Reloading…Dead Space

Remembering the App Store classics that are sadly no longer with us. In space no one can hear you scream about the control method.

The survival horror genre has been striking fear into the hearts of gamers for all the wrong reasons since it reached its zenith with the stunning Resident Evil 4. Since then, the genre has taken a massive plummet in terms of quality, and the only genuinely scary thing about the latest Resident Evil and Silent Hill games is the damage they’re doing to the legacy of their franchises.

Largely because of the crushing disappointment of the flagship releases, I found myself avoiding the survival horror genre as I would the flesh-eating creatures that populate it. With only a few exceptions, Resident Evil 7 in VR and the sadly short-lived and, alas, largely forgotten outer space-based Dead Space series. The latter was a unique IP from EA which played as a highlight reel of sci-fi horror movies and the best of the survival horror genre as a whole.

Dark Space offered a strong narrative, mixing classic sci-fi themes with a supernatural/demonic twist. It featured fantastic creature design, an imposing atmosphere, and some genuinely upsetting moments of horror. It was a fantastic game which was a joy to play, as long as you could stomach the gore. Therefore, when I found a Dead Space app in my ‘for iPad review’ pile many years ago, in a time when franchise games were not usually treated well during the port process, it was greeted with rather fitting zombie-esque groans of disapproval. These groans where quickly replaced with whoops of joy, and more importantly, sphincter-tightening cries of fear.