Co-op Focus Confirmed For Dead Space 3

The fears of many Dead Space fans were realised during EA’s press conference – and not in the way Visceral Games intended.

As far as narrative is concerned, reveals were sparse. We witnessed Isaac and Ellie (lady friend of Dead Space 2) get separated as their ship explodes and hurtles towards the new icy planet that backdrops this new title. An isolated Isaac was seemingly saved by an individual sporting similar engineering armour to himself. As I’m sure you’ve gathered, their interactions didn’t end there with a hand shake or bear hug.

Instead, new guy John Carber serves as Isaac’s partner within the game. Yes, it’s a buddy movie. The leaked images we’ve already seen had suggested that this was the direction Visceral were taking Dead Space, this was explicitly confirmed on stage – the entire game will support drop in, drop out co-operative play. It would be permissible to suggest that this notion goes someway to detract from what has made Dead Space such a huge success. It has always been one of the few high quality titles to focus on terror and isolation. Much like Resident Evil 5, this new step seems to run the risk of undermining the fundamentals that make the series great.

The demo however, in and of itself, was an interesting one. The settings and enemies were pleasantly varied. Isaac and John started the video by taking on an industrial sized spinning claw in the midst of a Necromorph conflict and finished it by being consumed by a larger fellow, only to remain conscious within its stomach. The former of these examples was let down somewhat by lad banter but the latter was genuinely difficult to watch (in the good way) suggesting that actual scares may be still be a possibility.

The franchise has earned my trust over the years and as such I will not be giving up on Dead Space 3 just yet. If anyone can produce something messed up enough to overpower the new bromance vibe, it’s Visceral Games.