Dead Space 3's 'new' horror has taken time for players to accept, says producer

Dead Space 3 delivers a new brand of horror when compared to the scare tactics used in Visceral's previous instalments. As such, the game's associate producer Yara Khoury has explained that gamers have taken time to get used to the idea behind co-op, John Carver's hallucinations and the wider expanses of ice planet Tau Volantis. In short, Visceral says it's still scary.

I played Dead Space 3 last year and I could see where Viceral was coming from with Carver;s mad flashes of psychosis and the dense, near-zero visibility brought on by blizzards. Yet, I just wasn't scared like I was in the first game. I explained why I felt that way in my following write-up and interview chat with Visceral.

Now, speaking with OXM, Khoury explained that the studio still regards Dead Space 3 to be scary, but that its a new kind of fear.

"I think at this point we've mastered the art of doing closet scares," said Khoury, "you know, necromorphs jumping out of vents, etc - and I think that's why it will be interesting to go to Tau Volantis - to see how we've been able to use the blizzard with its sensory tricks.

"You can't really see what's ahead of you, there's the snow that can, you know, hide some things. There's also all the noise - the blizzard is actually really loud, and we've really played with these things to trick the player and create new kinds of horror.

"The ice planet that worried players at first because it's an external environment, actually turns out to be one of our allies in terms of creating new ways to scare our players."

This isn't a sentiment shared by our own Brenna Hillier, who wrote a piece on why the new Dead Space 3 demo failed to resonate.

Khoury added, "I think when you introduce so much changes you need to let people kind of adjust to everything that you're showing. And at E3 we introduced so many new things: you know, new enemies, Tau Volantis' exterior for the first time, cooperative play - it was a lot for players to not be worried about, you know?

"But I think with Gamescom we really brought it home, showcasing everything that makes Dead Space 3 a Dead Space game - horror, claustrophobic tight corridors, etc. I think it just takes a little bit of time for people to understand and accept change when they're so very much invested in to a product."

What's your take on Dead Space 3's new direction? Let us know below.