Dead Space 2 | A Complete History and Retrospective 

How do you feel about Dead Space 2 Dad? 🚀

33:04 In the controls you can change the aiming from center which is the default to classic which is the dead space 1 style of aiming

There's something about the "Favorite Son" thing on this channel that just feels right. I love these videos.

It doesn't have to be either a horror game or an action game. It can be and is both, whether you want to call it a Horror-Action or Action-Horror that it contains both elements is undeniable in my eyes.

As much as I enjoy the tone/atmosphere of the first game more, I think it was kind of fitting for it to change in the sequel. Like, Isaac has been through all of this already, so I'm glad he seems more frustrated with everything. Chain-stomping necromorphs is very much one of my favorite things in this game, he's so pissed off.

On the "dead space 2 is more action than horror compared to the first" the Devs said in interviews alien was a huge inspiration and they followed the thematic blueprints riddly set out in the first two films. Upping the action in the sequel was always the plan because Isaac just as Ripply before him is now experienced with the aliens, they know how to deal with the threat and are more interested in taking the fight to the aliens rather than just fighting defence while their surrounding are engulfed. Sure some of the horror is taken from that but I think it works really well and if EA didn't sink their claws we might have seen a really interesting culmination of this on dead space 3

I found your channel two days ago. Watched your last dead space vid, all of your silent hill vids and just finished your fable ones. It’s helped a lot while I’ve been down bad with Covid. Thank you…son

I love Dead Space too so much. Its a game me and my Mom bonded over. She watched me play through it, asking me questions as I attempted not to freak myself out. She even read the novel! It was a good time.

Fun fact the dude who dies in the elevator part at 14:55 won a contest to design a kill move the one seen at 27:40 and as a reward had his face scanned and death scene put ingame. On another note if you participated in the contest they gave you the rorschach test and patient dossier you see in the intro on the table.

DS1 was an absolutely banger, and 2 somehow managed to STILL improve on almost every aspect. One of the best sequels I've ever played. (Damn shame they never made a third one

Right when you think the day can't get any better... a bright son comes out and lights everything up even more.

i consider DS2 more of a 'psychological thriller' than a true horror game like its predecessor. I love both

Two things so far at 33:20 1) the Ripper is vastly better in this game, as with the Flame Thrower. Essentially. All weapons were balanced very well in this game, making it totally up to the player to use what they so wished. Ripper and Force Gun? Why not. Pulse and Seeker Rifle? Yeah! Javelin Gun Flame Thrower? Go for it. That's because each Gun does what it's intended role is meant to be. They do enough damage to make it viable. The second thing is kind of just an extention of the first. And that is there is redundancy in loadouts. Let's take the Plasma Cutter and Pulse Rifle. They do amazing direct damage to a target. So you have to ask yourself, why use both. In DS1 there really wasn't unless you found yourself attacking the little flesh crawlers that came out of pregnants. But in DS2, there are more smaller, weaker enemies that will swarm you. Meaning that the Pulse Rifle is better suited for these targets because you have much more ammo for them. On top of that, the PR has a Grenade Launcher Alt fire, which is just good for targets, but uses a ton of ammo. So the reason you had an issue with a 4th weapon was the fact you had redundancy. You carried the PC, PR, and Line Gun. Your Direct Damage role was taken up by up to 3 other tools. So even if you'd have taken the Ripper, it would function the same as any other tool in your loadout. Redundant. But doesn't equal bad. I'd have suggested the Force Gun, or even the Contact Beam. The FG for its "Get the hell away from me" utility. The CB for its one shot kill on basically all nonboss enemies. Oh I completely forgot what else I was going to point out. The reticle is actually changeable. In one of the settings, you can switch the aiming back to Classic.

