The Dead Space Series Could Have Been System Shock 3 if it Weren't for Resident Evil 4

Dead Space designers Ben Wanat and Wright Bagwell stated in a recent interview that Resident Evil 4 was a huge inspiration for the team, even to the extent of shifting them away from the original plan to make a sequel to the beloved System Shock series.

"Originally, we were pushing around this idea of maybe we could make System Shock 3. And you can look at the Dead Space blueprint and be like, 'Oh, this is kind of like System Shock,'" Wanat told PC Gamer. The trouble with that plan, though, is it will always be a huge challenge to make a modern System Shock game that lives up to the expectations of its fervent community. "To do a System Shock 3, you're really tackling a monumental task, to make people happy with a sequel that wasn't made by the same team as the original," he said.

"When Resident Evil 4 came out, we were just awestruck by it," Wanat said. "We were all playing it and we were like, 'Holy shit, this is a really awesome game. They're actually trying to tell a story; they've got some cool cinematics; the gameplay systems are fixing a lot of problems, bringing it into this action realm but keeping this intense horror feel to it. It was this amazing combination and--of, the enemies were so freakin' cool."

Wanat went as far as to admit that what ultimately became Dead Space was an unabashed attempt to make Resident Evil 4 in space. To read the full interview, head over to PC Gamer.

Want to revisit Resident Evil 4 with us? Check out our Resident Kinevil video series. The original System Shock is set to get a remake for PS4, due for release in 2018.