Best Dead Space game

Dead Space was originally released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 13, 2008, with the PC version to follow a week later. It was just in time for the Halloween season. Developed by EA Redwood Shores, the game saw success, which led to the team being renamed within EA to Visceral Games in 2009. While Dead Space franchise found success, leading to various spinoffs, sequels, series, and animated specials, the hype didn't last long.

Visceral Games shut down in 2017, and the last game to come out was a remake of the original in 2023, which received a lot of praise but fewer sales. Now, Dead Space is shelved by EA. In a world of reboots, nothing is ever truly dead, so let's keep hope alive and instead rank the entire series for now, with quality in mind.

Dead Space Ignition

Spinoff for an adventure puzzle

Dead Space Ignition takes place before the events of the second game, in the same city on Saturn's moon Titan. It's a visual novel, mostly where players will see a motion sequence of characters in the city experiencing the Necromorph outbreak for the first time. There are branching decisions, but they won't affect much, unlike games with more different dialogue choices.

There is more to the game as, as engineer Franco, players will need to bypass systems to stay alive. These hacking puzzles revolve around conquering nodes, racing lines or solving mirror-like projections. These puzzle types have appeared in video games before, so overall it's not that much fun of a game, as much as it's an interesting look at the events leading up to the events of Dead Space 2.

Dead Space (2011)

A forgotten interquel

The confusing title Dead Space from 2011 isn't just a simple mobile port of the first game. Instead, it happens before Dead Space 2but unlike Dead Space Ignitionthis mobile game is all about horror and action. The main character Vandal has a costume similar to Isaac's in the main trilogy, so it can be confusing as the game unfolds.

Players will traverse the Sprawl, blasting Necromorphs, collecting items and solving puzzles along the way. The mobile controls back then were good, but not exactly convenient. It looked like part of a console experience, though. Unfortunately, it has been removed from both iOS and Android stores, so Dead Space fans are in luck.

Wii Go For Horror

Dead Space: Extraction was once a Wii-exclusive on-rail horror game that took place before the events of the first game, but was then ported to the PS3. In both versions, players will take on the role of a miner, Sam, on the Aegis VII mining colony. The discovery of the Marker is what led to the entry of the ship Dead SpaceUSG Ishimura, to become infected.

Although it is short and on rails, Dead Space: Extraction is not a weak game in the least, as locations have a large number of features that the main trilogy has. Players can get a variety of weapons to shoot Necromorphs and newly transformed humans, they can grab things with Kinesis and freeze enemies with Stasis. It was also the first game in the series to feature co-op, which really made it easier to shoot space zombies, which co-op often does in a horror game.

Dead Space 3

To the Moon

Dead Space 3as the end of a trilogy, tried to spice things up, and it ultimately didn't set the world on fire, unlike the first two main entries. Firstly, things start in space and have the usual action and puzzle solving with the hero Isaac. The big difference here is that he is accompanied by John, a soldier who joins Isaac to put an end to the Unitologists, those who worship the Marker, once and for all. Although the first two games enjoyed action a lot, Dead Space increased the amount of Necromorphs even more, and also introduced a crafting system.

Now players could modify their weapons to an even wilder degree, which could be engaging, but hunting for materials wasn't fun. Co-op was the other major feature, but it was online only instead of featuring split-screen co-op like most games from this era. The second half gets a little more interesting when the two dive on a frozen planet, and being surprised by frozen bodies upped the horror value. The final boss is also unforgettable, so while Dead Space 3 didn't end the trilogy on a high note, there are good things about it.

Dead Space (2023)

A solid remake

After a long pause, Dead Space came back with a remake in 2023, which is more or less a 1:1 recreation, which is both good and bad. Visually, it's one of the best-looking horror games yet, with excellent lighting and grotesque gore effects. Additionally, the sound design between the Necromorph shouts, intercoms, and the absence of oxygen in space made the game even more immersive, especially with surround sound or headphones.

One of the biggest reveals in the first game is Isaac revealing himself in the final scene, but in the remake he takes it off several times and talks too. Isaac's younger appearance isn't as iconic as the original's more grizzled engineering design, and while he can talk, it didn't add much to the story. This 2023 version may look and control better, but some fans wished it had taken more risks as a remake to help set it apart more.

Dead Space 2

Going beyond

Dead Space 2 is everything a sequel should strive for on a technical level. The game begins in the aforementioned Sprawl space station on Saturn's moon Titan, where Isaac is picked up after drifting. It has an unforgettable eyeball scene that fans know all too well, and always things get chaotic quickly after the Necromorph outbreak spreads. Isaac could now speak, and it was at a more constant level than the 2023 remake added.

Weapons could be more customized, the environments were more varied and the jump scares were also remixed. Also, horror fans who like boss fights have a lot more to deal with than in the first game. In the end, you could say so Dead Space 2 was more of the same, but at this point in the franchise, that wasn't a bad thing because there wasn't anything like these space horror games anywhere else.

Dead Space

Can't go wrong with OG

Fans can debate whether beginners should start with Dead SpaceThe 2023 remake, or maybe even the sequel. What holds up 2008's Dead Space is how pure of an experience it is. Isaac is a silent protagonist, an engineer, who goes to the USG Ishimura with a small team to hopefully repair it. Inside, they find the problem, and it's not mechanical, because it was biological instead. What was not praised in the previous posts was Dead Space's overall design choices.

There is no HUD screen as everything is a holographic projectile from the intercoms, to the item menu, to items dropped on the ground. Health is displayed on Isaac's suit back, along with his energy levels for using Stasis or Kinesis. Every weapon felt different, from the regular pistol to a gun that shot saw blades to the flamethrower. Every aspect of the game was thought out to create something on the scale of Resident Evil 4but in space, and EA Redwood Shores absolutely achieved what they set out to do. Few games nail it completely on their first try, though Dead Space is truly an excellent example.