphs that attack Issac within them are just as creepy as the remake's highly detailed versions of these same things.

Even if you've played the original and EA Motive's remake, the Dead Space Demake should still be a novel experience as you now have another way to experience some of the best parts of one of the greatest horror games of the past two decades. It speaks to the appeal of something Digital Trends has written about in the past, which is that remakes that reinvent and reimagine something well-known are just as interesting as the remakes that give an already great game a simple coat of fresh paint.
Dead Space Demake is available for free on itch.io, although you should also pick up the Dead Space remake for PC, PS5, or Xbox Series X/S if you want to compare the two. 

Read more
Dead Space 2 doesn’t need a remake. It’s already perfect
uncharted creative director joins visceral games work star wars dead space

Dead Space 2 is, in my opinion, one of the greatest games ever made. One of the reasons for that is because it uses the best ideas from its predecessor, the original Dead Space, as a brutal jumping-off point both mechanically and narratively. Dead Space was a fantastic starting point, but Dead Space 2 upped the ante on nearly every front. Following the success of the recent Dead Space remake, many fans are expectantly looking at the game's developer, EA Motive, and hoping that it'll announce a remake for Dead Space 2.

As a die-hard fan of the franchise, I hope they don't make one.

Read more
I played the original Dead Space before the remake — and I regret it
Issac stands tall in the Dead Space remake.

After skipping out on The Callisto Protocol once it became clear it wasn't going to become the next sci-fi horror classic, my eyes became fixed on the rapidly approaching Dead Space remake. While not made by the 2008 version's original team, developer Motive had been extremely transparent about how it was approaching the project through the entirety of its development. This was going to be a faithful remake, sticking true to what the original was, and only modernizing the look and making key changes here and there. This was meant to be a replacement for the original, not a companion piece.

Perhaps my expectations of Dead Space being closer to a spiritual successor came from the sort of marketing cold war going on with The Callisto Protocol. Both were heavily advertised and had high expectations; Callisto because it had Dead Space's original creators working on it, and Dead Space for being, well, a remake of Dead Space. While the former game turned out to be a major departure from what I was looking for in the genre, I decided instead to bide my time waiting for Dead Space by going back and replaying the old version one last time.

Read more