Harry Situation Reviews: Dead Space

Alright, let’s finally talk about Dead Space.

Depending on who you ask Dead Space is one of the most famous (or infamous) science fiction survival horror game in existence. It was developed by Visceral Games and published by EA, which is a company known to send fear into the heart of gamers everywhere. Set in the far future, you play as an engineer named Isaac Clarke (a nice homage to science fiction authors Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke) traveling to a large mining ship called the Ishimura to do some repairs. Unfortunately as you arrive you find that the entire crew has been killed and reanimated into monstrocities called Necromorphs. The only source of this outbreak comes a mysterious artifact known as the Red Marker. You must fight your way and survive against the onslaught of Necromorphs as you uncover secrets about the Red Marker and the Ishimura, as well as try and find your girlfriend Nicole, who is stationed somewhere on the ship.

This game is famous (or infamous) for two main reasons:

1) It is terrifying. I mean it. This game is scary as balls. When I was younger I couldn’t even finish the game because I was so terrified to progress any further. That’s a testament to its infamous legacy.

2) It is extremely violent and gory. The amount of excessive blood and gore is enough to turn any gamer away. If you’re someone that’s not a fan of this kind of content then avoid this game if possible.

A major positive towards this game is the lighting and atmosphere. Much of the ship is in darkness, creating the most eerie atmosphere in space since Ridley Scott's original Alien. You're constantly looking over your shoulder and around every corner because you know that's when the Necromorphs are hiding and they'll pop up any given moment. They'll pop out of vents, they'll pop out of the doors, they'll burst through the walls. There's no such thing as safe on the Ishimura. This is how you do horror in a video game right, aside from having a bunch of monsters run out and attack you. The first 10-15 minutes of the game (which I'm sure most are familiar with) are without a doubt one of the most terrifying moments in the games.

The second positive is the game's combat. Unlike in other survival horror games, the necromorphs are not like traditional zombies. Shooting them in the head won't do a damn thing. If you want to put them down for good you gotta take out their limbs. And the weapons you use are not really weapons. They're engineer tools because the character you play isn't some space marine or super soldier, he's an engineer, so you use what you can.

The graphics are another major positive. This game was made back in 2008 and the graphics really do hold up very well today. Everything on the ship feels and looks very real like you yourself could be apart of this universe. It makes it feel very alive, despite the fact there are shit ton of dead bodies and necromorphs everywhere.

I'm also in love with so much of the backstory and lore within this game's universe. For example, you learn that the Ishimura is out in illegal space and their main operation is to retrieve the Red Marker for a religious group known as the Church of Unitology. Think of them as a combination of Evangelist Christians and Scientology. You can actually learn more about the backstory and the Ishimura's crew through a series of diaries and audio logs that are scattered throughout the ship. I must warn you, the audio logs are one of the most eerie things I've come across. A majority of them are about how some crew members have when crazy after discovering the Red Marker (which is one of its many sinister affects) or how the crew is desperately trying to stave off and survive the Necromorph outbreak. The most disturbing audio log involves a crew member dismembering his own limbs so he doesn't hurt anyone should he turn into a necromorph. It's pretty fucked up and it keeps you up at night. I would love to talk more about the story and of Dead Space but sadly there's too much to cover in this review.

There are also plenty leave plenty of room and quiet time to do some puzzle solving. You'll need to do these in order to progress through the game. Some are pretty, others are pretty challenging. But what I like about these puzzles is that they serve as a welcome break from all the Necromorph-slaying you'll have to do throughout the game. Trust me, after the 50th Necromorph that's tried to kill you you could use a breather because this game doesn't offer a lot.

Sadly I can't go into more details such as talking more about the story due to trying to contain this review under 1000 words. There's also not much to criticize either. I will say that one criticism I do have is that there isn't much character development in the game. You don't really get much character out of Isaac Clarke, who is pretty silent the whole game. They fix that in the sequels which I consider an improvement. Overall, I do consider Dead Space one of the most terrifying games I've ever played. If you want to try the game, its available on Steam and backwards compatible on all systems. Just play it with the lights on.

Positives:

-Lighting and atmosphere

-Pretty damn scary

-Great combat

-Amazing graphics

-Puzzle solving

-Lore and audio logs

Negatives:

-Lack of character development

Final Grade: A

So those are my thoughts on Dead Space. Have you played this game before? What were your thoughts on it? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check out more reviews here on Prose!

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