You can turn on classic reticle from the previous Dead Space in the options menu, I think in graphics. You can turn it on in Dead space 3 also

Return to Ishimura is one of my favourite game levels and not a lot even happens for most of it. It's just you scared of something happening and that fear is slowly dialled up to boiling point by odd sounds and audio logs of other people being just as freaked out as you are.

damn son ur pumpin out stuff like i did myself in my youth all the time xx keep it up but dont overwork yourself you dont wanna get burnout :P love the retrospectives tho it gives me lifeengery

Damn dude, you got this one out pretty fast! I enjoy listening to your videos while I'm at work, helps pass the time

You can change the reticle to the DS1 one through the options, my son. I always do it before playing DS2

Hey man, just want to say thank you for these videos. I put your retrospectives on while I'm working and it makes my days go by so much smoother. Keep up the great work

I believe that while Dead Space 1 had much scarier moments, they were a good bit fewer and further between. Every area of the Ishimura looked like a horror movie, the medical deck chief among them, but Dead Space 2 twists that by giving the idea that monsters aren't just in spooky places, they're everywhere. And once you get used to them, none of the Necromorphs in Dead Space 1 really made me scared, aside from the Hunter of course. Dead Space 2 however has the Stalkers and they still consistently keep me on edge even on my 20th playthrough of the game. Dead Space 1 had a perfect atmosphere of tension, meanwhile Dead Space 2 has a perfect atmosphere for terror. Of course fear is one of the most subjective things ever so while I may find the Stalkers terrifying, someone might call them Kentucky Fried Chicken which is completely fine. Either way I'm proud of how this came out son, I'm excited to see what else you make.

After the Silent Hill depression stream, this video might help me recover. Thank you son...

Son, The prodigious pace of your video releases continues to amaze and impress me. As with the first Dead Space video, I’ve truly enjoyed this wonderful overview of DS2. The Salt Factory also put out his replay of the first Dead Space and it worked really well as a companion piece to your video. Every one of your videos has an incredible narrative aspect to it that I find particular engaging. You’re a very adapt story teller, and I look forward to each of your releases. It’s starting to get cold outside son, make sure to dress warmly.

27:53 its probably my most favourite thing in ds 2. Survival horror game without it becomes quite boring to me, i love this feeljng of surviving on low resources.

I think Markiplier summed it up best with his review on dead space 3. That the longer you have a character recurringly go through the same type of horrifying scenarios the less return on investment you get from the scares, Issac went from being clueless (and if you read his objective commentary scared shitless) to going to “I know how to survive this, but this time maybe I can save some people” to dead space 3 of “I AM DONE WITH THIS SHIT GET SOMEONE ELSE FOR YOUR SUICIDE MISSON”

This is probably one of my favorite games of all time, though I enjoy hearing what other people hear about it. Although I disagree with your statements about it being a horror game, it is an extremely good action game. It never gets old.

33:15 You can change the reticle to classic

There's nothing scarier than running through a well-lit room past every monster in a horror game within the first few minutes whilst they ooga booga impotently in your direction

I'll admit son, I didn't know I could find another long-form analysis channel that could keep my attention. But since finding your channel I got hooked and watched every video. Dead space 2 is one of my favorite games so seeing you doing this retrospective is great

One of my favorite parts of the game is the “I’ll be there. I’ll be there!” moment. That, along with many of the other on-rails action sequences, is so badass and fun.

Your making me a proud father son. I love seeing you try to make our family whole again

These videos cure my depression.

While I do prefer the more atmospheric, horror-centric vibe of the first, I think DS2 absolutely nails the setting more, especially since it takes place just as the outbreak starts but from an interesting angle. A lot of zombie media either take place in more open areas, in the moment without the chance to take in everything, or some time afterwards. Issac is basically trailing behind as most people make a break for it, so he’s witnessing both the events and the immediate aftermath. Most of the residential areas of Titan Station perfectly capture how disturbing it all is, since it does feel shady enough when looking at the finer details and environmental storytelling (with elementary school in particular being a great example). The horror aspect is definitely extra subjective as a result since it’s more about the storytelling, though.

Hardcore difficulty on this one is pretty stressful.

I love these games no matter how different they may have been, the story and world-building alone puts it in my top 10.

28:09 i disagree about it. Its the opposite, it makes it much more realistic, we are surviving on this station full of monsters with low amount of resources.

