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Remastering Horror: A Dead Space Remake Retrospective
51 Plays2 months ago
In this spook filled Halloween episode, Satsunami is joined by fellow PodPack member Dan from the Casting Views podcast to discuss the remake of Dead Space. But how does it compare to it's 2008 counterpart? What made this one stand out? And WHY will Satsu never be allowed to choose a restaurant?! Find out in this horrifying episode of Chatsunami!
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Transcript
Dinner Plans and Mass Effect References
00:00:02
Speaker
You know what, Dan? We've known each other for several years now. The very least I can do is take you out for dinner. Oh, that's really nice of you, Satsui. You really don't have to, you know. So where are we going? Well, seeing as our last episode together was on Mass Effect, I thought we could go to this new space-themed restaurant that a friend of mine recommended to me. You're absolutely gonna love it. It's called the USG Tempura. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What did you just say, Satsui?
00:00:30
Speaker
Admittedly, their lighting's a bit dim, their tables are broken, and their waiters are, ooh, cut in half. But you know what? Some people just really love a theme. Right, I need you to think really carefully now. Are you sure a friend recommended this place to you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah Well, a friend of a friend and their friend and their roommate's friend was like, oh, my friend Nicole, she likes bread. Something, something, USG, tempura. Are you sure they didn't say Ishimura? Tempura, Ishimura, what's the difference?
00:01:05
Speaker
Right, let me put it this way. Do you like flesh-tearing aliens? No. Jump scares? No. Space cults and the never-ending trauma of losing those you love in the eternal vacuum of space. Ahhh. That explains the one start of yours. Satsui, you've taken us to the dead spaceship, you crazy red panda. And they didn't say Nicole likes bread, they said she- Oh my lord. Wanna look around for a bit and find out what happened here? Yeah, screw it, why
Spooky Episode Introduction and Restaurant Mishap
00:01:31
Speaker
not? Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:01:35
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to this spooky episode of Chatsunami. My name's Satsunami and joining me aboard the USG, well I don't want to say USG Chatsunami but let's face it, it's going down anyway, is none other than the one and only Dan from Casting Views. Dan, welcome back. Thank you for having me back on but I just want Chris somewhere. Is there no dinner now then? No, sadly not.
00:02:01
Speaker
but I mean, I was gonna, but you know, the dead bodies are everywhere and the upturned furniture. And you know, this place needs a lick of paint. I'm going to be honest. So that would put me off. I don't know about you, but bad interior decorating puts me off for life. But apart from that, how are you doing tonight?
Weather Talk and Dead Space Discussion
00:02:20
Speaker
No, really good, thank you, really good, yeah. It's been a week and the weather, I mean, that British thing, right, but the weather at the moment is absolutely atrocious, so it's just keeping an eye whether I'm driving to work or rowing to work at the moment. I mean, to be honest, loving it, Scotland, myself, and you're probably the same down there in England, but my god, the weather does not know what it wants to be. Some days, absolutely scorching sunshine, lots of people taking their tops off and being like,
00:02:48
Speaker
Oh yeah, let's go, taps off weather. And then literally the next day they are frozen still because it is absolutely Baltic. So you're like, what do you want from me? Honestly, I feel like I should be dancing in my garden to bring in the good weather, there but my neighbours have actually called the police once or twice about that. so Maybe it's because I didn't have a shirt on to be fair, but that's a story for another day.
Gaming Suggestions and Dead Space Experiences
00:03:13
Speaker
ah ah Speaking of unspeakable horrors and great segues of course today, we are taking it into spooky territory. I think this is probably our first spooky episode together, isn't it? Oh it definitely is, yeah, yeah. because today we are indeed going to be focusing on the 2023 remake, which I cannot believe it's that late on, the remake of the incredible Dead Space, which am I right in saying that came out in 2007? I think it might have been 2008, I think, yeah. It was funny what you're saying about you saw it was earlier. I actually, we were saying just before we started recording, I saw the remake was this year. I played it a couple of months ago, I think. But yeah, I actually thought it was this year. Yeah and then you bullied me into playing that as well. Well I, i hold on, I suggested you play it and then I hadn't even played it and I didn't play it for months after I got you to play it, that's a funny thing. It's great, I love suggesting games to you, it's brilliant. Oh no it actually is because to be honest, when you suggest a game to me or vice versa, you know for a fact it's going to end up as content. in the pipeline. Even after I played it, I was like, you know what would be really cool, if we did an episode and that's all we could do for Halloween and everything, that was like what, April, May, time maybe? Yeah, it must have been something like that, yeah. Yeah, and of course we both went away, we played it, absolutely loved it, and then we're spoilers for the episode, but yeah, this is an
00:04:39
Speaker
Absolutely fantastic remake. Overall, it was a fantastic game series, especially as you were saying, 2008, this game initially came out, ah took the gaming scene by storm in terms of really how different it was. But going back to you for a second, what were your experiences with this back in 2008? Did you play it at that time? I'm going to say I probably didn't play it on release and the reason why is funny I was talking to Joey of the game club pod last night about this that I'm not really well I was gonna say I'm not really a scary game player but I'm not really a horror slash gory game player so games like that I tend not to pay full price for so I think I would have played this probably a couple of years later possibly even when the second game was out I think I picked this up then so yeah I'm probably looking at around 2010 maybe 2011 when I eventually got around to playing it but I remember wishing I played it sooner because we'll come on to obviously sort of comparison but even back then I think it was just such a great game to play. Oh no absolutely because I have to say I think I was in a similar boat. For anyone who has been listening for a while you'll know