Welcome aboard the USG Ishimura — and welcome back to the long-dormant Dead Space series with this rad 2023 remake of the original game. Veterans will find a highly familiar experience here, albeit one with enough new bells and whistles (not to mention graphical prowess) to make it well worth a return trip. Newcomers will have far less notion what to expect.

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Whether you're a fan of Isaac's 2008 introduction to the sci-fi/horror gaming landscape or you're only just joining him, we think you'll want to give these tips a read. Either to reorient yourself around this cosmic mystery, or discover its secrets for the first time.

Stasis Basis

Dead Space Isaac Hover Boots Side of Ship

Stasis is a terrific ability that allows you to slow down time in a small area. As soon as it's brought into the limelight, players are tasked with tapping into it in order to slow down a fast-moving door that could otherwise slice them apart at such velocities. And that is, more or less, how the gameplay mechanic is treated. A tool for puzzle-solving.

In fact, Stasis is much more than 'just' a puzzle-solver. It slows down your enemies as well. That's right. Necromorphs are hardly immune to its chronological displacement antics. By the time you've had Stasis in your loadout for a little bit, you will have noticed how frequently Dead Space likes to toss multiple foes your way simultaneously. Consider how handy it might be to tell one or two of them to slow their roll a little while you handle them one at a time.

Environmental Storytelling

Dead Space Environmental Storytelling

Look for audio logs and similar fare to enhance the grim tale Dead Space revolves around. Get to know the (doomed) personnel of the Ishimura, It's all good fun. It may even lead to side quests.

But there's another story being told with all the interactive objects lining the catwalks — a more important one, we dare say. Items like flammable canisters are often positioned at key intervals to help handle packs of Necromorphs in fiery fashion. In fact, let's just shorthand the whole shindig: every interactive item in Dead Space is there for a reason. You won't necessarily use every single one, but it's worth noting their whereabouts before the fighting happens.

Step On Me

Dead Space Step On Me

The game will mention this early on, but stepping on enemies is totally a thing that you can do in Dead Space. And boy, should you step on them. Often, and loudly. Not only does Isaac's boot seem to hurt more than your average bullet, but you will often acquire valuable items from corpses this way.

If you're not sure if an upcoming corpse is, in fact, a corpse yet, feel free to bust out the old heel-stomp. Better stomped than sorry.

360 No Scope

Dead Space Headshots Are Deadshots

Dead Space (2023) is a 3D video game. Dead Space (2008) was also a 3D video game. In both the original and the remake, this statement's more important than it sounds. Necromorphs are not going to appear merely in front of you, but rather, from your sides, and often even from behind.

You don't want to forget the three-dimensional nature of the game world for a second. Your foes sure won't. Dead Space's level designers want you to feel the dread from not knowing if a monster will creep out of the shadows from whence you came. The best way to answer that question with Isaac's skull still attached is to keep a vigil all the way around you whenever possible.

Headshots Are Deadshots

Dead Space Cut Off Their Limbs

Dead Space is not Call of Duty. Nobody is going to care how rapidly you can shoot at a Necromorph's skull. Heads should seldom be your aim when it comes to Dead Space's montage of monstrosities. Better to hit just about anything else, in fact. Think about what a character mentions very early into the story. "Don't bother shooting them in the head."

That's not the game's way of saying 'don't bother shooting at all'; rather, it's letting you know that heads have about as much value as any other area, and really, limbs are often the better place to aim. Think of it this way. How many little appendages on that zombified crewmember look primed to slash poor Isaac to shreds? Debilitating, dismembering, removing each of them reduces the creature's capabilities. But the face itself? Not a big deal by comparison.

Deadspacevania

Dead Space Welcome Aboard Sign

Dead Space is not a Metroidvania — the Ishimura isn't a collection of areas that each require a new power-up or some such. It is, however, a collection of areas with security clearance. As Isaac gains 'ranks' in clearance, so to speak, not only will new story areas unlock. You'll also want to swing by old haunts, wherever you may recall a locked door that was previously impossible to pass through.

Sometimes, this is where the plot demands your services. Sometimes, it's an offshoot, the road to a short side quest or just some nice rewards for the explorative sorts. Put plainly, be an explorer.