Hey son! I found your channel like a week ago and I've been binge watching almost everything, especially the yakuza series, it's my favorite game series,and the way you put out content is awesome,keep up the good work😎

God I love your video they are so chill and calming to watch I always rewatch them

If Dead Space was ‘Alien’, Dead Space 2 is ‘Aliens’. Both are in my favourite games ever list, for some similar and different reasons.

Thus is such a good channel! I hope the recent announcements on ips you’ve covered gives you a boost!😊

Much appreciated, Son. Eager to see your work on the feast of horror content we've got coming over the next few years.

I love your retrospective videos!! Earned a sub there❤️🤞

and this is why sunday is my favourite day

Just watched your Dead Space 1 video the other night at work and was sad to not see a Dead Space 2 video followup right away. Great video once again :)

I love this game, it's my favorite of the series, and I am excited for the remake of DS1.

I'm kinda late on this one but you can actually change the laser pointer in the setting. In the (I think) video setting, you can change it from "center" to "classic".

The force gun is one of my favorite weapons in Dead Space 2-it’s great for keeping enemies at bay, quickly clearing hordes of weak critters, and is insanely powerful when fully upgraded.

I found your channel about a week ago and I've watched every one of your videos twice. You consistently put out quality content and your analysis on the given material is always well researched and well put. I'm proud of you son

The madman goes to Dead Space 2. Oh baby

Gotta say I fundamentally disagree with your analysis about DS2 as a horror game. "The illusion is broken because in ds2 you're constantly thinking about mechanics, health, ammo, etc" Uh....good. I don't think that detracts from horror at all. If anything it enhances it. You're more threatened, the game demands more of you, you're more on edge. Your view of horror as an illusion, something that can only be achieved if you make players forget they're playing a game. I almost believe the opposite is true. I think a game has the unique opportunity to force your engagement and that interaction increases intensity. Seems unnecessary to try and judge dead space 2 on labels. Good action game? Good horror game? Who cares about being one or the other. Whatever the fuck it does it does it well. It's a masterpiece and in my opinion even better than the first. I enjoy your stuff and think the video is good, just feels like you got hung up on an unimportant point and tried to put the game in a box.

I think an important point to remember is that a complete change in invironment is one of the bigger drivers of the action. Instead of a ship, we are on a massive space colony station.

Idk as someone who never really got scared from playing Dead Space 1, Dead Space 2 is just a overall more enjoyable time for me~ I'm still curious on what made the first one scary to so many people, even after watching your video on it. Now I'm not questioning that it isn't scary, so many people think it is so it's clearly a me thing lol, but I just wonder what it is and what I missed

Love these vids! Keep it up!

Fun fact about cysts, they in fact do not die immediately after shooting their explosive, they just are often positioned in a way that they'll kill themselves with their own explosive, after a bit of time though the live ones will "reload" And with the crawlers, it's also possible to kill them without detonation, with a headshot

Our son is the most underrated person on RU-vid… we need to get him some more moms n dads

I hope doing the games you love doesn't hurt you in the algorithm! Top notch content, and your hard work deserves comparative compensation!

Subbed to The channel after the first one of these, loving the second so far

hey kiddo, amasing job! really looking forward to the complete retrospective

Salt drops a DS vid. Now we got Son with a DS2 I picked a good day to go on RU-vid

Best RU-vidr right here, holy shit the way you’re churning these vids out 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

i not so fondly remember playing this game and you hit all the key points. there was a point in the midgame (can't remember which chapter) that i had soft locked myself. i had no ammo, couldn't backtrack, couldn't progress. had to reset and start a new file.

Your channel and content are top notch

32:48 There is an option you can toggle on to use the classic physical laser pointer style reticule rather than the center screen dot reticule the game defaults to. No one would’ve known about it unless they ran into it while configuring their controls in the options menu or were told about it so its still fair to nitpick detail I think

You can change the reticle to a dynamic one in the settings. Fantastic video!

