Dead Space 2 – Hallucinations of a Dead Girlfriend

Well here we are, the first game I completed in 2020 is Dead Space 2. I started playing it alongside of Darksiders and alternated between them based on what I felt like playing. I can multitask at games and still remember the story!

I decided to start with the second game after hearing from my brother that it was the darkest of the three. So I dove in ready for a new challenge and adventure.

The game’s story started off with suspense. Isaac Clarke now knows the truth about what happened to his girlfriend, Nicole who served about the Ishimura. When the Necromorph outbreak overwhelmed the ship, Nicole committed suicide, but not before sending a final log for Isaac.

Isaac has been seeing hallucinations of Nicole, and in this game, he still does. After the events of the first game, he finds himself on a station….or should I say, city and another Necromorph outbreak has begun. At first Isaac wants to find a cure for his dementia, which plays a part in the hallucinations of Nicole, but the tide turns when he must find the Marker in the station’s EarthGov sector. Now, I’m still new to the Dead Space universe, but from what I can fathom, these Markers are responsible for creating Necromorphs in the first place. Yeah, I have a lot of lore-reading to do!

In terms of gameplay, it’s a survival horror game and I’m so used to playing traditional third-person shooters if you’re playing as a character with armor and a gun. Not Dead Space, I learned that I had to conserve my ammo by aiming for limbs as well as keep my eyes and ears open since the game has no HUD or motion-tracker so you have to rely on your senses to find enemies.

Thankfully, some Necromorphs have such distinctive cries (I’m looking at you Exploders!) that it doesn’t take me long for me to hear them, turn, and kill them. When that is not always possible, I get the joy of being startled and ambushed and that’s the horror aspect.

I think my line gun was the most help to me in the toughest parts of the game when I was feeling overwhelmed, that thing packs a punch. But I would definitely like to try some other weapons in another play-through.

One thing I liked about this game is the characters are much better. I did start playing the first game, but in it, Isaac is just a silent protagonist. In this game, he talks and seems to know how to crack jokes every now and then.

First we thought Daina was going to be the lady Isaac would rely on to get through until that revealed not to be true. Then comes along Ellie Langford who agrees to help him find the Marker somewhere within the station. I liked her already and one of my friends who is into the games as well has a crush on her. Can’t blame him, she’s pretty hot and she’s independent.

Stross is clearly suffering the same problem as Isaac but something tells me that he’s even worse.

This game clearly shook me up due to it taking place on a public station with civilians that all became infected. It was hard to take screenshots since I was constantly cautious of my surroundings while playing.

When Daina directed me to go through the Unitology center, I couldn’t help but feel greatly disturbed. It’s a religious group formed around the Markers in hopes to spread Convergence; but that’s actually what seems to be responsible for the creation of Necromorphs? Just when Isaac thought things were going to get better after destroying one Marker. Now you see candles everywhere inside people’s rooms, Marker sculptures/art, and graffiti that’s like “Take us all!” Are you saying you want to turn into Necromorphs? Get some help! The church itself was equally eerie.

The other disturbing part for me was going through this elementary school and shows that hey even children and infants can get infected too! Yikes.

Towards the last few chapters, the game became clear to me that we had to stop the Convergence from the Marker hidden in the EarthGov sector and eventually Stross finally snaps. I hate seeing eyes get gouged out in these stories. Philippa Eilhart was bad enough, thank you. Yes, I have some sympathy for that witch, fight me.

I think Nicole is our villain here, even if she is just a ghost. In death, a form of her is unleashed that haunts Isaac in hopes to what I thought was to break his will. She keeps going on about Isaac wanting to make them whole; something she kept uttering in the first game too from what I’ve seen. But also Tiedemann is too since he is the one who had a new Marker built and did experiments on Isaac and Stross to gain the information to do so. Hence the dementia.

But I still think Nicole wins here, eventually the visions Isaac had of her seemed to subside in severity when he accepted that he couldn’t save her and she helps him reach the Marker. Having to stick that needle in his eye was gross like how was he able to see out of it afterwards? Sure it helped him interact with the Marker, but was he cured after that?

My trusty line gun once again got me through the final battle of destroying the hallucination of Nicole and the Marker codes in Isaac’s mind. So, I guess that counts as him being cured.

Now, I wonder what will happen next and now I’m also eager to revisit the first game to give it another chance, and hopefully, finish it.

Well, there you have it, my first horror survival game and first completion of 2020. This game was a real terrifying, disturbing, sometimes frustrating (Ugh…. Ubermorph), but exhilarating experience. I’m giving it an A for its dark moments.

👽Emily