EA’s Scrapped Dead Space 3 Would Have Been AMAZING

Making Dead Space Scary Again

The Dead Space 3 we got, while mechanically satisfying and with a few great ideas (those sections where you were zooming through space and exploring wreckages of your own violation were particularly inspiring,) was clearly chasing a more mainstream audience. The moody space stations of previous titles had been swapped for bright snowy expanses, there were way more enemies, ammo was plentiful and, of course, players could now team up with a buddy to drink some mountain dew and blast once-terrifying monsters away together.

The developer's original vision, however, was much more in line with the horror pioneered in the very first game. The interview with Eurogamer confirmed that, despite edging towards all-out action with the second game, the third was set to fully embrace its horror roots by diving deeper into the psyche of Isaac Clarke.

That's because, after going through everything he did, and suffering through the mental manipulation of the alien markers linked to the necromorphs, everyone's favourite engineer is no longer the man he used to be. This title would have been all about diving into this element of the character, with Wanat mentioning that 'dementia' would have been a huge theme, and his psychological issues would manifest in game.

This approach would have been an awesome way to maintain the scares in this third instalment. The franchise's signature enemies, the necromorphs, while once terrifying had become familiar after players had mowed hundreds of them down. And, as Resident Evil's zombies can attest to, familiarity breeds contempt, and by going down a more psychological route the developers were attempting to make Isaac's personal demons as scary as the real ones he was facing off against.

As well as being an opprotunity to terrify players, it would have also provided a great continuation of Isaac's own story arc. As mentioned, hallucinations and his fractured psyche played a major role in the first two games - with the haunting manifestation of his dead girlfriend Nicole providing some of the most memorable scares of the whole series - so not only would doubling down on this element provide a new avenue for scares, but it would tie neatly into the themes of the previous instalments...