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Dead Space creative director Ben Wanat has shared a few hair-raising details on what the now-shuttered Visceral Games had in mind for a fourth entry in the limb-dismembering horror franchise.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Wanat revealed that a rough outline Dead Space 4 had players surviving in a world overrun with Necromorphs; you'd have to scavenge from ship-to-ship for supplies, as well as trying to find any trace of life.
In terms of gameplay, it sounds like Visceral were aiming for a chapter-based, non-linear format that expanded on the base mechanics while affording more opportunity for exploration.
'The notion was you were trying to survive day to day against infested ships, searching for a glimmer of life, scavenging supplies to keep your own little ship going, trying to find survivors,' he said.
'This focus on scavenging abandoned ships would have also allowed for a more involved experience when fixing things, rather than sticking your arm into panels and moving wires around.'
'You'd start to form a picture of what happened in that region while fighting through scores of Necromorphs from ship to ship. And you'd learn a new, critical bit of plot info along with the means to Shock to a couple of nearby sectors,' Wanat continued.
He also suggested that Dead Space 4's protagonist may not necessarily have been a returning character, although Wanat said he always fancied the idea of Ellie stepping into the lead role for a sequel.
'With the apocalypse, there was the opportunity for a clean break,' he revealed. 'It wouldn't be necessary for the story going forward to include any of them.'
Will Dead Space ever make a comeback? Wanat can't say for sure, but like many of us, he's keeping his fingers crossed. That decision, however, is ultimately down to Electronic Arts (I'm guessing that's a no, then).
'You never know. Someone might look back at the old EA catalogue one day and say, "Whatever happened to Dead Space? Maybe we should bring that back".'
Dead Space launched in 2008 for PlayStation 3, PC, and Xbox 360, with Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3 arriving in 2011 and 2013, respectively.