Dead Space 2 was a step up in a lot of ways. A sequel that lived up to its potential. And yet... I would rather play the original. In reference to something that you said about Dead Space. I enjoyed the moments of gameplay that broke up the pacing, the asteroid gun and the debris-throwing alien. There were other moments that were more consistent in gameplay style but again broke up the pacing. The large set piece moments like the alien blocking the tunnel, the toxin necros in the greenhouse, realigning the dishes, dumping the radioactive cores and the beacon on the asteroid. The main one you mentioned was the two cannon sections.

This video is fantastic. Keep up the good work, son. I’m proud of you.

Another banger, son. Good stuff!

I never wanted to dislike so bad when you called dead space 2 an action game and didn’t mention the fact that its more horror than action

dead space 2 will always be my favorite rendition of the dead space series, from the environment of the newer cleaner ship to the set of weapons and suits available to us. the increased action focus isn't to the detriment of the horror atmosphere, to my tastes. this game is something very special, and the lack of controller support on pc for the steam version is truly saddening. the game was very much designed to be played with a controller, and you do feel that on the keyboard and mouse for sure. also, i totally forgot they tried to cover up the ishimura as a terrorist attack. that just makes me wonder though, did someone have to go through that whole ship and hose the place down? if you show me any given room of the ishimura, terrorist attack isn't quite what comes to mind.

Quick Fun Fact: you can shoot off basic enemies spiky arms and shoot it at them to save ammo and kill them very quickly. In this and the first vid I get the fealing that you do not know this, you have one more game to get trough, it works there too, try it, it's incredibly satisfying

Great video. I love this channel. But this is the video where I disagree the most. I understand your points, and yes, Dead Space 2 is an action horror game. But in all reality, so is the first Dead Space. The first game is a far cry from survival horror if we're getting into the extremist definition of the genre. But that doesn't change the fact that Dead Space is absolutely amazing. And sure, Dead Space 2 is a little more action heavy. But I didn't find it much less horror than the first game for two games that are, indeed, action horror games. Honestly, I love the first entry, but I think I like Dead Space 2 a tiny bit more. But, nonetheless, we're all going to have our own opinions. And you were very thorough in stating yours. Keep up the great work. Again, love the channel. Looking forward to the next one!

Stasis worked the same way in ds1. It was always an aoe used for combat mostly, as the number of puzzles that require it are counted on 1 hand. Brutes were also exactly the same. They have weak points on both shoulders, the back and the back of their legs. Attacking any of those a lot can amputate a leg/arm, slowing the brute down by a lot. I literally played ds1 ending today, and yep, the pods are there.

I can totally see why you feel Dead Space 2 is a devolution of the horror genre especially when compared to the first game however I do have to disagree. Horror is an incredibly complex set of genre's, not just a singular one. Examples would be how Alien isnt the same kind of horror as The Thing which also isnt the same as Oculus. Alien is atmospheric and monster horror, The Thing is paranoia and body horror and Oculus is psychological horror. None of the examples are "Bad" at being horror, just different approaches. Dead Space 1 went for an atmospheric horror mixed with a touch of body horror. Dead Space 2 leaned more towards the body horror and panic/stress horror genre's with a lot more graphic detail on the transformations, a faster pace making the necromorphs move even less human like and a much bigger emphasis on Survival Horror. Dead Space 2 wasnt a devolution in the horror genre, it just pivoted to panic horror which I personally feel it did really well. As for the point of always struggling with ammunition and health compared to the first game, that is quite literally the definition of a Survival Horror title. If you are never low on ammo, every encounter is just a matter of landing shots. If you are low on ammo, you need to make every shot count which increases the stress of the situation and forces players to be a lot more resourceful. On a side note: an issue developers need to be concerned about is if a game is too scary for the audience. Take Alien: Isolation as a good example; people loved it but no one outside of hardcore horror fans touched it themselves, only watching play-throughs and as such it initially sold disappointingly. It might sound backwards to make a horror game or movie less scary to be more enjoyable but if the audience is too scared, they will grow to hate that thing instead of enjoying the fear. For me personally, Dead Space 1 is a worse horror game than 2 not because its bad, but because its just TOO good at being atmospherically oppressive and as such it makes the entire experience too uncomfortable and unenjoyable compared to 2. The first game also had an abundance of ammo, health and everything else it could throw at you which made every encounter a breeze and as such the encounters themselves had no weight to them which conflicted with the masterful atmosphere and as such it destroyed a lot of the immersion for me. But yeah sorry for the massive rant, for the record I do love your vids and have watched quite a few, including all of your LoK retrospective and love them. It's just that part of the video that I had to disagree with as I am quite an avid horror fan myself. I suspect the reason it wasnt as scary for you is you just prefer Dread based horrors over Stress based horror but do correct me if I'm wrong!

