u/ThomasGalbridge

I just revisited Dead Space 2 after all these years and completed Hardcore Mode for the third time, with my other two being back in 2011 and 2019. It's been established a while back that EA placed the franchise back on the shelf due to the remake not meeting their expectations in units sold so we likely won't see a Dead Space 2 remake in the near future, if ever.

Dead Space 2 has been argued to be the best game out of the entire franchise, and I can definitely see why even though the first one still is a masterpiece of its own. This game had the most futuristic setting of the series, with the rusty and gothic style of the first game being traded for a more chrome aesthetic.

Isaac Clarke had one of the biggest glow ups in gaming history, from being the introverted and scared engineer of the first game to a disgruntled guy pulling Iron Man stunts with his futuristic boots. The original actor of Isaac, Max Shippee, ended up being replaced by Gunner Wright who would take the mantle of his role from here on throughout the franchise. And safe to say, he slammed it. Instead of being a passive silent protagonist who went from objective to objective in the first, Isaac has a central role in the story and has more active agency.

The brightness of the first game was left behind with characters no longer having that "glow" in dark areas, asking the player to use the flashlight more. In some areas it does get stupid dark, but I'd argue it wasn't as bad as the DS1 remake's case.

Dead Space 2 was also the most challenging game, with enemies being hyper aggro and actually ganking the player instead of waiting for their turn to attack in hordes. There were some moments of the game where it became annoying, but these moments also had you utilize creative ways for crowd control. Such as shooting the exploders' orange sacks in swarms, using your kinesis for sharp projectiles, etc.

I definitely enjoyed the suit designs in the sequel, with the Advanced Suit being one of my personal favorite suits in science fiction. It definitely had that Evangelion-like aesthetic, resembling the sleek plug suit in while also being its own thing.

I definitely would have loved to see the Dead Space 2 remake, but honestly, the game has aged very gracefully from a bygone era and you can easily play it through Steam or the Xbox store. However, it still would have been great to see the Sprawl revitalized in the Frostbite engine with the imagination and heart Motive put into the remake.

I enjoyed Dead Space 2: Severed for the short expansion back when I had an Xbox 360 in early 2012. Though I do wish it could've been at least a few chapters longer than what it was, it was a nice wrap-up to the Extraction crew and their story.

Sadly, it never made it to the Steam stores with the main game since at the time, EA prioritized their marketing towards consoles with PC gaming being an afterthought. It also introduced the RESPEC mechanic which was later re-used in the Dead Space remake.

I thought the Patrol Suit was a pretty awesome variant to the Security suit, which had way too many skins of its own in the game. It was kind of dumb to me how if you tried to equip the suit in the base game, the orange optics were replaced by the standard two-slit visors just like the original counterparts.

I was anticipating the remake of Dead Space 2 and if Motive would have expanded the DLC to be a lot longer than it was. But unfortunately, due to the DS1 remake not meeting Resident Evil numbers in the sales department, the franchise would be placed on the shelf once again.

If you want to experience the Severed DLC, your best bet is through an emulator. Not sure about the consoles department, but I definitely recommend it.

EDIT: Forgot to write that it also brought back the Twitchers from the first game, since they weren't in the base game.

'98 kid here. I just rewatched a few episodes from this show again after seeing MeatCanyon make a parody off of them. It felt like revisiting a bygone era that was long forgotten. I remember watching Ghost Adventures almost every night on Travel Channel as a child before turning back to Adult Swim.

It did have a lot of controversies during its heyday, and the main star Zak Bagans was under some criticism for being a bit power hungry. Despite that I definitely enjoyed his work way back when I was a lot younger. I did grow out of his show however by the time I entered high school and forgot about it over the years.

During my first year of college when I studied film, I tried to go ghost hunting with friends but as you expected, we pretty much caught nothing and overtime I became more of a skeptic. I'm 28 now, I don't believe in ghosts anymore but I will admit that it did feel nice to come back and see episodes I watched nearly two decades ago. Felt like coming back to see a very old friend.

In all the discussions I've read or video essays I've watched regarding Dead Space and how it's been sitting on the shelf for years now, I don't see anyone mentioning Extraction out of all the games. And it was my first Dead Space game when I had a Wii at just ten years old (my dad didn't know what rated M meant).

I remember watching the Dead Space television commercial as a child back in 2008 while watching late night runs on Adult Swim, and immediately it pulled me in. But since I didn't have an Xbox or a PS3 in 2009, I only had a Wii and Dead Space: Extraction ended up being my introduction to the series.

I think this game doesn't get enough justice or recognition it deserves, because of how far ahead of its time it was. There was no rail shooter just like it, because it had an interactive story and an unmatched atmosphere with its technical limitations from the time period. I've played the Resident Evil rail shooters on the Wii, and I can safely say they don't compare to something like this.

What was amazing about the game is that you got to witness Aegis VII and the USG Ishimura just before shit hit the fan. The world felt real, believable and alive with people working in these facilities just before their demise. And while Dead Space 1 focused on the atmosphere of wandering an infested ship well past its prime, Extraction gave you the dread of watching a functioning colony of people crumble into chaos before you were completely alone.

You also got to experience missions from the perspective of other survivors like Sam Caldwell, Doctor Howell, Lexine and Gabe Weller while most of the game you controlled Nate which was a very cool feature. This was at the time where Dead Space was in its deep horror roots and the badass Isaac Clarke that we all knew in Dead Space 2 wasn't a thing yet, so you had the underlying dread that nobody was safe.

You practically can't play this game unless you have a working Wii or a PlayStation 3 with motion controls, or with an emulator using the right external hardware like a motion sensor. If you're a fan of Dead Space, I would definitely recommend Extraction to you if you haven't played it yet. You won't regret giving it a try.