It's been a few years since the last Dead Space title, but players can relive the horror all over again as the first game is now backward compatible on Xbox One.  

After the lukewarm reception of its 2013 third outing, the Dead Space franchise has been stuck in limbo ever since. While it was stated that the Dead Space series was merely 'taking a break' following Dead Space 3, neither developer Visceral Games or EA have spoken much about about the survival-horror franchise in quite some time. Despite the lack of news in recent years, Dead Space remains one of the best modern horror games ever made, and a new announcement from Xbox Live's Director of Programming, Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb, is sure to please every Dead Space fan out there.

Major Nelson announced on his Twitter that the first Dead Space title is now available on Xbox One backward compatibility, eight years after the game was originally released. Dead Space may be nearly a decade old, but we still think it's one of the top games of the last generation. The title's impressive design and atmosphere still holds up after all these years, something which is bound to hook in new Xbox One fans.

Here's Major Nelson's Dead Space announcement tweet in all its gory glory.

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This announcement may not be the Dead Space 4 reveal that survival-horror fans wanted, but any chance to revisit the Dead Space franchise at this point is welcome. Three years ago, EA had stated that it was "proud" of Dead Space 3, and that a new Dead Space game was still on the cards, but nothing has come of that statement. The chances of that new entry have grown smaller ever since, especially considering that Visceral Games is currently hard at work on its new Star Wars game.

Having said that, a slim chance is still a chance, and a future Dead Space title from Visceral Games remains a possibility. Despite developer being hard at work on some galaxy far, far away, Visceral Games understandably holds a soft spot for the survival-horror franchise that made its reputation in the industry.

Whether a new Dead Space game will ever come out remains to be seen. For now, all we can do is polish up that Dead Space 4 wish list, and hope that Visceral will hold to its word and return to its beloved survival-horror roots.

Dead Space is now available on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Source: Twitter (via Destructoid)