Quick note: When I single out Alien as an inspiration in the section on enemy design and progression, that is specifically in the context of the enemies navigating through air vents; it is, of course, very true that the enemy design, setting, and narrative of Dead Space owe as much (or more) to other cinematic works of horror, including The Thing and Event Horizon.

Gemsbok: Faster enemies are added (enemy slowly climbs out of floor) Me: They don't look that fast (enemy yeets itself offscreen at mach 10) Me: Oh

I'm a game design student and this is the kind of stuff i want to replicate in the future. I'm dead set on breaking the mold and bringing back games that have a heavier focus on player immersion. These videos are gonna help me better explain my view of game design to my peers because when I tell them I don't enjoy The Witcher 3 or Red Dead 2 they look at me astounded 🤣

At last, the great Gemsbok returns!

@TheGemsbok

3 жыл бұрын

Haha, you're too kind. Yes, September's video work started off behind schedule due to how much work went into the NecroDancer video, so I decided to make this one more of a 'Halloween release.'

Well contructed video! Keep up the great work.

@TheGemsbok

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Video production can be pretty time-consuming, but there is definitely more on the way.

Yeah, Dead Space sounds terrifying... Uhm monsters coming out of the vent? They dont die when you shoot them a bunch? Suddenly get super fast? I dont think Im ready. Amnesia was scary enough...

@TheGemsbok

3 жыл бұрын

It can certainly be an intense experience on a first playthrough, but overall it's not more frightening than the two or three most tense bits of Amnesia. I believe you can handle it!

@dan74695

3 жыл бұрын

Play it on Hard, the enemies are too weak on Medium.

Your section on camera control made me realize a weird possible parallel Dead Space has with Resident Evil over Bioshock. In Dead Space, while you can pivot the camera around, the axis and angle at which you can control it is still sharply constrained. Not to the extent that Resident Evil has fixed camera angles to be able to frame horror and movement, but in a way where the camera has a consistent quality of external forces directing it. I'm not sure if I'm explaining it well. Compare it to something like Bioshock, where you can examine every part of an environment, in Dead Space you can get a look at every part of an environment, but never in so much detail or with as much control as to make you feel like you have control over it. Sorry if that's poorly explained. Kinda recovering from a back injury and muscle relaxers seem to make me less capable of wording good.

Commenting to give a signal boost. Your content is amazing, and you're criminally underrated.

@TheGemsbok

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the comment, and for the kind sentiment.

I know the remake comes out in 2023, but man, the original still holds up.

Dead Space rules

@nik774

3 жыл бұрын

Couldn't agree more.

@kristianj.8798

2 жыл бұрын

The original game at any rate. The second one feels like it prioritised a rollercoaster-experience above all, instead of the immersive terror that its predecessor excelled at, though it still has its moments (the Stalker-necromorph is probably the scariest enemy type of the series). I mostly try to pretend that the third game doesn't exist

Great video

Well made video, pretty informative.

@TheGemsbok

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

What didn't you like about the last chapter?

@TheGemsbok

2 жыл бұрын

Good question! Several things: First, I feel it's the only chapter in the game that tips the balance between horror and action heavily toward the action. It plays out as a series of practically interchangeable (and fairly brightly lit) arena battles, followed by a boss. Second, along the same lines, it's too long; ferrying the marker between arenas and then fighting predictable hordes just stretches out what should've been a tightly paced conclusion. Third, it inevitably feels like an anticlimax since the hive mind fight plays out more like the low-difficulty/low-stress boss fight in the hydroponics section, or even one of the turret fight or tentacle drag set pieces, rather than like the high-difficulty/high-stress miniboss fights against the hunter that conclude chapters 5 and 10. And fourth, the chapter's visual design is a bit of a letdown after the events there have been built up across the entire game; despite being the site infested for the longest, the facilities there seem no stranger, no more disturbing, and no more ruined than the Ishimura. So, ultimately it just feels too long, too slow, and too lacking in horror. It drops the tension right at the end, after chapter 11 was already a lower-stress story-heavy segment, which mars the otherwise excellent 'ebb and flow' pacing described in this video. I suppose one thing in its favor is that its lower intensity disarms the player in advance of the memorable 'twist' in the final cutscene with Isaac on the shuttle---but I have a suspicion that that moment would've worked about as well even with a more stressful end to the gameplay.

Please make a vid on the Remake and how it kind of misses the mark

I think my view of the game is kinda skewed, cuz having played it just a month ago, I saw it as more action with the horror aesthetic, rather than horror itself. This comes from playing Resi 4 a bunch and seeing that as another tense but actiony game where I'm really engaging in successful combat. Like combat became very procedural for me, almost like in Doom Eternal where I'm scanning for different enemies, then figuring out which guns to use on them, what position to take em from, how to slow some down via shooting limbs or using stasis, stuff like that. I appreciate all of the elements that you describe, its just that my experience was altered by these games that I had played before, they prepared me in a different way for it.

@TheGemsbok

3 жыл бұрын

That's totally fair, though. Not every game will strike its intended tone for every player. And context (recently played games as well as the physical atmosphere in which you play) definitely plays a role. Honestly, I've never found anything in any of the Resident Evil titles properly frightening---but the first hunter chase and the first half of the Valor in Dead Space still spooked me while getting the footage for this video, even though it was my second time playing.

Did you say - Eat your cake and have it too? Feels backwards to me - please reverse.

@TheGemsbok

3 жыл бұрын

Haha, yes, specifically I said 'eat your cake and also have it.' I think the meaning of the idiom is more clear in that order.

Curious if the remake will change much. The original Dead space is the kind of game I wish EA would make more of. But a couple things that prevented it from being a classic in my opinion is that the horror could have been more subtle and I think that the gameplay loop wasn't nearly as good as the game that it clearly took inspiration from. Resident Evil 4 (which is my favorite game of all time). Dead Space nails the atmosphere and immersion, but the horror depended way too much on obvious jump scares. This is something that I think alien isolation did a better job of with its horror atmosphere

If horror games have combat that allow me to actively kill my enemies it's not horror to me anymore, it takes away all the tension for me, cause i know i can just shoot the thing down and kill it, that's why even though having combat, RE7 and 8 are the best ones for me