Dead Space (Remake/2023)

I wish I could explain why my possibly last run on Dead Space is so stressful to me. Yes, Impossible difficulty has permadeath. I have died on Hard with better armour, but I also made it harder on myself by playing with only the plasma cutter!

So I have been jumping in, playing for about 30-40 minutes, then stopping play. When I stop, I legit need a break, as the tension Dead Space is generating gets to me. There are a few sections at the start of the game I have been worried about potentially cheap deaths, but I am past that now until Chapter 9 again.

Another reason that is totally a ‘me’ thing is I can only play immersively at night. The way my TV is set up, my TV reflects a lot of light in dark images, and necromorphs can hide in such reflections. This isn’t a problem with Dead Space – it’s my setup.

I can put the brightness way up to combat this, but that for me is against the spirit of Dead Space. Having well-hidden scares and scanning a room with your light is to find them part of the experience!

So I am looking forward to picking up the PSVR2 today to play Dead Space, or at least give it a good try. I played with the 2D virtual screen on PSVR, and it worked fine. It’s been confirmed you can do the same thing with PSVR2, and that the light leakage is vastly improved.

The improved screen quality and HDR compatibility on PSVR2 should make Dead Space pop! Or at least, it’s what I am hoping. The downside of course is I am waiting to be totally immersed on the Ishimura, and Enzo rubs up against my leg. That could be hard for the old heart rate!

We will see how my Dead Space adventure continues next week.

The Impossible run for Dead Space continues slowly. I am actually starting to worry about how long it’s taking me. I remember everything I have to do, but some of the finer details I may be forgetting.

For any other run, an unfortunate death isn’t so bad. For a run with permadeath – Not so much. But I don’t want a repeat of Resident Evil Village and be ONE trophy away from the Platinum!

I did try Dead Space in PS VR2 though. Short version – image quality was great, with zero light bleed. The experience though? Not as great. At least for the one try I had.

There was a fight where I had to fight the camera and a moving target to aim. This doesn’t happen often, and normally is only a small difficulty spike.

With the settings on PS VR 2, the screen wasn’t fixed though – it moved with my head. I am sure this is just a setting to fix the virtual 2D screen, but it wasn’t set when I tried.

Targeting a moving target, with a moving camera, AND a moving screen? I noped out of playing Dead Space in PS VR2 for the moment. Maybe next week?

I was slowly making my way through the Impossible run on Dead Space, and I was happy with my progress. Miniboss fights, intentionally tight fight areas, some zero-gravity arenas – I was clearing them all.

You may have noticed this is all in the past tense. I was going well. Then, late in Chapter 7 of 12, after a boss fight where I died often before, the worst happened. Dead Space killed me.

I got stun locked between two small annoying enemies, and glitch killed. Not ‘pushed by little enemies into a bigger enemy to die’ killed. That would have been unfortunate but understandable. No, I got pushed through a wall as near as I can make out, and died with 2/3 of my health showing on my suit!

I thought that would end my Platinum run hopes. I was so stressed slowly progressing, playing for 30-40 minutes and having to put the controller down. Dying like this was my worst-case scenario, and I thought might kill the desire to Platinum Dead Space.

The next day, I sat down and started a new Impossible run. I played for about 3 hours straight, progressing nicely. The best comparison I can think of is like when you get a new car.

You pick up the car and treat it tenderly. Park where no other cars are, gingerly open the doors to not hit anything that kind of thing. Then the inevitable happens, and you get a scratch or ding. All the pressure is off, it’s happened, and then you treat your car ‘normally’.

That’s my run with Dead Space now. I died in the Impossible run, the worst happened, and now I can continue enjoying the game. Once I get over this bug, I can’t wait to pick up the controls and finish Dead Space!