Playing the Dead Space Remake with Headphones at Night Is "Too F***ing Scary", the Game's Dev Says

The ultimate test for a horror game is probably to play it in the dark when elements that appear harmless during the bright shiny day may become unsettling, when the shadows play tricks on your mind and every sound makes your heart skip a beat.

The upcoming Dead Space remake could be one of those titles that truly send shivers down your spine when you play it in the darkness of night, according to a developer.

In a recent interview with the PLAY magazine (via GamesRadar+), Motive Studio's technical director David Robillard shared that when he plays the Dead Space remake at night, he can't use headphones because it's too terrifying.

"When I'm playing it at night, I can't play it with headphones. It's just too fucking scary," Robillard said. "Just the amount of realism and, again, atmosphere. Not just visually, right? In the way we handle sound, ambiance, effects, having systems that will try to spook you. These things, you know, could have been done [on PS4], but not to the level we're doing them today. And they really add a lot to this sort of genre and make the whole kind of experience come together even more."

The developers of the game also noted that while working on the remake, they kept in mind the feeling of immersion that the original game had and wanted not only to keep it but also to enhance it.

"If we're able to get the player with the pad in their hands at the start and play throughout the entire game without putting their pad down, like to have them play for 12, 14, 15 hours straight, because they're so immersed, and they just don't even want to go to the bathroom," senior producer Phillipe Ducharme said jokingly.

Previously, the Dead Space remake devs already mentioned that the new game will try to cater to both players of the original title who seek nostalgia as well as those who will get to know the game and its world for the first time, noting that the game will bring some changes. At the same time, the team at Motive Studio emphasizes that their version of Dead Space will be true to the original, even with those changes and additions.

"We wanted to make sure that if we were making a change, it was actually to reflect on one of our key pillars […] not just make changes because we thought we knew better than the original team, because they did an amazing job," Ducharme said.

Robillard also added that the changes are often related to the developers' desire to keep players (even those who played the original game and feel like they know everything about it) immersed which the team plans to do by getting players "jumped" from the scare.

"We needed to find a way to fill those gaps, so that the player doesn't feel like 'Oh, I've been here, it's fine, I'm safe'. No, you're never safe. Like, you will get jumped," he said.

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