Quick Summary: Dead Space 2 picks up a few years after the ending of the first game, and while the gameplay is very similar, it feels smoother with better graphics. The time to complete Dead Space 2 is shorter compared to the first, but I’d still say Dead Space 2 is the superior game. I believe the games’ creators made more of a focus on the horror aspect this time around, with more jump scares, darker environments, and a lot more incidents of being surrounded on all sides by fast moving necromorphs.

Spoilers:
Once again you take on the role of Isaac, the last survivor of the Ishimura incident from the first Dead Space game. Instead of an abandoned space ship, this time you’re trying to escape a large inhabited space station under siege by necromorphs, so you have contact with more surviving (not for long) humans along with new and more sickening variants of reanimated corpses. The psychological horror aspect of the first game is also ramped up a bit, with insanity from the alien “marker” seeping into everything.

The game is played in Third Person Shooter perspective similar to the Resident Evil 4, 5, and 6 games, but with faster and smoother movement. Melee combat is still a last resort though, stick to your guns. You’re view is zoomed in pretty close to your character’s back/shoulder so it’s easy for necromorphs to creep up on you, especially in the heat of combat. This happens a lot more often in Dead Space 2 than in the previous game. You’ll walk into a big room and bam, necromorphs crawling out of the walls in every direction. Fortunately for you, the enemies seem to have less health (though some seem to move faster), especially the darker “enhanced” versions. You have a few more tricks up your sleeves this time around, with the ability to actually cause significant damage tossing items at enemies, and regenerating stasis energy so you can more freely fire off your stasis effect. I don’t mind at all that they did away with the weak “map” function from Dead Space 1 which was basically useless since the game world is 3 dimensional and the map controls were annoying.

A word about DLC. While the Steam store for Dead Space 2 doesn’t have any purchasable DLC, it’s all built in and available to you. “Upgraded” versions of the game’s armors and weapons can all be acquired in the very first game shop you find (about 10 minutes into the story). The DLC items themselves aren’t exactly overpowered (most have something like +5% damage) but they’re FREE in the shop. You can practically start with weapons that normally you can’t purchase until halfway through the game, making your experience easier than intended (if you decide to make use of them).

You should play Dead Space 2 if:
+You liked Dead Space 1. It’s mostly more of the same, but with smoother gameplay and scarier environments. If you haven’t played the first game, you really should because the stories are intertwined. And Dead Space 1 is a good game.
+Maybe you haven’t played Dead Space 1, but you enjoyed Resident Evil 4, 5, or 6. Dead Space is faster moving and with less emphasis on puzzle solving, but it still has the creepy feel and scarcity of health/ammo the first time you play. There’s a new game+ option, so you can choose to restart the game with all your loot from the first playthrough, making it MUCH easier.

You should not play Dead Space 2 if:
-You don’t like jump scares, dark and spooky environments, or nasty looking aliens. There’s a lot of that here.
-You’re looking for an open world game that you can explore. Dead Space 1 and 2 are both very linear and there are very few instances where you will be wondering where to go next. Just hit the “b” button and follow the beacon line pointing to the next objective (like Bioshock Infinite).
-You want a casual game. Yes you can turn the difficulty to easy, but you still need to worry about managing your inventory and dealing with swarms of necromorphs. This is not one of those games where you can just run through all the rooms and hope the monsters don’t catch up to you. Most of the time the doors stay locked until you kill everything.

Overall, Dead Space 2 is a worthy successor to the first game, and superior in general. It even has a multiplayer, but you’ll need to set up games with your friends because no random people are playing it anymore (it’s PvP, not co-op).

Dead Space 3 is not on Steam (Origin only) and a lot of people online seem to think it’s terrible. Honestly it’s not bad, just different from the first 2 games, similar to the change from Resident Evil 4 to Resident Evil 5 (more focus on action, + co-op gameplay). It also seems a lot easier because all the guns use the same ammo (very hard to run out of ammo anymore) and you can custom design some overpowered weapons.