I am a massive scaredy cat when it comes to these kind of games. I am not a big fan of horror games but over time I'm getting more desensitised so on Twitch I a remember I was playing games like last. Little nightmares, condemned criminal origins, good games, I would recommend them. But it's not really something I look out for, you know, like your Silent Hills, Resident Evils. I say that, although you and I both played Still Wakes The Deep. Oh, that was absolutely fantastic, that game you see that's the thing you mentioned two games there right still wakes it deep and also silent hill now well especially silent hill is in the horror genre it's more of a game that puts you on edge i think and i want to say psychological and those are the games i prefer more even films i really don't like gory films but the ones that play with your mind i'm all in for those you know No, absolutely, because with Dead Space, I must have played this in, I want to say 2012-2013, and the reason I remember so vividly is because I remember an old flatmate at university and I replayed it around October time and he was saying, hey, do you want to play a scary game? And I was like, Jigsaw, what are you doing living with me? a week away since that's a joke, but I said, do you want to play a scary game together? I'm like, yeah, sure, what do you want to play? And we both had a copy of Dead Space, and I think it might have been in the humble bundle. Maybe that's why I have it. I've got no idea. I was actually looking through the scary games I've got. Turns out I've also got Silent Hill 4. I don't know why, because I never bought it. so what must have been out of Humble Bundle Pack, but we both played the game together on our own separate PCs and we were trying to beat one another in terms of how far we could get. So we turned off the lights, we played it, we jumped out our skins, and we only got half an hour to an hour into the game, but it felt like for ever actually going through the game and you know you were on the edge of your seat and everything so even back then this game was so impactful and the graphics as well were absolutely stunning for the time but compared to the remake that's obviously not the case but that is something we'll of course jump into but yeah it is an absolutely iconic
Dead Space Advertising and EA's Reputation
00:08:00
Speaker
game. Do you remember but the advertising around that time between the first game and the second game? No, I don't actually. no So the first game, it was a lot more subdued advertising. You know, they would say, oh, it's a horror game and everything. Oh, look at the scary Gribblies. But it got such a reputation from that that they ran an ad campaign where they were saying, oh, this game, at least for the second game, they said the game is so gory that your mum wouldn't want you to play it and they had all these mother's reactions to the game like, oh I wouldn't let my son play that etc. It was so weird and I think by the time they got to the third game their reputation kind of ran away from them. Then of course by the time we get to the remake in 2023, it really drew players back to the roots so of what made Dead Space so iconic in the first place. without the microransacts that you getting a grubby pause and everything
00:09:00
Speaker
You mentioned EA and well if we were going to talk about the ups and downs, the ups, the downs, the ups, the more downs, then the ups again of them. I mean there was that period of time here so you know I know it was a mass effect, it was Microsoft Studios for the first game but then eventually I think they were publishers for that and you've obviously got the Dead Space games so they were there for these moments of great gaming experiences. Yeah, and then they got voted the worst company in the world two years in a row. It seems never lasts for long, right? No, drop in the water for then. Any publicity is good publicity, as they say. And of course it's a shame because I want to address the Necromorph elephant in the room, which looks absolutely terrifying, but Dead Space 2 was supposed to be remade, and unfortunately that got canned for some reason because this game didn't sell well, and I have. no idea how because and again we'll get into it in a minute but it was just such an impactful game. Yeah I know I just was like I was reading before we jumped on in fact is that the cells were low and apparently lower than the Callista protocol. Oh wow. Now yeah Now, again, gamers, right? We complain about certain things, and yes, this is a remake, but for me, just like the Resident Evil 4 remake, it feels like a lovingly made one, and Dead Space 2 and 3, I barely remember now. You know, because as I said, I played those originally, what were we now, 12 years ago, say, 10 to 12 years ago, and I'll come on to why I would play them rather than playing the originals, but I think it's a crying shame if they don't give the same treatment to the sequels. because I know it was in the pipe line and then they said oh it's gonna come out and everything and then as you said because of the sales they just absolutely threw it out the airlock and that is just such a shame so hopefully they've changed their mind down the line and they say you know what we'll give it the respect it deserves because two is very much like Mass Effect 2 it's the one I think people remember more than the first one even though one has a lot of very iconic moments and on On that note, I am going to pull up one of these tables.
Podcast Promotions and Dead Space Remake Review
00:11:04
Speaker
We're going to try and get the attention of one of the waiters over there lying on the floor. And yeah, we'll be right back after these transmissions. Welcome to Chatanami, a variety podcast that discusses topics from gaming and films to anime in general interest. Previously on Chatanami, we've analysed what makes a good horror game, conducted a retrospective on Pierce Brosnan's runs James Bond, and listened to us take deep dives into both the Sonic and Halo franchises. Also, if you're an anime fan, then don't forget to check us out on our sub-series, Chatsunani, where we dive into the world of anime. So far, we've reviewed things like Death Note, Princess Mononoke, and the hit Beyblade series. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out on Spotify, iTunes, and all good podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.
00:11:58
Speaker
fancy taking the humorous trip down a random topic each week? You do while you're in luck. Casting Views presented by me Dan and a host of guests bring you just that. With topics from the world entertainment, science, sport and everyday life, there's bound to be a topic that's going to inform and amuse. Catch Casting Views every Sunday on all listening platforms now.
