Dead Space 3 Has Co-Op to Help With Scares

When Dead Space 3 was revealed at this year's E3, anguished cries from series fans could be read around the internet. The trailer shown was certain action-intensive, suggesting that the latest entry was shifting away from creepy horror and towards more traditional third-person shooter territory.

EA is clearly aware of the reaction, and marketing boss Laura Miele has spoken to MCV to address the apparent shift of tone, maintaining that horror is still at the forefront and that co-op play is included as a result of direct consumer feedback.

We were doing research coming out of Dead Space 1 and 2 and we’re really proud of those products. We received feedback to understand how we can take the game out to even more consumers. We were hearing feedback that they love the thriller game, but it was pretty scary, and the obvious next step was that they wanted to play with someone. So we introduced co-op into the game.

The horror of Dead Space is still all there. It’s still true to its roots and no less scary, but people felt far more comfortable playing it with someone else than they did doing it on their own. Personally, I would rather go to scary movie with my husband rather than sit at home with the lights out watching one on my own. We’re looking for that to reach out to consumers that perhaps were not open to Dead Space 1 and 2.

We'll see whether the tone and style of the first two titles is genuinely still there, or whether chasing more consumers will move the series too far away from its roots.