TheDead Spaceremake will probably go down as one of 2023’s best experiences. Horror fans are in for a treat in March as well with the release of another high-profile horror remake viaResident Evil 4. It looks set to be a great year forhorror game remakes, withDead Spacehelping to start things off with an emphatic bang.
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The originalDead Spacewas unique in that it successfully made a horror game work in space. Many games tried before it and failed. Even newer games can’t seem to capture the magic of space horror exactly. The following titles may be flawed, but there are good aspects to them as well for horror fans looking to venture into space or alien worlds once again.
6The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocolis the game that was set up to be the most likeDead Space. It was a spiritual successor in many ways because one of the game’s directors, Glen Schofield, also worked on the firstDead Space. It had the graphics and the horror elements worked out perfectly, but the gameplay was a bit clunky.
The biggest omission is the lack of an item box on top of having a minuscule inventory limit. The focus on melee combat withthe Stun BatoninThe Callisto Protocolis also an odd choice as the countering system isn’t perfectly designed. It is a good one of these types of horror games, but it was unfortunately not the second coming ofDead Spacethat many fans had hoped for due to a laundry list of small nitpicks.
5Scars Above
Scars Aboveis one of the newest games likeDead Spaceand it came so close to glory. A space pyramid appeared above Earth and a research team is sent in to investigate. Upon doing so, the protagonist, Kate, wakes up without her crew on a foreign planet. Not only is she lost, but horrific monsters are also trying to kill her. Thankfully, players are armed with an assortment of guns and tools to rip these aliens apart.
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There is an elemental system to everything players do in the game. For example, shooting the electric-based gun at enemies in the water will do extra damage. That’sa hot tip forScars Above. This attention to environmental damage makes playing the game so fun. It is a technical nightmare though, as Kate controls wildly at times, the game’s frame rate can chug, and there are glitches aplenty. Maybe, with time, this game still has a chance to be great.
4Dino Crisis 3
Dino Crisis 3was such a wild departure for the series at this point. Capcom created this series to beJurassic ParkplusResident Evilas it replaced zombies with dinosaurs. It was a good decision in the 90s that led to two goodsurvival horror gameson PS1.
The third title went to the original Xbox exclusively and set things far in the future and in space. Dinosaurs now haunted a space station which is such a goofy concept. That alone makes it a must-play even though there is a litany of problems from the poor camera to the weird difficulty spikes. It is an uneven entry in this series, but there is no denying how unique it is.
3Lifeline
Lifelineis another game that gets a hundred stars out of ten for being a new and interesting idea. This2000s-era PS2 gameis set in a space hotel that randomly gets infested with aliens. Instead of controlling a soldier, cop, or any other sort of action hero, players become a waitress named Rio. That’s not entirely right though because players do not technically control her. They instead get to tell Rio what to do via a headset that came packaged withLifeline.
Players were basically “the guy in the chair,” which is a role Ned coined inSpider-Man: Homecoming. The problem is that even the most basic commands were barely recognized through this headset, creating a frustrating experience. Technology has made voice commands easier in games, so it would be cool to seeLifelineget remasteredto hopefully see a better picture of what the developers originally envisioned.
2Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens: Colonial Marinesis not the first game in theAlienmovie franchise that fans are probably going to recommend.Alien: Isolationis the game to beatand it is great on many levels and keeps getting better with ports. The most recent console port was on the Switch in 2019 and that console miraculously does it justice.
Aliens: Colonial Marinesthen is an obviously flawed game that was ridiculed when it launched. Even after numerous patches, the game is still sloppy. Also, being able to blast through dozens of Xenomorphs like they are flies sort of defeats the purpose of why they are so terrifying in the movies orAlien: Isolation. Despite many complaints though,Aliens: Colonial Marinesis kind of a goofy pleasure akin toDeadly Premonitionwhich is like the king of good/bad games.
1Martian Gothic: Unification
There are a lot ofhorror games on the PS1that most players may not be familiar with outside ofResident EvilandSilent Hill.Martian Gothic: Unificationhas to be at the top of the list and there’s a good reason why many didn’t play it. The game first launched on PC in 2000 and got a PS1 port in 2001. This was a full year after the PS2 launched and players had already moved on. A lot of good PS1 games that were released between 2000 and 2001 were looked over for this exact reason,Mega Man Legends 2andDragon Warrior 7being just two more examples.
WhileMartian Gothic: Unificationdoesn’t quite reach those levels of cult success, it is a good game to be sure. It was ahead of its time. The game structurally is like the firstResident Evilbut it replaces the Spencer Mansion concept with a Martian base. There are still zombies in the game, but there is a ghostly edge to them. Players could control three characters and had to switch between them to finish the game. It does feature tank controls which is a bummer. It’s a slow, awkward burn butMartian Gothic: Unificationis an interesting entry in the annals of horror game history nonetheless.
