In a world where many game franchises just fail to be scary - be it through lack of execution or by simply not trying anymore - Visceral proved that the genre could survive (so to speak), and be successful at the same time. So far, it hasn’t put a foot wrong, with Dead Space 2 upping the ante and proving to be every bit as fresh as its predecessor.
Dead Space 3, however, is introducing a new location in ice planet Tal Valentis, along with a co-operative mode and a new character named John Carver. This isn’t just Issac’s horror story anymore. Naturally, fans and survival fans alike have reacted on the defensive. But, as Visceral Games’ VP Steve Papoutsis tells me, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.
Steve Papoutsis: A lot of the time, people like to stereotype or classify a game as an action game, or a horror game. But we don’t see it like that. For the team, our question is not, ‘What genre is this?’ It’s, ‘What is Dead Space?’ To us, Dead Space is about atmosphere. It’s about tension. Suspense, horror, action, thrills and survival.
When we started to work on this game we wondered what kind of environments can also speak to those things. And the planet, Tal Valentis, is all of that - it’s an intense atmosphere, filled with tension. You never know what’s lurking out in the snow. The deadly conditions on the planet surface - you could fall off a cliff, into an avalanche - that screams ‘survival’.
Steve Papoutsis: Well, I think the biggest thing is that it’s not only about the horror, it’s about trying to deliver the best Dead Space game we’ve ever made. When we started developing this game, we thought about the [quality] target we were going to aim for. Everyone says they’re going for AAA. So we thought, let’s go crazy - let’s go for AAAA.
And I know that sounds silly, but as a group we want to have something to rally around. Something to aim for. So we threw that idea out there, and that’s what our target is. To make a AAAA game; the very best game ever.
Talking specifically about horror... how do you continue to scare and frighten people? That, indeed, is very challenging. You need to maintain a freshness. It needs to not be predictable. So we were asking all sorts of questions during development about how we were going to achieve that on Tal Valentis. Shall we have guys pop out of the snow? Come out of the mist?
That mindset helped leverage a variety of things, like locations and the pacing of the game. Pacing is definitely one thing we looked at, especially when developing Dead Space 2. On Dead Space 1, we had the element of surprise. People didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t want to become predictable in Dead Space 2, so rather than just having the scares being in the exact same cadence, we mixed it up.
This time, we’re really looking at new ways to do that. One of those ways is through the psychological angle that you get to see with John Carver.
Steve Papoutsis: Well... for me, I would say the first thing is that I think it’s great that people have an opinion. That means that people are passionate about the game that the team is building, which is awesome. The fact that people care so much about Dead Space is fantastic. I’m really happy about that, and I’m really proud of what the game team is making. So, it’s good, in one way.
In another way... people aren’t getting all the information. You see a small piece of the game, and you don’t know what to expect. Maybe in the past, they’ve heard people say things and it doesn’t come true, so they have a jaded opinion about what we’re going to do with the Dead Space games.
We’re very genuine in what we say and what we’re going to do. We honour our commitments, and deliver on quality. That’s what we’re all about. So when we say we’re going to make an innovative co-op game that’s true to what Dead Space is all about, we mean it. And when we say we’re going to make a single-player game that retains the same flavour and elements of Dead Space, we mean it.
You’re able to play Dead Space in single-player without Carver following you around. I think a lot of people immediately jumped to the conclusion that they now have someone tagging along. That’s not true - you never see Carver when you’re playing single-player. When you play co-op, it’s additive to what you’re doing - meaning that it doesn’t change the overall story or mission.
It doesn’t feel like something totally bifurcated and different. You’re getting details about a unique character that has his own story, his own demons, and actually adds flavour and context to the experience without changing the end result of the story. That was not easy, and I don’t think people easily come to that conclusion when they just hear about ‘a co-op mode’. Because, honestly? They aren’t thinking about it every day. That’s not what they come to work to do, like the team does.
So for us, going back to what I said earlier, Dead Space is about a bunch of different things. It’s about atmosphere, tension, immersion, horror, action, suspense, survival. That’s what the game is about, those are the things the team holds true and dear, and that’s what we’re going to deliver.
Steve Papoutsis: Doing co-op was a huge undertaking for the team. It’s just more work, honestly. The stuff that Carver sees in co-op... we know that this is content that some people just aren’t going to see. Some people just don’t like co-op so will never experience that stuff. That’s cool, they don’t have to. It’s optional.
So we had to build something that some people aren’t going to look at. It’s kind of a bummer, but you know what? That’s alright. But there are also technical challenges - getting the game to run well, and maintain the visual fidelity that we want, and keep the combat pacing tight. All of those things we’ve grown to expect in Dead Space.
That’s hard work, and the team’s done a great job of making sure they can account for a second high-resolution character in the scene. It also impacts how we write and tell the story - having additive scenes that, again you may not hear or experience. That’s extra work too, as well as having different cutscenes that change and morph as players come and go through the experience.
But at the end of the day, none of that matters. What matters is that we deliver the very highest quality and best Dead Space game we can. We’re really fortunate to have people - our players - passionate and excited about what we’re doing. All that stuff aside, that’s what’s really important for us.
Steve Papoutsis: Well I think that was probably one of the easier things, actually. The Dead Space games have such a rich mechanic set, when you think about it. Sure, we’ve got weapons that have primary and alt-fires - a lot of games have those. But we have kinesis, we have stasis. Those two mechanics are pretty cool.
So when you start playing with a friend, now you’ve got a dynamic where maybe you’re the guy who really likes to crowd control, so you’re using stasis to slow enemies down while you’re friend’s taking them out. Or maybe you’re the guy who wants to be in a support role so you’re healing your friend. There’s a lot of different things that are just inherent in the mechanics set we have. So that part really felt natural for us.
Steve Papoutsis: I don’t know. I mean, I think there’s a great opportunity for teams to make games that are true to those values and tenets. With Dead Space, we don’t really want to stereotype or categorise ourselves. We feel like the game is a collection of tenets - a collection of emotions that are elicited from playing the game. As long as we continue to deliver on those core feelings, we’re making a Dead Space game.
And that’s what we’re making - whether you want to call it a survival horror, action game or a puzzle game. That doesn’t matter. What matters to us is that you have those feelings that I talked about. And if you walk away feeling thrilled, this intense feeling of survival - awesome. Then we did our job, and we made a game that was true to what Dead Space is about.
SPOnG: Thanks a lot for your time.
Steve Papoutsis: No problem, thank you!