Dead Space 2

Well, I get it now. I've had multiple people try to tell me that Dead Space 2 was one of the greatest games of that generation but I suppose I just never really paid much attention to those comments. Even after playing the original game for the first time a few years ago (and a second time, earlier this year) I had doubts that the second would live up to such high praise. Now that I've played it, however, I see where they were coming from. This game is excellent. It's the "Aliens" to the first's "Alien".

This section had walls lined with glass coffins. It was very spooky.

In so many ways this is doing what the first game did, but bigger. More setpieces, a faster pace, new mechanics, more characters, there's simply so much more going on in this game than the original. I heard someone compare it to the jump between Uncharted 1 and 2 and that feels pretty apt. Isaac is far more of a character than in the original and, while I think the "silent protagonist" element of the original adds to the horror, updating him to be someone with more of a personality worked better here than I thought it might. The story continues what the first one set up with his dynamic with "Nicole", and following a protagonist who can reply instead of just being someone who is talked at makes the plot feel more alive.

The combat also had some fun improvements. The javelin gun is a truly enjoyable tool to wield and each of the weapons (that I tried, at least) had enough of an upgrade path to seem viable. Grabbing a necromorph's arm to then stab that necromorph with it is a very fun thing to do and I found myself using Stasis far more than the original (though maybe I was just bad when I played that one). It's a very fun action romp that maintains the horror and jumpscares that made the first so memorable.

These guys will hide until they think they've got a clean shot, then they'll charge. Scary stuff.

With all that being said however, my feelings on this game are ultimately a bit like my feelings towards the Mass Effect series. The second is an improvement in almost every way but there's something endearing about the limitless possibility and the unknown that you get with a first entry that always seems to get lost with any sort of followup.

It's probably a better game and anyone who enjoys it more is absolutely justified in doing so but I think I just prefer the original. That's also a linear action game like this one but it uses the aesthetics of a Metroidvania in some truly inventive ways. You're revisiting old areas that now have a new coat of paint, you're opening up doors that were locked the first time around, and over the course of the game you become intimately familiar with the ship's layout. You really get the sense that you're trapped in this ship and as you become familiar with its layout its always doing just enough to keep you on your toes.

This sequence in a (not so) abandoned school was upsetting, for obvious reasons.

By contrast, Dead Space 2 is a rollercoaster that's constantly pushing you forward. The pace of this game is honestly pretty much perfect when it comes to keeping you invested and advancing the plot and while there was very little of that backtracking I appreciated from the first game each new location was visually appealing and exciting to run through.

As I said earlier though, that's just a matter of personal preference. Dead Space 2 is by all measures a better game than the first and really does seem like one of the best action games of its time that I can think of, but I've always been more of a fan of "Alien" than "Aliens" and this hasn't changed my mind.

A day or so after finishing the game (and writing all of the above), I played through the Severed DLC and had a good time. It was pretty short (only two levels long) but even with those two levels it managed to evoke enough of Extraction to put a smile on my face. In case you weren't aware, this DLC is a sequel to that game and shows how those surviving characters were faring during (what appears to be) the first two-or-so chapters of Dead Space 2. You could easily go through this without having played Extraction (just like you can enjoy Dead Space 2 without having seen Stross's decline in Aftermath) but going into it with that story fresh in my mind added some context that might otherwise be missing.

Location Gabe visits in Chapter 1 of Severed

Like Extraction, it takes you through locations you should be familiar with but has you interact with them in a different way. The DLC starts, roughly, in the area that Isaac visits in Chapter 11 of the main game and has you effectively mirroring Isaac's descent while the second area has you arrive in the Medical section before ending near the Psych Ward where Isaac's story began. I loved how Extraction felt like it fleshed out the first game's environments so I enjoyed seeing some of this game's station from a new perspective.

Same location as seen by Isaac in Chapter 11

I wanted a little bit more story out of this than we got, but as it was only a two-ish hour DLC I suppose I should cut it some slack. I have no idea if any of the plot threads still dangling by the end of this will get addressed in Dead Space 3 (my gut says no) but even if this is all we see of Lexine and co. it was a fun sidestory that I think is worth playing.

I'm not entirely sure when I'll get to it but Dead Space 3 is next on my agenda. I think I'll probably even play that one in co-op. Hopefully that game's better than its reputation says it is!