Dead Space (2008)

I really liked Dead space. Back in 2007, when it was first announced, I got hyped up immediately. The whole concept of the game, the horror, the atmosphere, it was something fresh and new. And my God, it looked so damn beautiful.

The story is really strong and whole spinoffs, movies and extra lore has been created from it. It is dark, creepy and full of plot twists. In the basics, you are Isaac Clarke who joins a rescue operation on the big colonization ship the USG Ishimura after they lost contact with it. After 15 minutes, the game changes from a rescue mission, to the deepest desire to be rescued. Along the way, you do everything in your power to survive and get the hell off of the USG Ishimura that the horrors, called Necromorphs, have taken over. They are all guided and mutated by a strange object called the Marker. You feel its presence everywhere and it drives you to insanity with hallucinations.

Back in 2008, Dead Space was the scariest game I ever played. And playing the first F.E.A.R. games, that is saying something. The perfect atmosphere and the constant feeling of dread and danger kept me on edge with every step. You never knew when some of those 4 armed abominations would jump out of the nearest vent.

Of all the Necromorphs, the first ones you encounter are the most disturbing. Their half-human appearance and their missing jaws send chills down my spine. The Necromorphs come in different variants and some are just human heads with tentacles, walking hands or a screaming guy, pinned to the wall with four murderous tentacles. When you get killed by an enemy, the small cut scene that follows is just brutal. You get sliced in half, the head with tentacles that I mentioned earlier will behead you and attach itself in your body, let you shambling around like a lifeless shell. It’s so violent and epic.

The gameplay mechanics are excellent. You find new weapons on your path to safety and can collect power nodes to upgrade them. You can also upgrade your health and statis (slow-motion attack thingy) with these nodes. You can find cash, laying around that you use to buy ammo and health packs in the store.
I also really like the idea that your health meter is on your back and that there is no visible GUI. Every counter or information is either on the weapon itself or on you. You can open a holo-screen with a map and objectives but you still see Isaac interact with it, rather than the game pausing and showing you an overlay.

Like mentioned, Dead Space looked, and still looks, amazing. The graphics are realistic with the ultimate dark and grim horror theme. The animations and walk cycle of Isaac, in which he carefully moves one step at the time is just perfect.

The music is just perfect, because there is no music. The only thing you hear are creepy sounds in the distance, a metal pipe that falls over without anyone present near it, creepy voices, rumbling in the vents around you and when one of those jaw-less, spawns of hell is creeping up behind you, you don’t hear a damn thing and get an instant heart attack.

Every step in Dead space can be deadly and you never know what it going to happen next. This mechanic is so incredibly well implemented that I got the actual feeling of fighting to stay alive, that today, I did not experience in any other game. I also cared a lot for the main character Isaac and felt a deep desire to do everything in my power to keep the poor soul safe and alive.

The ending gives lot of room for more story and more games, something that eventually happened in the future.

Dead Space defines my “modern history” of gaming, back when the PlayStation 3 was hot and new and it will always be one of my all time favorites.