There are plenty of diehard fan communities for series that have long since been canceled. The Dead Space community is one of the most passionate, so when EA officially announced a Dead Space reboot is in the works for current-gen consoles, many of those fans rejoiced. Dead Space 3 ended on something of an off note for the series: it wasn't received as well as the previous two mainline entries, and its story ended on a cliffhanger that's still waiting to be resolved. This new reboot will hopefully take the best elements from all three mainline titles and stitch them together to make an incredible horror experience.
The real tragedy of Dead Space's sudden cancellation was the lost potential. Many of the people who worked on the series have talked about the elements that were either cut or not properly utilized because of one reason or another. Despite the issues surrounding Dead Space 3's co-op mode, one of its saving graces was its interesting use of hallucinations, a feature that the new Dead Space reboot would do well to include as one of its tentpole features.
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Although he doesn't speak in the original first game, the Dead Space series puts a lot of focus on leading protagonist Isaac Clarke's mental health. After the trauma he lived through in the first title, he dealt with PTSD flashbacks and hallucinations in Dead Space 2 and 3. It makes sense that his mental state would potentially be in shambles following the horrific events of the first game. Sawing off and stomping through mutated limbs of the USG Ishimura crew in search of a girlfriend who has long been dead would probably have lifelong ramifications on anyone, but on top of it that, Isaac's exposure to the game's antagonistic Red Marker gave him a form of crippling dementia that only gets worse as the series progresses.
While Isaac is a sympathetic and likable character, he isn't the most reliable narrator due to his rapidly declining mental fortitude. The visions he sees of his girlfriend, Nicole, throughout the first two titles serve as a constant reminder of this, and although he seems to have cured himself of some of his issues around Nicole following Dead Space 2's infamous "stick a needle in your eye" scene, he isn't necessarily better off mentally at the start of Dead Space 3. There was plenty of focus on Isaac's mental health throughout the story of Dead Space 2, but things really came to a head in the third entry as it began to affect the gameplay in a meaningful way.
There were a handful of controversial features included in Dead Space 3. The two big points of contention for fans of the earlier games were unnecessary microtransactions and the tacked-on co-op multiplayer mode. Although both features were optional for those looking to play the game solo and without paying, they still put a sour taste in many fans' mouths when they were initially announced. One good thing came out of Dead Space 3's co-op mode, however. When playing online with a friend, the person portraying Isaac experienced the game differently than the person controlling newcomer John Carver. Due to Isaac's prolonged exposure to the Markers, he still suffered from hallucinations that manifested in enemies only visible to him.
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When controlling Carver, the player would see Isaac shooting at what seemed like nothing, and if they were on mic together in a party, the person playing Isaac would have to explain that they were seeing enemies Carver could not. This takes Isaac's mental issues in an interesting direction that results in a tangible gameplay feature. His hallucinations were still a major part of Dead Space 3's plot so it wasn't entirely out of left field, and it made each person's playthrough of the game feel unique.
The upcoming Dead Space reboot will have cut content as it is set to retell the events of the first game, so it won't be a beat-for-beat remake. There's not a ton of information about yet, but it seems like the title will be taking elements and inspiration from every game in the series. If it were to use Dead Space 3's hallucinations in a meaningful way, EA Motive might be able to create unique experiences for everyone who plays.
It could be as simple as including enemies that aren't actually there: Isaac would shoot at them for a moment before they disappear entirely with a musical sting. But, it would also be interesting to see the studio take the hallucinations a step farther than Dead Space 3. The game could include major hallucinations in the style of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem's insanity effects. Effects like fake system crashes, distorted enemy sizes, and deleted save files could happen at random throughout the game, giving each playthrough a unique feel and keeping the player on edge. The hallucinations would also start slow but ramp up over time as Isaac experiences more and more horrific events and gets closer to the Marker.
Ramping up the intensity of the hallucinations could help make the Dead Space reboot stand out from the original. It would also double down the focus on Isaac Clarke's mental health, something that was a major part of the original trilogy. Hopefully, that's a direction that EA Motive still wants to take the series, as the impact of traumatic events on lead characters is not something often explored in AAA titles.
Dead Space Remake is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.