Quite The Thing: Dead Space Teases "New Chapter"
I love how kitschy pulp sci-fi some aspects of Dead Space are. Sure, its exterior may be grimdark and gore-spattered, but this (fairly impressive) digital comic focuses around "Earthgov" and a planet called "Uxor." That, to my mind, is admirably silly. Granted, that's hardly the only influence poking through Visceral's exosuited sleeve here. An overbearingly icy planet? Parasitic monsters crawling from every crevice? A poor, fleshy human struggling to come to grips with it all? A new main character whose name, John Carver, sounds suspiciously similar to John Carpenter? Yeah. I'm thinking the words "Wow, Dead Space 3 is quite the thing" will soon take on a whole new meaning.
Granted, while Dead Space 3 hasn't had its official reveal yet, this comic sure aligns well with the limb-severing barrage of recent rumors. Also, it's apparently "just the start of John Carver's saga in the Dead Space Universe." So jump past the break and watch as this post's flesh bubbles and bursts, revealing a grotesque trailer creature not of this world.
All signs (especially the newly revamped official Dead Space site) point to this being our first introduction to Dead Space 3. There's even an oh-so-trendy countdown clock, because the gaming industry apparently didn't get the message when I mailed it a collage that spelled out "STOP IT" made from broken clock parts. So basically, an E3 reveal seems so likely that I'd stake the remainder of my priceless clock collection on it. For now, though, we have our probable co-op duo - the oddly law-firm-esque Carver and Clarke - and a more concrete setting than "space," which is, granted, still technically correct.
At any rate, the potential's here for a pretty tremendous departure from previous Dead Spaces claustrophobic corridor crawls, so color me intrigued. Admittedly, Dead Space 2 was more of a dread-soaked action game than true survival-horror, but it was still a solid tale of spiky death tails and eviscerated entrails. After two fairly similar series entries, though, now seems like just about the perfect time to change things up.