Dead Space 2 is a 2011 survival horror game developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in January. The second mainline entry in the Dead Space series, set on the Titan-based Sprawl space station, follows series protagonist Isaac Clarke as he fights against both an outbreak of the monstrous Necromorphs and debilitating mental illness induced by the alien Markers. Gameplay features Isaac exploring a series of levels, solving puzzles to progress, and finding resources while fighting off Necromorphs. The game included a competitive multiplayer, with the Sprawl's security forces fighting teams of Necromorphs.
Pre-production began in 2008, immediately following the release of the original Dead Space. The storyline, alongside building upon and expanding the series lore, focused on Isaac's deteriorating mental state, with classic nursery rhymes being used as motifs playing into the narrative and Isaac's visions. The gameplay was adjusted based on feedback from players and the team's experience, in addition to making it faster-paced and having more overt action elements. Multiplayer was included as a separate mode based on both fan feedback and requests from Electronic Arts.
Announced in 2010, Dead Space 2 saw an extensive marketing campaign from its publisher. It was supplemented by several other multimedia projects including the novel Dead Space: Martyr, the animated movie Dead Space: Aftermath, the spin-off game Dead Space Ignition, and a mobile prequel. Reviews of the game praised its gameplay and audio and level design, with many calling it superior to the original Dead Space. The game sold two million copies during its opening week, but according to later developer interviews Electronic Arts was disappointed in its commercial performance. A direct sequel, Dead Space 3, was released in 2013.
Gameplay
Dead Space 2 is a science-fiction-themed survival horror video game. Players control lead character Isaac Clarke from a third-person perspective through a level-based narrative campaign. Isaac navigates the Sprawl space station completing narrative-based missions, solving puzzles within the environment, and fighting monsters dubbed Necromorphs. Saving is done manually at crafting stations, and automatically at checkpoints. The New Game Plus allows players to carry over all current items and equipment into a new campaign. There are four difficulty levels unlocked at the game's start; Casual, Normal, Survivalist, Zealot. A fifth difficulty level, Hard Core, is unlocked after the first playthrough; Hard Core restarts the player from their last save with each death and only allows three saves across the campaign.
As with the original Dead Space, in-game information is shown through diegetic holographic projections. Isaac's health and energy meters are shown on the back of his RIG suit, ammunition counts are shown on the weapons themselves, and opening the inventory screen does not pause the game. Audio and text logs can be picked up and reviewed during gameplay. A guideline can display the route to the next objective. While exploring, Isaac can break crates in the environment using either his melee attack or a stomp action. Two further abilities are Kinesis, which can move or pull objects in the environment including using Necromorph limbs as makeshift projectile weapons, and Stasis, which slows a target's movement for a limited time. Some areas are subject to zero-G, with Isaac using his RIG suit to explore areas, with jet packs allowing manoeuvres across all directions and a boost function to speed through the environment. During some sections, Isaac can explore vacuum areas, though he has a limited air supply which must be replenished using oxygen tanks. Before using some devices or opening some doors, a hacking minigame must be completed on a time limit. Displaying as a circular graphic with a bar showing a display area, the player must manoeuvre the bar and press a button when the highlighted area is green, with pressing the button when the color is red causing an electric shock for Isaac.
While exploring, Isaac must fight different types of Necromorphs which emerge from the environment; on any but the lowest difficulty, Necromorphs can remain active and attack despite heavy damage. Using his assigned weapon, Isaac must cut off the Necromorphs' limbs to kill them, able to switch several weapons between horizontal and vertical firing modes. He can also stomp them to deal damage. There are also cinematic sections such as using the RIG suit's jets to avoid debris, and quick time events that can lead to a game over if failed. Weapons can be upgraded using nodes, which are installed at crafting stations and increase their power or ammunition. During exploration, items such as health packs and upgrade nodes, and ammunition for Isaac's weapons, can be either bought from shopping terminals, or picked up in the environment. In the latter case they can also be found on enemy corpses or retrieved from crates. Weapon schematics can also be found, being uploaded to the store on the next visit after being found and allowing Isaac to acquire new weapons and armor. Isaac's inventory is limited, with excess items able to be stored in a safe at save terminals.
Alongside the single-player campaign, a separate competitive multiplayer mode is included. Known as Outbreak mode, teams of four players take control of either a team defending the Sprawl, or a set of four Necromorph types whose goal is to kill the human team and feature slightly different controls. In the various modes, the human team is given different objectives ranging from defending a point, killing the Necromorph team, or completing an assigned technical task. The human team is given a series of five objectives to complete with each map. Each round swaps the players between the human and Necromorph teams. Necromorph players can choose the Necromorph they will spawn as: a Lurker, a Puker, a Spitter, or a member of the Pack. The maps, while using Sprawl locations mentioned in the main campaign, are unique to the multiplayer. Completing matches rewards experience points, unlocking rewards tailored to each side up to the level cap of 60.
