Dismemberment is still the main aim of every skirmish, but the flamethrower’s new alternate fire creates a wall of searing flame that can cordon off areas and manage crowds, while the Pulse Rifle’s new proximity mine works as both a trap and a makeshift grenade launcher. Talking of weapons, each one of Isaac’s lethally repurposed tools has been redesigned to encourage a new level of strategy. The stripped down necromorphs can then be finished off with a more conventional weapon their exposed bones ready to be snapped with just a round or two. What was once simply a push-back weapon now rips the flesh off of enemies with a thunderous blast. This is never more obvious than when using the Force Gun, a weapon that has been completely overhauled for the remake. Much like how protagonist Isaac Clarke has a health bar built directly into his suit, the necromorphs' own bodies are now a visual representation of their health. Much has already been made of the new ‘peeling system’ that rips the skin, fat, and muscle layers away from enemies with each new wound, but there’s more to this grotesque idea than just visceral visuals. Regardless of if you're backtracking or making forward progress, Dead Space is full of horrifying necromorphs that threaten to rip you limb from limb. My hope is that Motive has smartly weaved backtracking into the main missions and the newly-added side quests to allow for organic revisits of prior areas, rather than making backtracking a segregated chore. It’s an admirable direction, but I’ve yet to see exactly how well it’s used across the full campaign. This interconnected design and backtracking turns the Ishimura into something closer to the Talos-1 station from Prey a huge structure that feels like a genuine place rather than a series of video game levels. As the story progresses you’re granted increasing levels of clearance, and so you can then backtrack through the now-seamless spaceship to open doors that were once forbidden. But thanks to a new Security Clearance system, you’re initially locked out of many side locations you discover. Such modifications are found hidden around the ship, and so they act as encouragement to explore every room and store cupboard.

Dead space review polygon