Quick Summary: Dead Space 2 picks up a few years after the ending of the first game, and while the gameplay is very similar, it feels smoother with better graphics. The time to complete Dead Space 2 is shorter compared to the first, but I’d still say Dead Space 2 is the superior game. I believe the games’ creators made more of a focus on the horror aspect this time around, with more jump scares, darker environments, and a lot more incidents of being surrounded on all sides by fast moving necromorphs. Spoilers: Once again you take on the role of Isaac, the last survivor of the Ishimura incident from the first Dead Space game. Instead of an abandoned space ship, this time you’re trying to escape a large inhabited space station under siege by necromorphs, so you have contact with more surviving (not for long) humans along with new and more sickening variants of reanimated corpses. The psychological horror aspect of the first game is also ramped up a bit, with insanity from the alien “marker” seeping into everything. The game is played in Third Person Shooter perspective similar to the Resident Evil 4, 5, and 6 games, but with faster and smoother movement. Melee combat is still a last resort though, stick to your guns. You’re view is zoomed in pretty close to your character’s back/shoulder so it’s easy for necromorphs to creep up on you, especially in the heat of combat. This happens a lot more often in Dead Space 2 than in the previous game. You’ll walk into a big room and bam, necromorphs crawling out of the walls in every direction. Fortunately for you, the enemies seem to have less health (though some seem to move faster), especially the darker “enhanced” versions. You have a few more tricks up your sleeves this time around, with the ability to actually cause significant damage tossing items at enemies, and regenerating stasis energy so you can more freely fire off your stasis effect. I don’t mind at all that they did away with the weak “map” function from Dead Space 1 which was basically useless since the game world is 3 dimensional and the map controls were annoying. A word about DLC. While the Steam store for Dead Space 2 doesn’t have any purchasable DLC, it’s all built in and available to you. “Upgraded” versions of the game’s armors and weapons can all be acquired in the very first game shop you find (about 10 minutes into the story). The DLC items themselves aren’t exactly overpowered (most have something like +5% damage) but they’re FREE in the shop. You can practically start with weapons that normally you can’t purchase until halfway through the game, making your experience easier than intended (if you decide to make use of them). You should play Dead Space 2 if: +You liked Dead Space 1. It’s mostly more of the same, but with smoother gameplay and scarier environments. If you haven’t played the first game, you really should because the stories are intertwined. And Dead Space 1 is a good game. +Maybe you haven’t played Dead Space 1, but you enjoyed Resident Evil 4, 5, or 6. Dead Space is faster moving and with less emphasis on puzzle solving, but it still has the creepy feel and scarcity of health/ammo the first time you play. There’s a new game+ option, so you can choose to restart the game with all your loot from the first playthrough, making it MUCH easier. You should not play Dead Space 2 if: -You don’t like jump scares, dark and spooky environments, or nasty looking aliens. There’s a lot of that here. -You’re looking for an open world game that you can explore. Dead Space 1 and 2 are both very linear and there are very few instances where you will be wondering where to go next. Just hit the “b” button and follow the beacon line pointing to the next objective (like Bioshock Infinite). -You want a casual game. Yes you can turn the difficulty to easy, but you still need to worry about managing your inventory and dealing with swarms of necromorphs. This is not one of those games where you can just run through all the rooms and hope the monsters don’t catch up to you. Most of the time the doors stay locked until you kill everything. Overall, Dead Space 2 is a worthy successor to the first game, and superior in general. It even has a multiplayer, but you’ll need to set up games with your friends because no random people are playing it anymore (it’s PvP, not co-op). Dead Space 3 is not on Steam (Origin only) and a lot of people online seem to think it’s terrible. Honestly it’s not bad, just different from the first 2 games, similar to the change from Resident Evil 4 to Resident Evil 5 (more focus on action, + co-op gameplay). It also seems a lot easier because all the guns use the same ammo (very hard to run out of ammo anymore) and you can custom design some overpowered weapons.