According to Dead Space 2 combat and control designer Brian Bartram the original build of the game was far more difficult, and beta-tester struggles led developer Visceral Games to scale back the difficulty on a number of levels.
Bartram stated in an Electronic Arts Q&A when asked if early concepts for the game differed much from the released product, ”Oh, definitely. You should have seen some of the levels and puzzles in Dead Space 2. Some players would love for us to have kept them harder, longer and more complicated. But when two or three people in a ten person playtesting session just can’t get past it, we have to ‘nerf’ it. But that’s just a playtesting example.”
When discussing what happens from concept to execution, Bartram added, ”Design wants a giant game with all kinds of cool stuff in it. Production wants a game that will actually ship. When they compromise, things have to be cut away, reduced, and scoped down. But this process should ideally distill a game to its core - the real foundation of a game.
“For game mechanics, these become the known ‘pillars’ of the game - the three to five mechanics that will be used frequently and which are often mixed together to form the bulk of the game’s experience.”
Back in October, Dead Space 3 was accidentally leaked by an Israeli television show. Later, an EA source calling himself “Shadow Issac” revealed alleged plot points for the sequel.
