There’ve been a few whisperings concerning the release date of EA’s Dead Space remake in recent weeks, but now the publisher has moved to bring the rumours to a halt by giving the sci-fi horror rejuvenation an official “early” 2023 release window.
Despite developer EA Motive having repeatedly stressed its Dead Space remake was still in the early stages of development each time its been given an airing since its announcement, VentureBeat journalist Jeff Grubb had given fans hope it might be arriving as early as this autumn in a report written late last year. This week, however, Grubb revised that initial claim, saying EA was now aiming to release in early 2023 – and, lo, the publisher has finally made that official during its latest Dead Space developer livestream.
When asked when Dead Space fans will likely be able to get their hands on EA Motive’s remake during the presentation, senior producer Philippe Ducharme revealed the game is currently in the pre-alpha stage of development, and that the team is “actually just a couple of weeks away from being able to do our first full walkthrough”.
Dead Space – Atmospheric Walkthrough.
Ultimately, Ducharme says the studio wants to be in a place “where the game that we’re going to deliver is going be building on the expectations of fans”, and, with that in mind, it’s currently aiming to release its remake “early next year”. Ducharme did confirm the studio has a proper release date in mind, even though it’s not quite ready to share it yet. “We believe that we’re going to be in a solid position to be able to do the proper polish, the proper debug, and to meet the date that we have in mind,” he explained, “but for now, ‘early next year'”.
Away from conversations about the Dead Space remake’s release date, the full, hour-long livestream is well worth a watch, diving deep into the various areas of audio work going on behind the scenes, as well as offering surprisingly technical glimpses of how EA Motive is building on the cult-classic original game’s sound design for the modern era. That includes everything from enhanced weapon sounds to a new system governing protagonist Isaac’s physiological responses to his surroundings.
Dead Space – The A.L.I.V.E. System.
Now, for instance, Isaac’s heart rate and breathing will more naturally rise and fall depending on his health, fatigue, and exertion – and he even has three different versions of his spoken lines so players can hear his current state more realistically reflected in his speech. It’s obviously hard to do much justice to the complex audio work being detailed in the livestream through text though, so if you’re at all curious to learn more – and see an early “atmospheric walkthrough” in which various sound design elements come together in-game – do give it a watch.
EA Motive’s Dead Space remake will be launching on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC when it arrives in its newly confirmed release window of “early next year”.
