You Can’t Play One Of The Best Dead Space Games In 2023

The recently released Dead Space Remake is a triumph among video game remakes, many of which have not been well received by fans in recent years. And as a huge Dead Space fan, I’m so happy to see EA throwing money at the franchise again, with great results. But, I can’t help but think of a Dead Space game that EA buried and most forgot. This game is Dead Space mobilea fantastic handheld horror game that desperately needs a second chance.

Let’s travel in time. It’s 2011, a few years after the original launch of Dead Space in 2008. Dead space 2 fate and alongside it another entry in the franchise. But this game will not be released on consoles or PC. Instead, the confusingly-named Dead Space (often called Dead Space mobile online) is coming to iOS and Android devices. At the time, I wondered: how good could a Dead Space mobile game be? Then I played it and discovered that it wasn’t just a good mobile game, it was a great standalone horror game!

Set before the events of Dead space 2, dead space mobile tells the story of Vandal, a new recruit to the spooky space cult seen throughout the franchise. Vandal is sent to Titan Station, the setting of the sequel, and unwittingly triggers the Necromorph invasion on the space base that Issac must manage later in the console game. The rest of the Dead Space mobile involves Vandal trying to fix this huge piece of shit, getting evidence against the cult, and helping the people aboard the station escape. I won’t spoil its twists, but it’s an engaging, tense horror adventure that will take most players around two to four hours.

EA / Longplay express

What really makes Dead Space mobile so good is that the developers behind the game designed it from the ground up to be a mobile game. For example, to grab or interact with the world, you just need to touch the thing or flick with your finger. No virtual button is needed. When aiming at the iconic Dead Space plasma cutter, you tilt your phone slightly to flip the laser from horizontal to vertical. It sounds finicky, but in practice it works well even in some of the later areas that throw loads of nasty monsters at you.

Not only does it work well, but it looks so different from today’s big mobile games, which are often covered in virtual buttons and joysticks and look like they were built with a controller or keyboard in mind, and then worn on a phone. Instead, Dead Space mobile feels right at home on your tiny phone or tablet.

If you play Dead Space mobile with headphones in a dark room, you can quickly forget you’re playing a pint-sized mobile link and get sucked into the game’s dark hallways and spooky atmosphere. phone games scared the crap out of me and Dead Space mobile is on this shortlist. Even with its slightly chunky graphics and limited lighting, this mobile rendition of Dead Space was still a taut little masterpiece that worked with its limitations and didn’t fight them.

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Sadly, this is the part of the story where I have to explain that Dead Space mobile is currently not available on either iOS or Android. In 2015, EA has removed the game from digital stores and it has become unplayable on newer devices over the years.

Now, if you own an Android device and know what an APK is and where to look, you can still technically enjoy Dead Space mobile in 2023 thanks to some nifty and dedicated fans. But if you don’t, you’re out of luck, and it’s a shame such a gem of a horror game was left for dead by EA.

Dead Space mobile (2011) Screenshot: EA

However, there may still be hope for mobile Dead Space. I can confirm that the game runs fine on modern phones with some fan-made tweaks. So it seems possible that EA will spend the money and re-release Dead Space mobile on newer phones. But even better than that: EA should also take the time to launch Dead Space mobile on consoles and PC. Of course, this might require some tweaking and some very low resolution assets might need to be swapped out, but it would be worth it. This would bring the game to more people and ensure that Dead Space mobile is no longer left behind, as a PC version can more easily be tweaked and updated by fans for years to come. And while I think Dead Space mobile looks great on a phone, I think it would still look damn good on a controller. Or even the Nintendo Switch!

With the Dead Space remake doing so well, it seems likely that a Dead Space 2 remake could follow and the mobile game fills in some important holes in the series’ timeline, so a re-release seems even more necessary than ever.

Unfortunately, with the recent news of EA killing mobile games, it seems unlikely that the publisher will even fund a small-scale remaster of Dead Space mobile anytime soon. But if that happens, I’ll be there, ready to spend the money to buy and play this fantastic horror game again.