Even the menu to navigate your inventory, opening audio logs and documents, and video calls with other characters are done through a display that projects in front of Isaac, never detaching the player from the game by transitioning to another screen. The spine area that’s lit up in Isaac’s suit represents his total health, while the amount of ammo in your gun is displayed right on top of the weapon when it’s drawn up to fire. But Visceral Games stripped that away and kept the screen clean, while still displaying all we need to know. Health bar, current ammo count, these types of information are usually slapped at specific corners in your screen, the typical design for any video game.

Dead Space’s recurring concept in providing information to the player is that everything important can be seen clearly in the protagonist’s iconic suit.

Let’s start with the UI (user interface). Visuals don't come close to what developers can do today but once you get full control of Isaac, the game shows it’s genius designs. What struck me while playing 2008’s Dead Space in 2021 was how some features in the game still make it a unique title for the survival horror genre to this day. I’m currently halfway through the first game and to my surprise it remains a solid survival horror in 2021. Nothing was officially announced, but the mere fact that there are reports of anything Dead Space was enough for me to revisit the series and remember why I love returning to the shoes of Isaac Clarke and the horrors he had to face in a span of three games, keeping the hope alive that one day we might just get another game in the future. Last week, many reported that EA is planning a revival of the Dead Space franchise.

Dead space 2 multiplayer main menu