00:12:23
Speaker
Oof, I don't know about you, but those were some spooky transmissions. Oh my god. Yeah, we need more lighting in this place as well, Cersei. Waiter! Waiter! Nah, he's too busy he being dead. I mean, the breadsticks were taken out a number ago. What kind of ship are they running here? Yeah, and the the cutlery yeah leaves a lot to be desired for. Knife and forks where I'm at, not plasma rifles. so Yeah, I'm just using two nails as chopsticks here. Let's face it. So yeah, let's jump into talking about the Dead Space remake. And as I said, jokingly and lovingly, of course, that you had recommended that I get this game. And I saw it on sale. I thought, hmm, it's not usually the game I go for, but you know what? I was fresh off the oil rig from Still Wakes the Deep, not an actual oil rig. behave yourselves, but I ended up playing it. I loved it. My partner, she was watching me play it, and every so often she would just appear and be like, oh, you played that game? And I was like, yeah, yeah. You still Yeah, yeah, still still going. It was an absolutely incredible experience because as I said in the intro, I had only played a little bit of the first game, the original 2008 version, but I never completed it. So this was technically the first time I had gone through The Dead Space World and completed it. Did you say you were the same or did you complete the original? i played the original trilogy so I completed all three, like I said I barely remember two or three though but the funny thing was maybe early this year if not last year I downloaded the original Dead Space to replay it, I got about half hour in and I just couldn't because I think it still looks a great game but it is quite clunky and one of the things we'll talk about like the traversing and the loading kind of really got to me and I just didn't play it however when I started to play the remake i just got hooked on it so that's what i was trying to say earlier as gamers when they get something it's a shame that it was looked down upon because this is such a great experience but yeah no i'd play both the original but no while it was so long ago for me to necessarily remember playing this bought some of the beats back but obviously the clear differences that they made in the game as well oh 100%. I honestly feel as if the presentation of this game is absolutely astounding. I don't know if you felt the same way, where you're in the… I don't want to say rescue ship, because let's face it, that shuttle crash is very, very fast. But you know, you get the slow reveal of the USG Ishimura, they always say tempura there. The USG Ishimura and it looks like, and again, I know this is very surface level analysis here, but it looks essentially like a rib cage just surrounding the bulk of the ship and everything's a little pointy and angular. You can see from the outset it's not a welcoming ship for obvious reasons inside. You've got the nasty gribblies running around but on the outside this is a ship you want nothing to do with. Usually in fiction you'll see a ship that's been purposely designed to look as if it's a predator and you're like oh I'm not going near that but of course they have to go into the bowels of the ship and they have to explore its murky interior yard and everything and nothing about it is welcoming. you could say that again yeah exactly
00:15:49
Speaker
But the ship is great, isn't it? the issue It's huge. You honestly feel like, like you said, you're going it further into the bowels of hell, you know, because it's just so big and just ever, ever expanding, isn't it, where you're asked to go? The thing I love about it as well is it feels so lived in. You've got all the luggage that's piled up and everything. You've got all the bits and pieces, the Nip Nacks and whatnot. You've got workstations that have been hastily abandoned. You've got the shower rooms, which I have to say gave me a bit of a fright, but that's another thing. of the showers themselves, but they thought of seeing a necromorph shower, you know. But you go in, there's the stench of death in the air, and it's just it's absolutely incredible how they build it up once you get into the ship. And you're walking in as not a superhuman, not a soldier, nothing like that. You're going in as basically a mechanic. You're going in as Isaac Clark, an engineer who, this time surprisingly, and it's not something I really thought of when I started playing this but Isaac Clarke at least until the second game and I think they brought back the voice actor from the second and third game for him but Isaac Clarke actually gets a voice in this game. Yeah and for me that's absolutely massive. I know in some RPGs like the earlier Fallout, Fallout 3 and I think you Vegas again your character doesn't speak and I kind of get that because it's sprawling but i finding games like this where there's so much characterisation elsewhere in other characters that your character doesn't speak just feels really odd.
Silent Protagonists and Game Immersion
00:17:20
Speaker
It was kind of a mixed bag wasn't it in that era of gaming because some games like Call of Duty for example that didn't have a lot of
00:17:31
Speaker
voice player characters. You know you'd have people yelling orders at you and things like that but you wouldn't necessarily be speaking whereas on the flip side at this point, and again this is something that made me feel really old when I read it, but Halo 3 as of this episode came out 17 years ago, would you believe?
00:17:50
Speaker
I remember playing that game and of course you play as the Master Chief and he's the stereotypical base super soldier and he has a voice, a few played Gears of War as well, they have a voice but you're completely right, even back then it was kind of on the cusp of do they want to have a mute protagonist or do they actually want to give him a voice and obviously they did in the sequel but I feel Personally, it did a lot of good for them to have a voice. I do love as well, they do something that I think a lot of games nowadays are doing where if you've got low health or you're in a precarious situation and you're still talking, then the inflection of the voice actor actually changes based on that. For me, you could argue maybe they didn't give the character a voice because you're alone for a lot of it going through these things and it's almost mirroring, maybe it's supposed to be like you, maybe if you're talking it snaps you out of that belief maybe, but again that's great, but for me then it then breaks down when characters are talking to you and you're
Dead Space HUD and Iconic Art Style
00:18:53
Speaker
just like, you know what I mean, you're just saying nothing, they're telling you to do all this and all hell's breaking loose and you're like, yeah I've got better things to do than talk, you know. It was very much that mentality of games back then, wasn't it? Shoot first, ask questions later. This is before you're out on us and you're surviving the Walker type horror games. Because I mean, you did have means to de defend yourself. But before we actually get into that, I kind of briefed somebody of
00:19:18
Speaker
