Should You Play the Original Dead Space or the Remake?

EA may have remade Dead Space, but the 2008 original is still widely available. So if you’ve never played either, should you play the original Dead Space or the 2023 remake?

Unless You Insist on a Silent Protagonist, You Should Play the Dead Space Remake Over the Original

The original Dead Space is an excellent game, but EA Motive’s version isn’t just the original with a fresh coat of paint. Yes, it follows the original’s story, but this remake features many, many tweaks and changes. And virtually all of them elevate the game, delivering a better experience for the player — EA Motive has taken a great game and made it even greater.

To mention just a few changes, the Necromorphs, while as vicious as ever, are even more satisfying to dismember. And while it might not seem advisable to just wander around a ship filled with nightmarish flesh golems, there are side missions to tackle. So you’ve got a reason to backtrack, without the game forcing you to.

Then there are the characters. As much as we appreciate Peter Mensah’s Chief Hammond, this new incarnation has definitely grown on us. Even the NPCs whom you just know (or remember) are doomed are that little bit more interesting. We could go on, but we’re risking getting into spoiler territory.

So what’s the catch? Mainly that the original Dead Space is around $15, sometimes less if you can catch a sale. The remake, on the other hand, costs $69.99. Also, you’ll hear some people objecting to protagonist Isaac Clarke having a voice, instead of being silent as he was in the original.

But he was voiced in Dead Space 2 and 3 — and here his voice is provided by the same actor, Gunner Wright. If this is your first encounter with the Dead Space series, you should be fine with that. As for the cost, you can expect the price to drop over the next few months.

if you are playing on PC, the remake is much more compatible with modern hardware. The original Dead Space PC port can have its foibles, especially regarding controls, so a version of the game that just works is a huge positive for the platform. The new remake of Dead Space also comes with a slew of accessibility features, making the game playable to more people than ever before.

Once you’ve played the Dead Space remake, it’s well worth checking out the original just to see how it differs.

But regardless, you should absolutely play the Dead Space remake before the original. And even if you have played the original to death, this new version is fresh enough to be worth buying.