Today, Motive has doled out development livestreams that focus on audio components that have been restructured and enhanced for the remake. Further, Dead Space’s rumored release window of 2023 has been confirmed today as well. But one new feature has been described in the Dead Space remake’s development footage that bears an emphasis on Isaac Clarke’s limbic system responses, and proposes an emergent modernization.
RELATED: Dead Space Remake Developer Motive Studios Starts Work On New Story-Driven Game
Motive has dubbed this feature the ALIVE System, which “encompasses all components of Isaac’s breathing and heart rate, vocal exertions, and dialogue” that are responsive to the Dead Space remake’s gameplay features. Anxiety and fear are reportedly inspirations for this system and contribute to behavioral responses that Isaac will elicit while distressed. Isaac’s heart rate BPM is thus affected by “combat difficulty value, scripted events and jump scares, Isaac’s fatigue level, Isaac’s oxygen level, and Isaac’s health.”
The ALIVE System effectively immerses players within these responses while staying faithful to the original Dead Space. Scripted dialogue will also be adaptive due to which state of distress Isaac experiences: normal, fatigued, and injured. Motive demonstrates these scripted dialogue changes and the results produce dynamic voice line deliveries for each. Motive explains that some of Isaac’s exertions and breathing cycles are placeholders for further improvement. Indeed, the build is fairly early, but fans will nonetheless be pleased to see what features will be included.
As Isaac calms down from fatigue or injury, his breathing will gradually return to normal and his “winces of pain” will be alleviated. These responses blend when experienced at the same time, and could become an auditory cue for players to comprehend what condition Isaac is in. Motive even went as far as to research the “average heart and respiratory rates” for Isaac’s age group to fully immerse the remake’s systems in authenticity and extrapolate on the original Dead Space’s sense of dread.
Of course, the ALIVE System only portrays the auditory side of the Dead Space remake’s many structural improvements. The Dead Space remake’s ALIVE System is a monumental, technological overhaul that illustrates how much dedication and effort is involved in the quality of its final product.
The Dead Space remake is currently scheduled to release in early 2023 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: What The Callisto Protocol Needs to Do to Surpass the Dead Space Remake
