Is it just me or are the enemies more bullet sponge?

[Ambrosius Costeau]

Im just wondering if this is the case because i dont remember the enemies being this tanky.

[ragnarok]

It's not just you. In the original Dead Space it only takes a single shot to sever their legs on normal difficulty, compared to 3-4 shots in the remake.

[Ambrosius Costeau]

Originally posted by ragnarok:

It's not just you. In the original Dead Space it only takes a single shot to sever their legs on normal difficulty, compared to 3-4 shots in the remake.

Damn im wondering if this is a deliberate design choice or something to make the game artificially harder.

[lieutenantkirtar]

I'm playing on hard and absolutely drowning in ammo. I think they are just leaning into the "action" part of this action horror series.

[Sygmaelle]

i dont remember the damage balance in the original but im at chapter 3 and it takes 4 plasma cutter shots to kill enemies so far. Don't forget that certain body parts are armored, and you want to avoid these

[Diabolical Taco]

It's been a hot minute since I played the OG on hard, but they do feel like they take a few more shots in the remake on hard. Granted, this is without upgrades yet.

[MrLuckless]

The damage was higher in the original because precision was emphasized. Enemies were faster then your average zombie, but slow enough and had enough dangly bits that aiming just right rewarded you more then hitting the body or the head. Now though, everything is moving faster and has been given more health to compensate now that there are less enemies attacking you at any particular point in the game.

The Leapers got hit the hardest with attack and behavior changes I can only imagine someone created because they didn't like them very much in the OG series. It only takes 1 arm removal to completely neuter them and before that they no longer do that horrifying arm dash to you and their jumps either land just shy of you, or if in zero-g they will bulldoze straight through you causing damage and staggering you briefly.

Suffice to say, disarming the Necromorphs isn't as impactful this go around, the 2 most potent weapons this time are the Ripper and the Forcegun, and neither really focus on accuracy.

[ReflexShift]

Yeah the limbs definitely take more damage than the original version. The pulse rifle seems less effective than I remember, although I am early game with little upgrades.

[Viper]

seems like it . It takes 3 or 4 limb shots or like 6-7 torso shots just to kill the basic guy with your first weapon.

[mie001]

Their health are random, but yes, the are overall more bullet sponge than original. Maybe the devs played the Resident Evil remake and think the game success on increasing the enemy health. Or maybe they just wanna show off the "Body damage system" thing
It will improve in mid game tho, if you focus upgrade one weapon, you wound likely max damage of one, and they actually more powerful than original.

[morte]

On normal difficulty, something has definitely changed - I often do not have time to shoot off the legs of the necromorphs running at me. But at the same time there is some element of randomness - sometimes you need 6 shots for one, and sometimes two are enough. I always shoot at the limbs.

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by girthquake:

I haven't tested this rigorously but I believe it's because of the peeling system. you're peeling away layers in a specific area with each shot, therefore there's less work to do for subsequent shots in the same place than shots all across the surface area of the limb. the plasma cutter consistently severs limbs in 3 hits on Hard difficulty if you concentrate on one point.

you can save time and ammo by using the flamethrower to burn a large part of a necromorphs body, then with your plasma cutter, aim for the burnt spots on any limb to sever them with just 1 shot.

Bonus tip: It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome (and horrifying) to see a mostly-skeletal Necromorph coming at you.

[mie001]

Also, the bullet impact less. I think the original will have they randomly stun even without removing their limbs, and they will likely get stun losing them
remake enemy can take plasma as shower, and stop for nothing unless their limbs got removed. Even that, they recover from the stun faster
This, with other detail change like tk throwing damage, weapon ready time, plasma cutter rotate time, stomping damage...etc, actually changed my style playing this.
I was never found using stasis in combat, but in the remake, I actually quite rely on it

[Saigon]

I'm playing on normal and I don't have hardly any ammo. I'm at the part where you first get the line Gun running from the regenerator and I don't have any ammo at all. I got like 7 bullets in the line Gun and that's it

[Viper]

Originally posted by Saigon:

I'm playing on normal and I don't have hardly any ammo. I'm at the part where you first get the line Gun running from the regenerator and I don't have any ammo at all. I got like 7 bullets in the line Gun and that's it

Are you stomping the bodies after you kill them to collect there drop.

[MrLuckless]

Originally posted by mie001:

Also, the bullet impact less. I think the original will have they randomly stun even without removing their limbs, and they will likely get stun losing them
remake enemy can take plasma as shower, and stop for nothing unless their limbs got removed. Even that, they recover from the stun faster
This, with other detail change like tk throwing damage, weapon ready time, plasma cutter rotate time, stomping damage...etc, actually changed my style playing this.
I was never found using stasis in combat, but in the remake, I actually quite rely on it

Every weapon in both DS1 and DS2 had a certain amount of stagger applied to enemies. One of the reasons why the pulse rifle was a reliable workhorse for both games was its ability to stun lock an enemy with repeated shots. A stun that lasted long enough to chop a leg or an arm off and quickly re-orient to a new threat or reposition after, effectively letting you "kite" big groups of necros. This stagger effect has been more or less removed throughout the game to force players to rely more heavily on stasis and objects in combat. One of the reasons why that charging stalker enemy in DS2 was so memorable was because it was one of the few basic enemies that was essentially resistant to the stagger and could bash you through your shots.