14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that many gamers found Dead Space 1 and 2 a bit too scary, at least according to Electronic Arts' internal research, so the publisher, together with its Visceral Games studio, decided to add a cooperative mode in Dead Space 3 in order to alleviate the horror nature of the franchise.
Dead Space 1 and 2 impressed quite a lot of people thanks to their novel dismemberment mechanic and to the horror theme that managed to scare and shock players.
Unfortunately, according to EA, the horror aspect was a bit too severe and many players mentioned in surveys that they found the experience a bit too scary and weren't willing to continue through the campaign.
As such, in order to bring those players back with Dead Space 3, a cooperative mechanic was added, allowing players to partner up with a friend and brave the horror game together, thereby alleviating some of its scariness.
"We were hearing feedback that they love the thriller game, but it was pretty scary, and the obvious next step was that they wanted to play with someone. So we introduced co-op into the game," EA Games marketing boss Laura Miele told MCV.
Fans of the series shouldn't worry, however, as Dead Space 3 still retains the survival horror experience that made its predecessors so popular.
"The horror of Dead Space is still all there. It's still true to its roots and no less scary, but people felt far more comfortable playing it with someone else than they did doing it on their own."
"Personally, I would rather go to scary movie with my husband rather than sit at home with the lights out watching one on my own. We're looking for that to reach out to consumers that perhaps were not open to Dead Space 1 and 2."
EA already showed off a lengthy gameplay video for Dead Space 3 earlier this month, focusing on the co-op mechanics.
The actual game is out in early 2013 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.