Thanks to the PS5 controller, you really feel the dismemberment in Dead Space
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While the Dead Space remake brings general improvements across the board, making for a modern, smooth experience with luscious ray-traced lighting, Sony wants you to know that the sci-fi horror game will play a little better on PS5.
It all comes down to the DualSense controller on PS5 and how its unique technologies, such as haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, are used to create Empty space even more immersive. The PlayStation blog (opens in new tab) describes all the different ways the game uses the console’s hardware, but I’m most excited about what this will mean for slashing Necromorphs aboard the USG Ishimura.
By taking advantage of the DualSense’s adaptive triggers, the remake does it justice Empty space‘s iconic plasma cutter. That’s because, through localized vibrations, you feel the kinetic nature of the plasma energy round rise in the trigger before unleashing the full power of the beam. After you shoot, the triggers quickly re-engage, allowing you to load another shot and fire at the enemy Slashers, Hunters, and Wheezers.
If there’s anything to know about this space survival game, precision is more important than panic. True to the nature of the genre, you’ll never run out of ammunition, meaning you’ll need to choose carefully when to fire your shots and which limb to aim at. That’s because bullets (for the most part) don’t work to slow down the horrors that stalk the deck of the starship you’re exploring Empty space.
The more traditional weapons in Dead Space also get the full hardware treatment from the PS5 controller. A largely straightforward automatic weapon, the Pulse Rifle features accurate weight and recoil through a combination of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. This is reflected in the swing of the weapon, the appropriate heavy kick with each round, and how the gun feels after each round leaves the chamber. It is, after all, the blunt sledgehammer of Isaac Clarke’s arsenal, lacking the surgical precision of the engineer’s more technical inventory. I’m glad to hear that the remake is just as chaotic as the original game.
Haptic feedback is just as important to the experience as triggers, especially when it comes to Issac’s suit and other survival tools. One of the smaller details I look forward to is the zero gravity and air locker moments. That’s because not only can you feel the atmosphere evaporate as those hanging doors are opened by the PS5 controller, but there’s also a rising weight on Clarke’s boots that become magnetic to the ship’s steel.
Your Kinesis and Statis tools have received the same DualSense treatment. Vincent Wang, senior Brand Manager at Motive, says you’ll get “real-time feedback” if you slow down environmental objects and enemies or throw things around. Dead Space isn’t the first PS5 horror title to use this technology in this way, the game’s spiritual successor, The Callisto Protocol, adds an extra layer of violence thanks to the PS5 controller. In that deep-space horror game, you have a tool called GRP that allows you to levitate objects and throw them into the environment. There, too, you feel the energy rising in the device and the weight changes of objects you pick up.
Tomb of the Mutilated
Most delightfully, EA Motive has completely redesigned how to slice up the various undead creatures in the game’s hallways and crawlspaces. A look at the Dismemberment & Body Destruction Tech Demo reveals what’s in store for the nasty things you encounter, and it’s not good news for them.
Just as the harness on your character’s back represents his Health, Statis, and Kinesis reserves, the Necromorphs also have their own way of displaying information. It’s much less high tech, but as you deal damage to your enemies you’ll see bones break off and layers of rotten flesh ripped away relentlessly. This prepares you to dynamically see in real-time where prime-breaking vulnerabilities are without the need for a comprehensive HUD or anything else that breaks the immersion.
Necros can even be reduced to a mess of skeletal remains, only to continue their undead attack in a weakened state. It’s new in the world of Empty space, and should take an extra creepy step to make you feel even more vulnerable in the doomed mission to find your girlfriend and get out alive. Don’t forget to stomp out those corpses hard as they can only be mostly dead, and I can’t wait to see what surprises are in store when the game launches on January 27th.