Surviving in Space
The PlayStation 3 isn’t a system that’s really known for its survival horror. Frankly, it was an entire generation that seemed more focused on frenetic action games, and that crossed over into the horror genre. Resident Evil decided to focus more on action and muscular characters with Resident Evil 5, and moved even further into the action territory with Resident Evil 6. One of the things that makes a game like Resident Evil 2 so perfect is that its main character, Leon S. Kennedy, is a rookie cop thrust into a zombie outbreak. It’s literally his first day. There’s terror in his inexperience, and it’s palpable for you, the player. Silent Hill went off the rails around this time, too, leaving a void for a truly great survival horror franchise to take off.
EA Redwood Shores, which would later become known as Visceral Games, saw this opportunity and, fortunately, jumped on it. In 2008, released in a 10-day window with BioShock and Far Cry 2, Dead Space was the answer to survival horror going off the rails.
If you’ve never played the game, you play as Isaac Clarke, an engineer who has been contracted to be part of a search and rescue mission for the USG Ishimura, a so-called “Planetcracker” that was being used to mine the resources in an illegal mining operation on the planet Aegis VII. Isaac is also aboard the rescue ship in hopes of finding his girlfriend, Nicole, the senior medical officer aboard the Ishimura. To no one’s surprise, the ship carrying Isaac and the rest of his search and rescue crew is immediately met with disaster, and finds our crew stuck aboard a massive necropolis floating through space.
While the atmosphere might not be nearly as scary in 2026 as it was in 2008, largely due to the remake dialing it up further, it’s hard to deny how successful the eerie, cramped world of the Ishimura is in scaring the hell out of you. The very first encounter with the necromorph’s is burned into my memory, and that first time you go down a dim, blood-soaked hall and hear movement in the vents has never failed to miss.
This is my third playthrough, and although I was ready for much more of what the game was going to throw at me, there was still an immense sense of dread as I traversed through hallways riddled with blind corners and vents that could introduce me to a necromorph at any point. While the drab haze of the seventh generation has been re-litigated into something that people are nostalgic for, I’d argue that it’s the optimal graphical style for this kind of game. While a game like Resident Evil 5 would feel warm, bathed in the sun of Africa, the Ishimura feels cold, industrial, and unwelcoming. It’s held up exceedingly well, and I absolutely love the way this game looks.
In the same vein, the gameplay has, for the most part, aged incredibly well. It’s hard to deny Resident Evil 4’s influence on horror wholesale, and that’s especially true for the over-the-shoulder, third-person camera angle. Rather than having a heads-up display of any kind, you can see everything on Isaac’s person: health and stasis are indicated by a gauge on the back of his mining suit, and the amount of ammunition in your weapon can only be seen while aiming. It’s a brilliant system, and it’s a shame that more games haven’t taken the route of diegetic displays.
My biggest gripe with the game, however, is also found in the gameplay design. While this was remedied in the remake, the original game suffers from mandatory turret sections that, unlike the rest of the gameplay, are anything but smooth. While I was able to get through both on my first attempt, this was my third playthrough, and I still almost died in both. It’s a shame because that’s really my only problem.
Dead Space is a wonderful game. The fact that it’s as successful in what it wants to do nearly 18 years later, and in the wake of a masterful remake, is worthy of immense praise. If you’ve somehow not played the original Dead Space, there’s never been a better time, especially if you’re working on building a PlayStation 3 library. This is a game that rewards multiple playthroughs, puts out a radio signal for those who love unrelenting difficulty, and delivers a solid new game plus system. While I’ve had my copy for several years, this game is still only going to cost you $10 to $15 in the US, and that’s for a complete copy. The game came with my highest recommendation years ago, and it still has it in 2026.