the game itself. As I said before, you play as Isaac Clark who is basically a space engineer and he's been asked to, along with his team, look at the USG Ishimura and see what's wrong. Then of course they find a whole bunch of aliens, they find cultists, they find just all around weird people. and such. Yeah, it's just, it's an absolutely horrific experience and then it all culminates into the big bombastic finale. I've got mixed opinions about that, mind you, but I will obviously get on to that when we get into it. But honestly, there's a lot to love about this game. As we kind of touched on there, the atmosphere as well. And I've got to ask, were you unnerved? See, when you were playing through this game, did you get a twinge of fear? Yeah, yeah, I think so. As the story progresses, I think I had issues with it as it progresses, but at the start, yeah, let let's go right to the beginning. Yeah, it is unnerving and something that they do so well and this was in the original as well is, I'm not going to say it was the first game that did it, but pretty much no HUD and everything was just on your character, wasn't it? So the health bar was on the back. and it just made it that much more immersive and I think it had a really good attempt at making you feel in the mind or in that character's role and I think yeah the lack of flashing lights or health bars and ammo counters all around the place really helped to solidify that. I absolutely love the HUD in this game, or rather lack of HUD. It's all incorporated into the suit, and even when you pause, it comes out of the character. I think there's a main pause menu for settings and things, but for the actual pause menu where you're looking at the map and everything, which I think was overhauled in the remake. Because despite a few changes, I think they did. For example there's a scene later on where you have to shoot asteroids down as opposed to I think in the original it was more like a catwalk kind of thing and there's a lot of kind of differences there but I honestly think this game looks absolutely gorgeous and especially with that all integrated into the character it is stunning. Genuinely save you told me that this was a brand new game and it wasn't based off of Dead Space. You had no idea Dead Space existed in the late 2000s. You would honestly believe it, wouldn't you? And I also loved the art style, so the armour that Isaac wears as well. It's just iconic now when you look at it, and the cover of the game, or at least the first game as well, which I think is just the close-up of the helmet, isn't it, with the glowing light. So at least it was used for somebody advertising at least. It's just really really well done and you know I don't think this game nowadays anyway gets as much love and attention as it should do. Again I'm gonna say it's such a great game I think whilst the original now I'm not asking you to go play the original because I said earlier I couldn't get back into it but you don't have to now because this is pretty much the same experience. But, you know, and I'm sure we'll come onto it. I chuckled a bit when you said about some of the scenes had changed because I remember were playing and I was thinking, well, I thought this happened in the game. I must be thinking of a different one. And it was only when I looked after that, I saw, yeah, they did fundamentally change some of the scenes. I think for the better. But I was saying to myself, why confusing this with a completely different game now, then? Oh, it's the worst scene when you play a remake and you're like, yeah, that's fine. I'll do this bit. I'll do that bit. And your old tactics do not work because they've completely revamped it. And you're like, oh, my God.
00:22:41
Speaker
ah good to die Well we're talking about now so yeah like I said the asteroid section which I think like the Mako I don't want to keep talking about Mass Effect but like the Mako in Mass Effect they definitely improved it. I think the original section was quite frustrating and I was waiting for that bit and it didn't come and that's why I specifically thought maybe I mistook it for another game because because there was a whole section I think where you're behind the turret gun and shooting enemies with it as well I think there's the classic boss with glowy bits that you've got to shoot as well as asteroids now in the remake you're calibrating guns and you've literally got to shoot two or three asteroids I think don't you?
Gameplay Mechanics and Necromorphs Encounters
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's a weird system because I think you need to train it or train the laser on it or something like that and it's a pain in the backside because we'll definitely get on to them soon but the enemies keep jumping on you and you know you've lined it perfectly and the necromorphs are going, get down Mr President! And he's just out of nowhere and it's like, what the hell?
00:23:39
Speaker
but I think they even improved the zero gravity bits as well because they felt much better. Yeah, as far as I remember, I think they based that off of the mechanics of Dead Space 2, I want to say. So it was like you could rotate yourself easier and you can launch yourself and because I was reading that it seems as if it's a lot more polished than what it was in the original game. Yeah and the only other one I remembered or recalled at the time was and I wasn't sure then if I mistook it for a later game but I subsequently found out that it's not its first one. In the original there were certain locked doors that you could go into but you needed those power nodes, you needed a certain amount of power nodes which it was a trade-off because unless you were really good at it or you were finding them all you had to use them either I think for the crafting or for the doors but in this game it's more security level isn't it? I think you need to up your security level to get those. So again, I was walking around thinking, but I need more power noise because I know they're going to come in handy later and that bit never happened. That is just a gaming sin 101, isn't it? Where you hoard everything and you're like, oh, I'm going to need it later. I'm going to need it later. And then the credits are rolling. You're like, I'm going to need it later.
00:24:48
Speaker
but There's always new game plus, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You're completely right though. I have to admit I did like the security clearance aspect of it because it was always so satisfying when you walked by a box and it's like, oh, security level three and you only had two and you're looking at this box. Like, I don't even know how to describe it. You're just looking at it going, I'll be back for you later.
00:25:10
Speaker
you wait there I'll be back and then you come back with security level three and it was always so annoying because I think you got something really useful or you got something just absolutely terrible. Oh it's ammo for the gun that you don't use and it's like oh yay. Well what I want to know is how did the necromorphs get that security level because they're always in the rooms you were going into so how are they getting that security clearance? Just bop the necromorph in like oh it's a living. Yeah, it's doing 9 to 5. I've been passed over for that promotion again. Yeah, we see you as a level not a level 3. Yeah, I'm sorry. They just stay in that room as they walk up. Yeah, let's talk this time next year. Let's see how you've done then. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Well, I'm glad you asked.
