What spurned the shift from third-person to a first-person rail-shooter?

The change to first-person was really predicated around the want to do something on the Nintendo Wii. Bret [Robbins, Creative Dir.] worked on the original Dead Space as well and when we started talking about doing a Wii title, one of my goals was doing something original and new with the gameplay. We also wanted to capitalize on the rich universe we have – the comics, the animated feature, the game – there’s a lot of story in there that people want to know about. So, for instance, we decided we would shift to first-person to create a new identity while playing to the strengths of the Wii. In my experience as a Wii player, the controls are awesome, lending themselves to creativity to force game developers to try to create new and engaging types of experiences. So, in playing a lot of Wii games, it just felt really natural to go to first-person and use the remote and nunchuck in a very tactful way. We really wanted the controls to feel natural. The change to first-person, just to summarize, was a combination of wanting to give the game an all-new identity and wanting to play to the strengths of the platform.

Will this new identity cross over to features like weaponry and Necromorphs?

For sure. It’s not just a tacked-on feature. We wanted to make sure that it felt like a true first-person experience, so we’ve gone to great lengths to make sure that it feels immersive and when you’re using the tools, some of which you may remember, they’ve been altered slightly to account for the new perspective. We took a lot of time making sure that everything felt custom-built for the game.

The original Dead Space proclaimed itself as “survival horror.” Do you feel that moniker still applies to Extraction?

Yeah, I do. What’s happened is that we’ve put a little more emphasis on action in the game, but is still has this underlying premise of surviving. You’re trying to escape this outbreak on Aegis VII and eventually you’re on the Ishimura and trying to fight you’re way off of there, so there’s definitely still this spirit of survival. The change is that now you’re doing it with a group of people, whereas in Dead Space, Isaac was mostly working by himself. In this one, you’re going to have people with you through a bunch of experiences, so it changes the dynamic slightly. I don’t know if you’re a horror fan, but there’ll be movies in which you’re following a single protagonist, and other movies like Cloverfield or Blair Witch where sometimes there’s a group of people and they can make some really interesting dynamics with the dialogue. It plays into the story, and into the tension, and ultimately, into the horror. So, yes, we still retained the survival horror, but there’s definitely an emphasis on the action in this incarnation of the series.

You talk about a group of characters. Will there be other characters behind you that you need to lead?

You’re basically going to have a group of individuals – those four that I just talked about – and from time to time there’ll be the bunch of you together, sometimes it’ll be a couple together, and sometimes you’ll be by yourself. It really depends which chapter of the story you’re in. As seen in our recent demo of Chapter Seven, you’ll even get to occasionally play a character outside those core four. You’re going to have situations where you’re with a party of people and going through the experience with them.

Are there any branching paths or are you pursuing one, core storyline?

The story is one core story in the sense that nothing changes based on your action, but there will be opportunities when the player can choose to go a certain way - as you mentioned, branching paths. Perhaps the first time, you chose the path to the left, which took you to an upgrade or a weapon cache, and in the other path you’ll see something different, so we definitely have branching paths, but the overall narrative is consistent.

Having worked on the original Dead Space, were there any lessons you learned post-release that affected the development of Extraction?

About halfway through Dead Space, we started talking about Extraction with a few meetings here and there, obviously still focusing on getting [the original] done. In my role, one of my responsibilities was coaching the horror moments of the game, really pushing them to make sure they were great, and what we called our “focus areas.” Some of the big moments throughout the game that you experienced are areas where I was tasked with making sure that the polish was there and everything was up to snuff. What I took away for Extraction was that there is never enough polish for a game.