Dead Space To Utilize Dead Silence

Dead Space

Here's the thing- Alfred Hitchcock and other masters of suspense knew it best. It's not the fear itself; it's the anticipation of that fear. The Silent Hill franchise has thrived on this philosophy as Konami has always let our imaginations go nuts...a shuffling off in the foggy darkness, a groan from somewhere behind you, but you're completely lost and confused. That is always more frightening than actually seeing the cause of that shuffling or groaning.

During the oppressive silence, the active human mind can construct nightmares that could never even exist on a video screen. It seems EA is well aware of this, as they're going to be using silence as a major fear catalyst in their upcoming survival/horror effort, Dead Space. According to TheGameReviews, the developers will utilize a combination of both intense tracks and complete, dead silence to invoke unbridled fear in the player. One of the game's producers, Rich Briggs, had this to say- "Sometimes we use silence to magnify things like a dripping pool of blood, and we mute the sound when you enter an airless environment so Isaacs heartbeat and breathing take center stage." This is exactly the kind of thing that could freak people right the hell out, provided the designers implement the atmosphere correctly. ...and based on early feedback of this very promising title, EA most certainly did.

The more we hear, the more we start to think that Dead Space might actually redefine the very nature of the genre. We didn't dare believe it several months ago, but the hype is starting to get to us. Could this be a sleeper Game of the Year nominee?

Related Game(s): Dead Space

10/6/2008 Ben Dutka

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