Synopsis Setting and characters Dead Space 2 takes place in the year 2511, three years after the events of Dead Space. The action takes place on the Sprawl, a space station built by the Earth Government (EarthGov) in the remains of Saturn's moon Titan in a period where humanity survived near-extinction due to resource depletion by mining other planets. During the previous game's events on the planet Aegis VII, an artifact called the Red Marker−copied from an alien artifact by EarthGov during a disastrous attempt to harvest its energy−was uncovered during an illegal mining operation. The mining colony was funded by the Church of Unitology, a group that worships the Markers as divine and seeks an event of physical and spiritual union called Convergence. The Marker's influence triggered crippling mental illness in the colony, then the outbreak of a virus-like organism that reanimates corpses and turns them into Necromorphs, which overwhelmed the colony and the mining ship USG Ishimura. By the events of Dead Space 2, the Aegis VII incident has been covered up, and new Marker experiments begun on the Sprawl.
The protagonist is Isaac Clarke, a Concordance Extraction Corporation (CEC) engineer who was sent with a team to the Ishimura and narrowly survived the infestation while destroying the Marker and the Necromorphs. Assisting Isaac are Ellie Langford, a CEC heavy machinery pilot; Nolan Stross, a fellow patient of Isaac whose exposure to the Aegis VII Marker has left him insane; and Daina Le Guin. Director Hans Tiedeman is an EarthGov administrator in charge of the Sprawl who initiates a project to build another Marker in an attempt to control its power and opposes Isaac. Isaac is also frequently tormented by visions of Nicole Brennan, his girlfriend who died on the Ishimura. Minor characters include Franco Delille, a hacker sent to rescue Isaac and protagonist of the spin-off Dead Space Ignition, and EarthGov doctor Foster Edgars. The downloadable content (DLC) story Dead Space: Severed follows Sergeant Gabe Weller, a Sprawl security officer who races to save his wife Lexine Murdoch from both the Necromorphs and EarthGov. Both are returning characters from the spin-off Dead Space: Extraction.
Plot Isaac Clarke, suffering from Marker-induced dementia and violent hallucinations, escapes from Necromorphs at the mental hospital holding him and is guided to safety by Le Guin. Isaac finds the Sprawl overrun and being evacuated en masse, with the citizens left behind either being killed or committing suicide due to the Marker's influence. Le Guin reveals that Tiedemann recreated a Marker using the data in Isaac's mind, using memory-blocking drugs on Isaac to prevent that data from destroying his mind. Isaac runs into the highly disturbed Stross, who claims to know how to destroy the new Marker. When Isaac reaches Le Guin, she reveals herself as a Unitologist sent to capture Isaac. An EarthGov ambush kills her and her henchmen, allowing Isaac to escape. He soon allies with Ellie, who reluctantly guards Stross as they navigate the Sprawl, fighting both the Necromorphs and Tiedemann's attempts to contain them. Isaac is regularly tormented by visions of Nicole Brennan, who keeps asking Isaac to make them "whole". To reach the Sprawl's government sector where Tiedemann is holding up with the Marker, Isaac is forced to navigate the decommissioned Ishimura, triggering more hallucinations.
Stross's mental state worsens to the point of attacking Ellie, gouging out her right eye with a screwdriver, then attacking Isaac, who is forced to kill him in self-defense. Ellie helps Isaac get into the government sector, but then he tricks her into getting aboard a shuttle and sends her away to safety. Guided by a friendly version of Nicole, he gets inside the government sector, letting the Necromorphs inside to eliminate Tiedemann's security forces. The Necromorphs gather at the Marker, starting off Convergence, and Isaac uses a machine to unlock the Marker data in his mind. He kills Tiedemann, but is then forced to fight off a final hallucination of Nicole as she was a projection used by the Marker to fulfill its wish of completing Convergence by merging with its creator, Isaac. As the Sprawl begins collapsing from the damage caused by the Marker, Ellie flies in and rescues Isaac. In a post-credits audio conversation, two EarthGov agents discuss further Marker sites.
Severed Gabe Weller is on patrol in the Sprawl's mines when the Necromorph attacks begin, warning Lexine, who is pregnant with their child, as he makes his way back to her. Weller is betrayed by his superior Victor Bartlett, who reveals that the pair were subjects of the Oracle Program, intended to study both Lexine and Weller's survival of the Aegis VII incident and the potential use of their child. Bartlett, whom Tiedemann ordered to kill all Marker-related subjects, is later subdued by two high-ranking EarthGov agents known as the Oracles, who take Lexine from him. Weller chases after them, with Lexine retreating into a shuttle when Necromorphs kill the Oracles. Bartlett suicidally attacks Weller with a grenade before he can board; fatally injured, Weller helps Lexine escape the Sprawl. An epilogue reveals Weller's body has been taken for study by EarthGov, while the missing Lexine is to be killed once found.
Development