00:25:58
Speaker
clearly got a necromore. Oh, will we talk about the necromores? Because, oh boy, absolutelys absolutely incredible. They are terrifying every time you see them. They skulk along the halls and you can hear them. They cause me to jump out my skin a couple of times because I'm walking along. And as you know, that old joke of the guy turns round and goes, oh hey. And the necromore's like, ah hello. And I'm like, oh my God, where did you come from? But they are just absolutely iconic, aren't they? currently't yeah and this is what I remember playing the first game originally when they did creep me out when you first see them because they're all slightly different well they are very different sorry but they all sort of move differently some are shambled I mean the ones that really annoy me though and they really annoy me you know they're small but then they've got the three tentacles that come out of them because they're so often awkward to hit aren't they because we'll come on to the dismemberment thing after but that game was built around that but the next one was generally i just think some of the again at the time i think now some really good enemy design oh they are incredible and they up the ante for the remake because if you look closely at them which i have to say i try not to I tried to shoot them at a distance but if I have to backslap them then yeah they've got pieces of armour or rather the suits from their previous occupation. Bob of course has got his level 2 clearance badge hanging off of him. They definitely put a lot more effort into showing that these were real people.
00:27:23
Speaker
that of course have horribly been mutated into these abominations. I'm sorry spoilers and we will be going into deeper spoilers here but it's just absolutely crazy how they got the body horror so down. Body horror for me personally is one of the things that creeps me out the most when it comes to horror because You know you get the ones that's over the top, it's gory like your dooms and things like that, and you're like, eh, blood, this and that, but to have something that keeps you alive like a parasite and just morphs you, a bit like what they do in Resident Evil as well where they've got the infected and they turn them into quote-unquote zombies and whatnot, same with the last of us. Oh my, for Dead Space they just ramp it up to 11 and they never stop. Do you do get a lot of abominations? Yeah, well like I said, Body Horror is definitely there, and especially some of the crew, I think you said, as you land there, some of the crew obviously turn. But a lot of them, I'm just looking at them now, you know, and the names kind of give away what they're doing, but like you've got the slashers and the spitters and the lurkers and the leapers. I mean, it sounds like a band.
00:28:32
Speaker
If you're looking at the pictures, pretty much all of them have got faces or heads, do you know what I mean? And I know that that might sound stupid, but now we're not talking about a Resident Evil game where it's like a population has been turned by the virus. These are these grizzly necromorphs, but the heads or the faces have remained, if you know what I mean. That's unnerving, isn't it? When you play a game like, for example, Call of Duty or even Gears of War, let's say, these kind of shooter games where they purposely try to depersonalise the enemies. They've all got the helmets on, they've got the same uniforms, and the aim of the game is essentially to gun down these particular creatures that they don't really have much sympathy behind them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm feeling some pathetic over shooting necromorphs, believe you me, but the fact that they make them human, because I mean, look at things like Star Wars, for example, the fact that you've got all the stormtroopers that have the helmets, but then all the heroes don't wear helmets. yeah They call it, well, except the Mandalorian, but that's another thing. You know, it shows that kind of, oh look, we are humanising the heroes versus dehumanising the enemies that they're basically gunning down. And you know, in your brain you think, oh it doesn't matter, they're bad guys. And you you don't realise Bob 2.0, our cousin of Bob, has been gunned down by Luke Skywalker.
00:29:52
Speaker
What are these guys? It is, as you said, they're very humanoid and you can still see their faces and everything. It is absolutely terrifying and of course the name itself comes from the combination of the word necro which is to do with death and the word morph, meaning to change, to evolve into something and it's a great name and I'm reading the trivia here. Apparently, the guy who designed them was a guy called Ben Wanat. Apologies if I butchered that name, but apparently it was his wife that came up with the name. i really so This is Wanat. Well done.
00:30:28
Speaker
Well done for that because as you said it is kind of obvious what they're going for but it's quite disconcerting when you see something that looks like a human stumbling towards you and you know you don't want to shoot it initially but when you see the big limbs bursting out of it and things and of course that's probably a good point to talk about the dismemberment system which is one of the more unique gameplay styles isn't it? It really is, and if I remember right, the first game originally was marketed around that, that it was a system you had to use, and ah this is gonna sound so wrong, but it's quite a satisfying mechanic, isn't it? Not in a sadistic way, but in terms of a tactic. Yeah, because usually in games like this, especially at the time, you would just have a big grubly monster that you would just keep shooting at and until it went down, or you would shoot at its weak point, which don't get me wrong, some monsters have that. for better or for worse. But yeah, the fact that you can shoot away their legs and everything and you can shoot away their arms so that they don't attack you the same, then you go for the head to stomp on them, which I know sounds very violent and it is. This is an 18 plus kid, don't play it.
00:31:41
Speaker
ah ah Yeah, it's just it's such an innovative way to, again, going back to this word of immersing yourself in the game, rather than just being a player character that you, pew pew, the alien. No, no, you are in there. If you think, oh, this alien can get, or Necromorph is gonna get slowed down by losing his legs, you better believe that you're taking your plasma cutter out and taking his legs away because otherwise you're just gonna become like them. Can I just say something before we carry on? I mean you laugh and you say pew pew but did you know in I think it was Dead Space 2 in the new game plus there was a weapon I think in new game plus mode where it was like one of those phone fingers that was the gun and it did make a pew pew noise when you were shooting it.
00:32:25
Speaker
But like I said it was built around the dismemberment mechanic and the first game you get is a plasma cutter isn't it which is like three lines of laser and you can rotate it can't you so you can have it horizontal or vertical so you know you could turn it vertical to take the arms off say of the necromorph or you could use it horizontal to shoot the legs off but then it would still come crawling to you and then like I said you had to tactically take them down before giving them a good old stomp. pretty much. You have to make sure they're dead because the amount of them are, for some reason, they pretend they're dead. And then you stomp on them, and they're like, oh my god, they're dead. It's like, oh my god. That got annoying very fast. But of course, you've got an array of weapons that I have to say I really appreciated the fact that for the most part, other than the, I don't know if it's called the pulse rifle, or you know, the assault rifle that you get. I wasn't a big fan of that. That surprisingly was the only one that kinda thought, eh, I'm not a huge fan, although I used it when I had to. He also had ones that were very much like tools, rather than weapons that you were going around shooting people with, which I think technically if you were using it in a normal An engineer setting, you wouldn't be hacking off people's lums, hopefully not. Well, I'd be watching over my shoulder. Oh yeah, me too. If I was working on the issue mirror, I'd be watching my bag. But yeah, you've got the plasma cutter, which of course, as you said, you can rotate it horizontally or vertically to take out lums. You've got the, I can't remember the name of it, but like the saw. the ripper. Those two were my favourite I think. The plasma cutter, even though that was your first weapon, it just felt so satisfying to use. But the ripper, which is like, so it was like saw blades, which you could either shoot out or suspend it, wasn't it, with it spinning. So you're actually guiding it, aren't you?
