The Dead Space franchise received its last installment in 2013. The award-winning company of the “Worst Company of America”, EA, has left the franchise in a dark place. Dead Space 3 was mostly met with lukewarm reviews and sales. What turned fans away from Dead Space 3 was the franchise focusing more on the action than the horror. Also adding co-op and microtransactions made the game less appetizing.

The game did receive a DLC called: The Awakening. It was surprisingly very good and I would even say it’s everything we wanted out of Dead Space 3. There was a stronger focus on survival horror, mystery, insanity, and getting players to jump out from their seats. Fans and including myself were excited about the fourth installment, but sadly EA closed down the developers, Visceral Games in 2017. Forever silencing the fourth installment.

Cut to present time, developers Rock Pocket Games announced a new cosmic horror game called: Moons of Madness. The title says it all; a Lovecraft-inspired game set in space. In the game, the main character isolated from society, forced to face cosmic threats, and is slowly going insane. It being Lovecraftian horror already has me sold, but what got me rising was that this is basically the unofficial Dead Space 4. 

I’m not saying this is a secret sequel to Dead Space, but it’s the one that fans have been waiting for. A new title that gives what the fans wanted. After Dead Space 3, fans want the franchise to return to its roots. Return to the claustrophobic environments, isolation, insanity, and strong survival horror. Moons of Madness is aiming to hit all of these essential ingredients. Matter in fact, if you look back through its trailer; you will catch similarities between the two titles.

Both games center around a protagonist that are essentially space engineers. They both discover ancient McGuffin that drives people insane and creates horrific monsters. The Aegis 7 planet from Dead Space strongly resembles Mars in Moons of Madness. You can see unreadable alien text written on the walls in both games. Hell, both games even have octopus-like tendrils roaming around and organic flesh spreading across the environment.

I believe Moons of Madness is setting up to be Dead Space‘s spiritual successor and I’m not the only one thinking this. If you visit the Moons of Madness – Reveal Trailer then scroll to the comment section, you will find viewers making Dead Space references and seeing this game as Dead Space 4. Fans of the Dead Space franchise could find this title may fix that open wound in their heart.