Dead Space is a franchise that hasn't seen an entry in years. The horror games that saw Isaac Clarke fighting against necromorphs and trying to survive among increasingly terrifying situations were well-received critically and were a hit with audiences. With Dead Space 3 having released in 2013 though, much of the hype around the franchise had understandably died down, only to be somewhat resurrected recently with the announcment of a Dead Space remake by EA Motive, the developer behind Star Wars: Squadrons.
In the months since the Dead Space remake was announced, fans have had plenty of news to refresh their memory and fondness of the franchise. Gunner Wright was revealed to be reprising his role as the engineer turned videogame protagonist Isaac Clarke, and some footage was even shown between the original games and the remakes.
Many fans aren't sure how much new content will be seen in the Dead Space remake. Motive has promised to "expand" the Dead Space universe, though the developer is only remaking the first game, so there has been some concern as to how much can be expanded upon. It seems though that with a recent job listing that the Dead Space remake could have more open world elements than the original trilogy.
The job listing is for a Narrative Director, and lists many requirements for candidates to take on the role, one of those being to "understand the challenges of creating narrative content for an open world experience." Considering Motive's size and the fact the studio has only worked on one project at a time, it seems unlikely that this position would be referring to anything other than the upcoming Dead Space remake.
Dead Space losing its linear elements entirely is unlikely to happen, considering the nature of the series as horror games, forcing players down tight corridors to induce jump scares and through eerie abandoned spaceships where they can't escape are key ways to keep gamers on the edge of their seats. However, a more open world experience could allow for a greater inclusion of Dead Space content. With more exploration available players can discover more pieces of information, and lore about the universe. Considering Dead Space has a ton of lore to consume, letting the player explore to find out about it could be interesting.
The game could even take on a Resident Evil: Village style of gameplay, where some areas allow for open exploration while others keep the experience more linear. Either way, fans can only speculate for now, as more official news isn't expected to arrive on the remake until 2022, though for fans wanting to return to the series, the original Dead Space games are available on Xbox Game Pass.
Dead Space is set to release in late 2022 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.