00:34:13
Speaker
You just held it in front of you and they just walked into it. And they also had, I can't remember the other one, it's like a kind of force gun, where it's like you had a trip wire or something from it. It also blasted the hell out of it in front of you. But one thing, and again this isn't something I usually like, but one thing I did think was quite clever was the fact that your ammo is very scarce in terms of you have to micromanage your inventory. So, you know, you've got your particular set of weapons that you can you can take all of them if you want, or you can only take a handful because there's a flamethrower as well, isn't there? There is, yeah. I mean, most games do, but yeah, there definitely is. Yeah, which I have to say, why have a flamethrower when you've got a plasma cutter that's OP as hell? Yeah, that's true. Because you can upgrade them can't you as well, that's the thing. And you can make them more powerful, where you can make the reload faster. It's really cleverly done and I think it was a revamp of that as well for the skill tree. Honestly it is, I could be totally wrong on that but yeah, you have the skill tree that you can upgrade the weapons and everything and
00:35:20
Speaker
yeah it's just it's absolute in terms of combat it's just absolutely fantastic that kind of leads us I suppose to the story of this game because we've talked a lot about the gameplay which was fantastic actually sorry before I go on I just want to touch on two well technically three particular necromorphs that I really didn't like bar the one at the very end but as you said you had the one with the three tentacles that came out kept shooting you. That was a pain, the one where you had to shoot the back of it. I felt like I was in a Benny Hill skit where it was like I was running around and I just i couldn't get behind him. And then I realized, oh, you're supposed to use the stasis, which is another really interesting power as well. It's not something we've touched on where you can freeze things in place or you can use kinesis to move things with your suit, not your mind, fortunately. way just your suit and you have to refill this meter for it is really well done but you have to use that to freeze it in place and I didn't realize that so I was running around trying to shoot it and then I was running out of ammo so not my finest moment but the final one of course is the you know the super necromorph the regeneration one yeah that was a pain in the bum I mean that's the thing and we've praised this and rightly so, but there were a couple of things that did annoy me in the game and one was, I don't know if it's that one actually, but the Leviathan I think was where, was that the one where you had to go use certain things, you had to deposit certain chemicals in a certain place to take it down, it just felt like yeah you gotta go here, do this here, you gotta go there, do that there and it just became so evident that it was just a random point to point quest. Yeah, it was like you had to inject one yeah person with something, then you had to inject with another. That's it. It almost reminded me of that level of BioShock, you know the one where, kind of who it is, but it's the woman who's trapped in the, I think it's the Arcadia Gardens, and she's like, you're not getting in here until you get me. This, this and that. And you're like, oh, I know your game. Are you losing your position to butter here? yeah
00:37:21
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. If I know they're doing that for the health of the ship and whatnot, but it was kind of cool shooting the Leviathan afterwards when it latched itself back on and you had to go outside to shoot. That was cool. And the concept of it was really fun, but the actual having to, as you said, do the busy work and go here and there and everywhere, you're like, oh, this is... You had a few moments like that when you had to backtrack and some moments were better than others, I will say. But just a quick word on that, when you say backtrack, it's so much better, and the progression in this game is so much better. It felt like one open ship, whereas originally I remember it again, because of the loading, it felt like you were definitely going into sectioned off rooms. But yeah, it's a lot better now. Yeah, because I think technically you can go back if you want. Yeah. Not sure why you would want to if it didn't progress the story, but do you get side missions, I think? And did you get side missions in the original? I don't believe you did, no. That's the funny thing, yeah. as I have to say, it was actually really interesting seeing how they built up the world through environmental storytelling, especially when you get to the big room that has the captain's quarters and basically the fancy part of the ship. where, you know, the plebs love and such, and you got to see that. That was absolutely fantastic, and I loved the way they did it, because it wasn't just, oh, spooky graffiti on the walls, even though there was spooky graffiti like they cut their limbs off. That actually leads me on to probably the final and main point of this analysis, which of course is the story. See overall, what did you think of the story? Were you impressed, or did you kinda think, hmm, it could have been better in a few places? I'm going to be honest now, I enjoyed playing and completing the game because it was an enjoyable game to play and complete, but I did lose myself with the plot a little bit towards the end. It just felt like they threw a lot. Is it cliched? Maybe I don't mean the word cliched, but personally this is obviously, I just felt I lost a bit of attachment to the story towards the end, although I do love the final reveal. For me personally, and this is obviously we're going into heavy spoilers for the story here. So go away, go play it, come back or read a Wikipedia or something. We can tell you all about Bob now. We can tell you about the legend of Bob. Bob began his career... No, I'm like... Yeah, so basically, I feel sorry for Bob now.
00:39:44
Speaker
but But yeah, basically, as you progress through the ship, the reason that Isaac took this job, and that's something we didn't mention in the beginning, because why would you want to go in the big murder ship in the middle of nowhere, is because his, is it Gero Friend?
