What you need to know
- Motive Studios and Electronic Arts are working on a remake of the original Dead Space.
- Motive Studios shared a development update on Friday, focused on the audio design of the remake.
- The team is building on the original sounds wherever possible, while also adding new systems for more realistic audio.
- Motive Studios also confirmed that the game is being aimed for an early 2023 launch window.
Motive Studios shared an update for the upcoming Dead Space remake on Friday, focusing on the sounds of the game and how the team is building on the foundations of the original title.
Audio director Olivier Asselin explained that in building the audio for the Dead Space remake, the team focused on several key pillars. For starters, the team is using new technology to ensure that sounds are properly occluded or obsured, more realistically muffling or changing the frequency of a sound depending on the objects in-between protagonist Isaac Clarke and said sound. You can listen to these changes below:
The team is even doing what they refer to as archeology, as they've been checking the original source files for audio data that can be learned from or even used in the remake. The weapons of Dead Space are also being examined, including the iconic Plasma Cutter. There's more a crunchy noise in the layers of the Plasma Cutter, while the Pulse Rifle sounds less muted. You can listen to the comparisons below:
As for Isaac himself, Motive has developed the A.L.I.V.E. system — Adrenaline, Limbic System Response, Intelligent Dialog, Vitals, Extertions — which is a collection of systems that make Isaac sound more realistic. Isaac now more realistically struggles to catch his breath after running low on oxygen. Since Isaac will now speak in the game, there's three versions of scripted dialogue for Isaac, with alternate regular, winded and injured versions of each line. You can listen to more below:
Finally, to close out the update, the team shared a very quick, early look at some pre-alpha gameplay:
The team is also going to be holding another update sometime early in May. This next update will be focused on the art direction of the game. The game doesn't currently have a release date, but now confirmed to be aiming for an early 2023 launc window, following recent reports.
The Dead Space remake is a current-generation game, meaning it's skipping older hardware and is only being developed for the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5 and PC.
