Several series of games over the years have gone by the wayside, left as a relic to a different era of gaming. While Jak & Daxter and Crash Bandicoot saw their developers reach different heights in new ventures, EA Redwood Shores, which developed into Visceral Games, found serious success in their Dead Space venture in the late 2000s after the first entry made its way onto Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. So, how did the series as a whole fare in its spike in popularity?

Playing through the entirety of the Dead Space series in 2021 was a long time coming for me, but it was as appropriate as ever, as I had finally cut my teeth in the Third-Person genre after playing through several similar series like Gears of War and other gems of that console generation. Seeing as Dead Space seems to emulate much of the mid-series Resident Evil presentation (4, 5, and the less about 6 we discuss the better), it’s a succinct entry point into the genre.

Dead Space kicks off with a menacing introduction to the basic enemy: Necromorphs. These zombified, lethal foes don’t care if you aim for the head. Instead, you have to adjust years of shooter practice and aim for their limbs to put them down. Injecting the religion of Unitology and limiting the number of NPCs you encounter to less than a handful adds a real sense of dread as you struggle for ammo, resources, and survival. Many Dead Space fans find the peak of the series was at the start.

Dead Space 2 takes much of what made the first game great and adds new enemies, weapons, and characters in one of the most expensive-to-make video games of all time. There are infamous moments like “eye surgery” and an insane ending, but I breezed through this game thanks to unlocking endgame items for free in the Steam version (due to an EA/Steam disagreement). I can’t help but feel like I played the game wrong this well-equipped and will surely revisit it with more challenge in the future.

Where the series came to an end was Dead Space 3, where the shark was most definitely jumped. It hones in on a crafting mechanic so you can custom-build your own weapons, and I enjoyed messing around with this feature extensively. Unfortunately, the survival-horror genre was forgone to make this an Action-Adventure title, as was the style at the time. Any echoes of dread or sense of urgency were tossed out to make the third entry a run-and-gun affair.

So, as a whole, is the Dead Space trilogy worth a run after all this time? Well, with a remake on the way, I’d certainly say it’s a thrill ride with some bumps at the end. There are several scares to be had and blood will be pumping in many enemy encounters across the franchise, provided you set the game to an appropriate difficulty level. In the upcoming Xmas sales from digital storefronts, I would highly recommend getting at least the first two titles at a nice low price.

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Dead Space

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Truly Visceral Action
• Bountiful Lore
• Sense of Desperation

Cons

• Serious Dropoff in 3rd Iteration
• Difficulty Spikes in Every Game