When EA started offering games on Steam again in 2019, I promptly forgot my Origin password in my joy. That may have been premature. Because the days of many PC game clients were not over: EA stopped hiding PC games in the Origin store, but the Steam version still launched the Origin client at startup EA stopped hiding PC games in the Origin store, but the Steam version still launched the Origin client when launched

. I was surprised, for example, that F1 2021 did not require Origin. Another exception is the Steam version of the Dead Space remake (opens in new tab), which will be released in January.

"Dead Space is Steam native," an EA representative said when reached for comment.

EA did not say whether this decision was part of some broader plan to phase out the Origin client for Steam releases, but I doubt it; according to Steam's page (opens in new tab), the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor" requires Origin; speculation on Reddit (opens in new tab) that EA "finally saw the Steam review" may be premature.

However, with regard to Dead Space, EA's statement was not that the usual third-party DRM notices were simply forgotten or, as speculated in the Reddit thread, that EA was in the process of transitioning from Origin to the new EA Launcher and therefore temporarily It confirms that it was not missing. But the timing is curious: EA announced today (open in new tab) that the new launcher is exiting open beta and "will soon replace Origin."

Nevertheless, "Dead Space" is apparently a regular Steam game with no extra client. [but I'm glad to be free of the discomfort brought on by watching pointless DRM-on-DRM consume even a fraction of my system's resources. The PC gamer's natural and inevitable aversion to unnecessary background processes is indifferent to their importance. The taskbar icon is the enemy.

As for the in-game experience, a new trailer for the Dead Space remake was recently released, and the revised USG Ishimura and Necromorph look as creepy and grotesque as one would expect. The only thing I'm not sure about is that Isaac will be voiced. I preferred the mute Gordon Freeman type in the original. However, I don't think we should be so self-righteous as to be nostalgic for the old days. Isaac was also voiced in "Dead Space 2" and "Dead Space 3," so Motive, the developer of the remake, is not deviating significantly from the original story as a whole.

Dead Space will be released on January 27.