Dead Space 4 Sounds Like It Would Have Been the Horror Game of The Future
The Dead Space franchise has been defunct since its last game in 2013 and the studio behind it, Visceral Games, was shuttered last year. In a recent interview, Dead Space 3’s creative director Ben Wanat opened up about what the next installment would have been like.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Wanat says that the main story would revolve around a search for survivors while keeping your own ship intact across the vast reaches of literal dead space, with gameplay mostly inspired by the non-linear setup of 3’s flotilla section. “I figured you’d start in a section of space,” he says, “maybe following a trail of ship carcasses to an orbital station you think might have the parts and fuel needed to get your ship Shock-capable.” Facing the brink of humanity’s end at the claws of the Necromorphs, the game would be set across a series of ships not unlike the Ishimura. “The ships you would visit are where the game would get really diverse,” Ben explains. “The Ishimura had some inkling of that diversity with the variously themed decks. But imagine an entire roster of ship types, each with unique purposes, floor plans, and gameplay. Our original prototypes for the Dead Space 3 flotilla had some pretty wild setups that I wish we had been able to use.”
Wanat also explains that Necromorphs would have to adapt to the exploration-based gameplay, like functioning in zero gravity, as well as a redux of the weapon crafting system from Dead Space 3. “I love that it gave players creativity in putting together their weapons, but it became very difficult to tune when you allowed players to break the primary and alt-fire pairings. There would have needed to be a focus on re-perfecting the weapon balance while still giving players plenty to tinker with.”
Additionally, Wanat states that the fourth installment would have shifted the spotlight from Isaac to another character, saying he had imagined Ellie in particular as “the protagonist of Dead Space 4.”
Unfortunately with the shut down of Visceral and Ben currently working at Crystal Dynamics, it looks like this idea may not come to fruition anytime soon, even though fans have been clamoring for more ever since the series’ “end” in 2013. However, Wanat does have hope that the series will make a comeback, and teased a bit of lore he would like to see implemented in the event that it does. “I don’t want to give away the lore, but I will say that we spent a bit of time working out the origin of the Necromorphs and what purpose humans held in this dark universe. Would players find a way out of the Necromorph apocalypse? I’d say yes, but they might be sorry they did. Sometimes you’re better off with the devil you know…”
In the meantime, the entire series is backwards compatible on Xbox One and is part of EA and Origin Access if you’re itching to return to it.