Post Dead Space: Extraction Interview

Dead Space : Extraction is a on rails shooter for the Nintendo Wii and while being pretty under the radar the game turned out to be a fantastic experience. With platform defining graphics, great gameplay and an engaging story. DS:E is a must have for Wii owners. Hit the jump to see our interview with Visceral Games’s Steve Papoutsis, executive producer of Dead Space: Extraction.

HD: It has been nearly five months after the release of Extraction, how do you feel about the reception the game has received from both fans and critics?

SMP: It’s been exciting to see how people have reacted to Extraction. Critically we are pleased with what people are saying about the game and happy that folks think it fits in well with the rest of the Dead Space universe.

From a fans perspective there has been lots of speculation around the game,its story, and characters. That’s been super cool.

HD: Compared to Issac in Dead Space, the characters in DS:E had a much more vivid and surreal experience when under The Marker’s effects. Was this a choice to freak out players more or did the effects of the marker differ with McNeill,Weller and Eckhardt ?

SMP: It was a mix of both. We wanted to show players what Dementia might feel like and going with the first person perspective gave us a chance to play around with some neat effects. As the story in Extraction unfolds you can see how the Dementia effects the various characters in the game.

HD: The game was just an adrenaline fueled thrill ride which felt like a grade A horror film. Frankly, the games story and presentation outmatched any recent horror film. How hard was it to find the right balance of gunning and narrative?

SMP: Thanks for the kind words. The team did a fantastic job of pacing out the gameplay and mixing in the story elements. We really wanted people to feel like they were playing a movie and I think in the end the game hits the mark. As far as pacing in general we needed to make sure we kept the action going but still had time to build the horror and suspense that players expect from a Dead Space game. Making any game is full of trial and error but the team was so motivated to make a great Dead Space experience that things just wound up flowing together nicely without a lot of tweaking.

HD: Lexine Murdoch is immune to The Markers effects and that immunity seems to pass over to anyone in her immediate vicinity. Is she the only one immune or are there others like her? We can’t recall Hammond ever complaining about delusions.

SMP: Without giving away to much Lexine in fact was special as you discover during the game. It is very possible that there are other people like Lexine but that is not expressly defined in Extraction. Hammond in the original game had a lot going on but certainly was also experiencing his own bouts of Dementia.

HD: If there was one thing you could have changed from the final product, what would it have been?

SMP: Hmm, I would have liked to have one more boss in the game. We had a design for one that I really liked but we wound up not being able to get it done to the right quality level and removed it from the final game. I would have also liked to tweak the cover a bit…. :)

HD: Now this question you had to expect. What was with that ending?!

SMP: LOL! What do you mean? I don’t want to give any spoilers for players that have not played the game yet, but if you listen carefully there is a hint about Dead Space 2 in there.

Thanks for the interview and I hope we get to speak again soon about Dead Space 2.

Thanks to Steve Papoutsis, Melissa Ojeda and all of Visceral Games for the interview.