EA's Dead Space series might be gone, but it's not forgotten - not even the game that didn't make it.

Though the franchise was effectively shuttered after its third installment in 2013, Ben Wanat, creative director of Dead Space, opened up to Eurogamer this week about what a Dead Space 4 would have looked like, and how it would have played. In a wide-ranging interview Wanat discussed changes to zero gravity combat, the linear style of play, and the main character.

"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 said, before explaining what sounds like open world areas of exploration.

"The flotilla section in Dead Space 3 hinted at what non-linear gameplay could be, and I would have loved to go a lot deeper into that. 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."

He said that the next game in the series would have seen humanity on its last legs in the face of the Necromorph apocalypse. A collection of explorable ships would have been a dominant setting for the game.

Additionally, after three games with Isaac Clarke stomping around as the lead, he said a fourth game would have provided an excellent reason to shift things around. "With the apocalypse, there was the opportunity for a clean break," Wanat said. "It wouldn't be necessary for the story going forward to include any of them."

Particularly, that could have meant a starring role for Ellie Langford. Wanat told Eurogamer he'd always "imagined her as the protagonist of Dead Space 4".

Visceral, the studio that created and shepherded Dead Space through its many dangerous corridors, was closed last year after EA cancelled its Amy Hennig-led Star Wars game. Wanat is now the creative director at Crystal Dynamics.

Peter Allen Clark loved the original Dead Space so much that he could only play it for 10 minutes at a time because it scared him so much. Follow him on Twitter to see what else he fears most.