It's been a long time since I played Dead Space (opens in new tab), and my memories are predictably hazy. It's fortunate, then, that the new extended gameplay walkthrough released today includes sections that compare the new game with the original side-by-side, so I can actually see how much things have improved.

So, for example.

It's still very much Dead Space: dark corridors, creepy enemies and dismemberment galore, courtesy of industrial cutting tools being put to work in ways they were definitely not designed for (but are surprisingly effective). Isaac Clarke, the hapless engineer trapped in this sci-fi nightmare, also makes good use of his heavy metal space boots, because the next best thing to cutting them is stomping on them.

The old and the new may seem blurred through the hazy lens of memory, but there are actually quite a few changes in the Dead Space remake, some subtle and some not. We got a closer look at how it all comes together in a new hands-on preview. (opens in new tab), which sounds very promising. Assuming the pre-release bugs are ironed out, “the new Dead Space will be very similar to the old one, except with modern graphics, fewer mid-2000s bugs, and a much more detailed Ishimura,” our executive editor Tyler Wilde wrote.

“There are a few new puzzles and some surprising scares from the 'AI intensity', but nothing that drastically alters the original sequence of events. I struggle to think of a better way to remake a recent classic like Dead Space.”

Plus, he didn't remember the original Dead Space experience very well either, which makes me feel a little better about my own powers of recall.

The Dead Space remake is scheduled to release on January 27, 2023.