The ending of Dead Space 3 left fans on one hell of a cliffhanger, unfortunately the third title in the core franchise will be the last. Visceral Games was shut down and their franchises put on ice, including one Star Wars title that was being developed at the time. Of course this meant that there would be no Dead Space 4 to continue the tale of Isaac Clarke and the Necromorphs. Thankfully, a former dev has stepped in to give fans an idea of what could have been and where Visceral wanted to take the franchise.

Dead Space 3 ended with humanity facing its doom. A recent interview has discovered that Visceral Games had hoped to cast players into this hopeless situation for the duration of Dead Space 4. According to former Creative Director Ben Wanat, the team wanted to implement a sort of survival mechanic into the game, forcing players to scavenge for gear and supplies in order to survive.

The notion was you were trying to survive day to day against infested ships, searching for a glimmer of life, scavenging supplies to keep your own little ship going, trying to find survivors.”

Wanat also explained that the team wanted to expand on the idea of non-linear gameplay which was hinted at in Dead Space 3 with the game’s Flotilla section. The developers hoped to be able to build a hybrid between the non-linear style and the classic Dead Space chapter format.

I figured you’d start in a section of space, maybe following a trail of ship carcasses to an orbital station you think might have the parts and fuel needed to get your ship Shock-capable. You’d start to form a picture of what happened in that region while fighting through scores of Necromorphs from ship to ship. And you’d learn a new, critical bit of plot info along with the means to Shock to a couple of nearby sectors. The further the player would get in the game, the broader their exploration options would be.”

The Dead Space franchise has always done a brilliant job of making the environment almost seem like a character itself, especially in reference to the USG Ishimura. This would have been continued with the various ships players would have encountered throughout the game as they would be filled with diversity through differences in size, shape, purpose, and more.

Unique weaponry has also been a staple for the franchise, featuring weapons that were more or less modified space tools such as the Plasma Cutter. With Dead Space 3, players were able to craft their own weapons which added a bit more customization to the their arsenal. Dead Space 4 would have expanded and refined this concept giving fans more options to kit out their weapons of limb destruction. Of course, the game would have also featured a variety of new enemies to use these weapons on which included a Zero-G enemy making even the depths of empty space that much more terrifying.

The developers intentionally left the ending of Dead Space 3 open ended, which would have given the team a chance to put players in the shoes of Isaac, Carver, Ellie, or even possibly a new character. Visceral even had a plan for how they wanted the 4th installment to end that would have left players with more questions than answers.

EA may not believe in the future of linear styled titles but the idea of returning to the hellish nightmare fueled by Necromorphs would be wonderful. Wanat himself still holds hope that one day there will be a revival of the franchise, do you also share in this sentiment? Let us know your thoughts on what could have been Dead Space 4 and more in the comments section below. As always, don’t forget to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter for 24/7 coverage of all things gaming and entertainment.