Story Twists and Final Critiques
00:39:58
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, so it's not his her. Not that that makes any difference, but it's the woman that loves anybody. She is a doctor on the ship and she met him because I think she worked on deprogramming a lot of people from this cult that was going on in the Earth called Unitology. And I think Isaac's mother was one of them and they met through that. It seems I have to admit like a bit of a morbid story. Boy has mother who's a cult. Boy meets girl while yeah mother's getting deprogrammed, you know. Not going to say it at your wedding probably, but yeah, he's searching the entire ship for her and that's the whole driving force of him. Every so often you see Nicole and then you actually learn that the ship you're on is supposed to be a kind of resource harvesting ship but then what ends up happening is they bring on a particular artifact that the unitologists want which is something called a marker and the marker basically is the reason why they're all transforming into these horrible abominational It's interesting in one sense, but I'm totally with you. Once you get to that kind of halfway mark and you realise, oh, the necromorphs are people and everything that kind of starts to lose its luster, yeah I'm going to assume you mean the twist with Nicole. yeah yeah that she Unfortunately, I can't believe I'm having to tell you this, listeners, but she indeed does not like bread.
00:41:26
Speaker
yeah couldn't believe it. I was shocked. I was horrified. Now jokes aside, she has been sixth sensed the entire time. I spoiled two properties in one there, but she has been dead the entire time. That is actually something that I think the second game brings up and a lot of fans have brought up that by all means we never actually seen Nicole's body. So we could have very well have killed Nicole as a necromorph, which is a depressing thought. Could we say how the reveal was done though? Because I think at the time, I remember being, you know, it's going to sound really trivial now, but at the time I was like, whoa, do you know what I mean? Mind-blowing. Yeah, no, go for it. Obviously, as per any game, there are levels or now it's all one level, so it's more sections. But I just want to see if we can find it. But ultimately, at the end, when you play the final one, you realize that the first letter of every level or section spells out Nicole is dead. and it's there in front of your face but you know you don't see it because you're playing the game but here we go so just very quickly it's new arrivals intensive care course correction obliteration imminent lethal devotion environment hazard into the void search and rescue dead on arrival end of days alternate solutions and the final chapter dead space all spelling out nicole is dead i mean you mentioned sixth sense but it is at penny drop moment when it comes up on screen because I think it does if I remember right or at least in the original it did because the other one that I found interesting and I don't actually know if this was in the original game but you know at the very end when you're with well it's Hammond and I can't remember the other woman that you're with but it turns out she is I think she's trying to investigate isn't she the unitologist and she tries to stop you But it's not just hallucination, it's one of the other characters, isn't it? That it's almost like the hallucination is over, so it's not like he's just seeing a random figure. He's actually seeing someone, but then it's almost like in his mind they're making it seem to be, you know, whatever's happened to him, he's seeing her as Nicole. Yeah, because he's seen Harrods Nicole and the character is… gross. I think it's Scientist or Doctor, I can't remember, but she sees him as her love interest too, unfortunately. He got shot in the head by a very brutal scene, actually. It's against Stasis by one of the cult members. and then he just basically fires a plasma cutter bolt into his head. It's really brutal but yeah they see one another as each other's respective love interests and everything and that was a really cool reveal because after that I knew that Nicole was dead based on all the media and the memes and things that surround this game but I didn't see that bit coming. I was like oh right so Nicole technically it was kind of there at times but not who he thought. Well I've got it here so I've just looked out quickly so it says yeah Kendra reveals that Nicole was dead all along having committed suicide to avoid becoming a necromorph. The Nicole Isaac was working with is actually Cross who hallucinated Isaac as Temple and the mark manipulated them both to return it to the hive mind though yeah double crossing there. But also just something to call out for the ending as well so doesn't Isaac I think is in the ship he's taking off he's resting and then there's that hallucination of Nicole attacking him I think isn't there? Well what's quite interesting about that surprisingly is do you know there's an alternate ending? No, well not that I've seen anyway. Throughout the game there's mini markers, I think they're called, or you know like statues or markers and I think if you collect them all then you have a more cordial discussion with them all but you're clearly just absolutely mental. Now you're absolutely crazy, you're talking to being like, oh let's spread the word of the
00:45:23
Speaker
guys and it's clear of've kind of being corrupted by it but that the one hundred percent run I have to say though, and maybe this is a personal preference, but see the hive mind, you touched on it there, but see the hive mind which is the final boss of this game. So basically the reason that you end up coming across this big behemoth is I think one of the characters tries to insinuate or rather one of the cultists says that you have to get the marker back down to the planet that you're circling because that's basically how
00:45:56
Speaker
you got to that situation in the first place. Once you get it down there, you have the hallucinations and whatnot, you fight through a couple of necromorphs and then there's this big tentacle-like monster that comes out and you're supposed to shoot it. I'm gonna be honest, I did not care for that final boss battle. No, I agree. It almost reminded me, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but it reminded me of a boss battle from Deadly Premonition. For the three of you out there who have played Deadly Premonition, if you know, you know. But there's a scene there where you have to fight a giant version of the main villain and you have to have the particular weak spot, you know, like when you get pulled up by the hive mind and they've got that
00:46:36
Speaker
a tiny, tiny point you're supposed to shoot and it's really hard because you're swaying back and forth. And I know there's a lot of Dead Space fans out there going get good Satsu, which I can't ride. And I've got it eventually, but I was still just like, this is ridiculous. I feel as if with all the psychological horror and it built it up fantastically in the Ishimura. I think probably see when you come into contact with the, I think it's the USG Valor or something like that, you're the military ship. And that made me laugh, I have to say. I actually audibly gasped because early on one of your crew members gets infected, gets killed and gets infected, turns into a necromorph and Haman seals him in pod and jettises him out of the ship.
