If there’s one thing you can be sure of, it’s that Dead space the remake will be full of blood, guts and gore just like the original game. But thankfully, Electronic Arts has added an extra feature that will help the faint of heart reach Isaac’s scientist girlfriend, Nicole, without losing eight out of nine lives.
Before you even set foot in the Ishimura ultrasound, you’ll be met with a content warning that reads: “Dead space contains graphic violence, including explicit images of dismemberment, impalement, blood, blood, vomiting, and death. Gameplay and cinematic scenes depict numerous traumatic events and depict harmful mental health behaviors. Topics include self-harm and suicidal thoughts, death of colleagues and relatives, claustrophobia, psychosis, visual/auditory delusions and obsessive behavior.”
This warning is not the only effort by EA to help players get through all the tough situations. There is a switch in the game that warns you before horribly deformed necromorphs jump onto the screen or a disturbing scene of self-mutilation occurs.
If that’s not enough for you, EA even went a step further and added a second toggle that is used to hide disturbing incidents. With this option enabled, you will no longer see mutated monsters as they will be blurry. Isaac Clarke’s death animations will also not be visible, replaced by a black screen. This might be for the best considering how messed up some of them are. No one likes to see a blade slice through someone’s chest or a tentacle digging into the back of the head and tearing through the mouth.
It also exists external site (opens in a new tab) which catalogs each chapter with warnings about suicide, amputation, needles or medical malpractice. For those who don’t want those spoilers, remember that they are optional and are disabled by default, so you can happily enjoy all the unadulterated dismemberment the game has to offer if you so wish.
How to enable features
For fans who need this censored version, enabling the feature is simple. First go to the pause menu, go to Settings and Accessibility. If you look down the list, the fourth or fifth option will be related to content warnings.
The next step is to enable “Show content warning”. This will ensure that in-game alerts are displayed in the upper right corner of the screen. “Hide Disturbing Scenes” will do just that and blur the graphical content.
Not for me
For all the good these features can do to my mental well-being, I won’t be enabling them. This is not some modest boast. I can assure you that when I land on a Necromorph-infested station, I’ll probably turn into a bleating mess that can’t turn a corner without having an existential crisis. As twisted as I am, the constant horror and anguish is one of my favorite parts of the Dead Space series.
There aren’t many horror movies at this stage that can make me squirm with anxiety and fear dead space 2 did. So I’m very excited to see what this remake has to offer in the horror department.
I also acknowledge the fact that Dead Space Remake it’s a survival horror game so i want to play it. As someone who plays and likes a lot of horror games and thankfully doesn’t count the listed events as anxiety triggers, I don’t need these features. If I turned them on, I’d feel like I’d stripped the essence of the Necromorph nightmare.
However, these features are a great addition for those who need them and will allow Dead Space to reach a wider audience. However, I’m the kind of person who wants to see how long I can stand up to the game’s gruesome horror before my eyes fill with tears and I have to physically step away from the monitor. However, with all the graphical improvements in the remake, I may find the experience so horrific that I’ll have no choice but to enable these content warnings.