Future Hopes and Closing Remarks
00:47:22
Speaker
You like never have to see that guy again. And then I was just like, oh my God, because the ship was like, it's okay, we got one of your escape pods. I was like, no, no. All to play, I was like, no, no, no. And then, of course, it's like, oh, when was that transmission a couple of hours ago? Yeah, they're dead, aren't they? They are 100% dead. I have to say, obviously, it's safe to assume that we would highly recommend this game. Oh absolutely, definitely and just to reiterate at the start, I know reviews aren't everything but on Metacritic PC it's got 87, PS5 and Xbox it's 89, Destructoid I'm looking here 8.5 out of 10, Gamingformer 9 out of 10, Game Revolution 8 out of 10, GameSpot 9 out of 10, GamesRadar 4.5 out of 5, IGN 9 out of 10, NME 4 out of 5, Telegraph 4 out of 5, Guardian 4 out of It's a great game. I'm so disappointed that it's not going to get the sequels remade. I mean, we've said about the things we didn't like, but the game is just so enjoyable. Absolutely go play it. I mean, it really is because despite one or two flaws of it, that is essentially us nitpicking the suppose because don't get me wrong, there are faults with this game as a whole, because let's say that no game is perfect, but in terms of a horror experience, that horror action experience that you're going to remember that is visually stunning, it has overhauled things in all the right places, because what made me laugh was when you and I and Luke and Marie from the Potipac collective, we were doing the Mass Effect month a couple of months ago and Marie was very annoyed at the Legendary Edition because other than a few minor tweaks, they didn't really overhaul it massively, at least graphically that is. But as I said, this game is a completely different game. This genuinely can stand on its own as Dead Space, the reboot
00:49:17
Speaker
or whatever. It is such an incredible achievement that they have managed to pull off here, both visually, both the upgrades and gameplay itself. It doesn't feel as clunky. As you said, they've managed to connect the ship together. It makes the environmental storytelling pop out all the more. You want to do the side missions. You want to try and learn more about this ship. You just you want to immerse yourself in this world. And I don't mean that in the positively. But you want to know what happened to this ship. You want to know who the Unitologists are, what they did. There's hundreds of of lower tidbits, audio logs, regular text logs as well, talking about the eventual changes of the crew members of the ship and them trying to hide themselves away and everything. And it's amazing that in 2023 we managed to actually get. So it would have been 15 years later Yeah, 15, 16 years from the original, yeah. Yeah, that we've got this remake and it turned out in all the best ways. It turned out incredible. Everybody's praising that, as you were saying there. I totally agree because I've only played a small amount of Dead Space 2 and it's funny because I remember I played it on stream with my very good friend and co-host, Andrew. But unfortunately, he was watching it through me streaming it on the Discord stream. apparently he couldn't hear it. So, he could only see what I was doing. So, he could comment along. I was just doing that on Twitch. So, I was getting jumpscared. The monsters, the necromorphs would jump out and go, and that would be good. ah And he would be talking going, so anyway.
00:50:53
Speaker
about my day, you know? gi up And it was terrifying. I was like, no, never it again. But from what I played to that, that was absolutely incredible. So the fact that we could have had something akin to this remake, but in Dead Space 2, absolutely, it is a tragic loss. And I hope to God that they see the errors of their ways and they just say, you know what, we made a mistake. where Let's just try it again. Well, at least they see this episode here. This episode didn't change their mind. Yeah, EA, if you want to sponsor us, you know where to find us. Throw some EA money, are we? But in summary, absolutely fantastic game. And if you're looking for a horror game this Halloween, definitely go check it out because as of this episode, you still have a couple of days left until Halloween. So definitely pick yourself up a copy. And it's on Game Pass, right?
00:51:43
Speaker
thank as i think right yeah is yeah First of all Dan, thank you for peer pressuring me into playing this game. No problem. You've got a list already I've given you, right? Do you know someone actually brought up one of the games you recommended to me? Oh really? It was Jess from Opinionated Lushes. She came on to do the Firewatch review with me and I was like, oh you should come on and review another indie game and she was like, oh have you heard of a game called Road 96? Oh yes. In the back of my mind I heard your voice going Road 96. The funny thing is that's not even one I can remember so I've given you a lot of
00:52:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I've got tons on Steam. i've got I've got hundreds to keep me going. That will definitely be an episode for, well, for the next couple of months. I'll keep us busy. But honestly, Dan, once again, it's always a pleasure. Thank you so, so much for joining me in and this spectacular episode. No, thank you again for having me on for it. And yeah, I'm choosing a restaurant next time. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So no temporary for us tonight. But as we go away and yeah look for an alternative restaurant, where can these lovely listeners find your content? Yeah. Just look for casting views across all the podcast players. And yes, social media, if you fancy interacting with me on social media, again, just look for casting views on most of them, but more active on Twitter slash X now and Instagram. and if you want to check out more episodes from yourself, you of course can check us out on our website, chattsunami.com, as well as all good podcast providers. I also want to thank our amazing Pandora Impatrons, Robotic Battles hosted in Sonya, thank you so so much as always for supporting the show, and if you would like some juicy bonus content such as early access, exclusive content, full length commentary tracks and the like, honestly go check it out over at patreon dot.com forward slash chat tsunami. But as you might have seen on the corner of the thumbnail, this podcast is of course a part of the Podpack Collective. We both are. So if you want to check us out on social media, you can check us out on Twitter slash X at Podpack Collect and of course on Instagram at Podpack Collective. So Dan, as always, it's been an absolute pleasure recording this with you. As always, stay safe, stay awesome. And most importantly, please don't eat in this. As Dan said, find another restaurant please for the love of God. Stay spooky Pandalorians.