That eye needle sequence has the most upsetting and amazing cinematic of you fail

2:40 18:50 I remeber this part to well... Kindergarden necromorfs ware horrifying, it stuck with me.

Awesome video, the Dead Space series was one of my faves growing up, and I'm eager to see how it'll be followed up in spirit by The Callisto Protocol in December. Glad you enjoyed the game, and while I do agree with you that Dead Space 2 places A LOT more emphasis on action compared to the first game, to say it's a bad horror game is also a bit of a reach imo. Horror can take many shapes, and in terms of Body Horror, Psychological Horror, and Existentialism, I would say 2 > 1. Dead Space 1 is definitely the scarier game, as it fills you with tension, a constant sense of dread, and it builds up actual scares , but I think in an effort to avoid retreading the same tropes, 2 looks towards other sources of inspiration for its horror, and focuses on more general horror concepts rather than the scares themselves. Personally I think your expectations for wanting something akin to the first game really tainted the second one for you, and honestly that's reasonable, but to claim it's a bad horror game because it doesn't focus on the aspect of horror you prefer is also going too far. Regardless though, that's kind of the magic of horror, different aspects affect people in many different ways, some things are more effective than others, and it's interesting to see different perspectives for the same piece of media :p looking forward to the rest of the series!

I mean...sure it's a bad horror game...if you keep not giving it credit for the aspects that are genuinely unsettling. The Nicole visions, new monster designs (visual, sound, and movement)/concepts, the fucking eyeball needle, the entire intro, the truly well crafted scares, and the "power outage/horde enters the government sector" set-piece are just a few of the terrifying things that I remember of the top of my head that stuck with me. I feel like "horror" as a genre just needs to present the reader/viewer/player/listener with ideas that unsettle them in some fashion and DS2 has that in spades. As for the action/horror balance, I think the game handled it very well as a continuation of Isaac's story from the first. The ending of DS1 had already turned things up to 11 and it wasn't like the nature of the outbreak was going to be a mystery to the player or Issac this time, so instead the emphasis of dealing with the Necromorphs leans into the survival side of things while his left-over trauma is the main focus of the horror. Issac is a card-carrying Necromorph exterminator by the end of the first game and that hasn't changed, but what really haunts him is his guilt and regret. I also just never found the transitions between the action and horror focus all that jarring. Oh and lastly I'll completely just admit my biases. I'm a sucker for cathartic/happy ending horror. I'm a total horror junkie, and love it in most every variety. That being said, having the protagonist/PC start off as helpless, for the most part just holding on for dear life, only to have them steadily concurring their internal and external fears, and by the end emerging a badass is really my jam and I basically see DS1&2 as a whole package in that vein. Also the feeling of the level of intensity the second game maintains was uncannily similar to the abuse that was my time working in retail, so getting to work through those feelings in this format was really something unforgettable. I get your trying to frame this as a clear progression of the "loss of horror" or "action-ification" of Dead Space through the trilogy (of course I could be wrong, and if so I apologize), but I just really don't think these games can be summed up so neatly. So...hard disagree, but it's whatever. You do you, man.

Hey kiddo, I’m sure you’ve already got plans for a series after Dead Space but I was wondering if you’re going to do any games I might have played when I was younger. The original Fallouts and System Shock were my favorites and I’m interested in what you think of them. Either way, keep up the good work. I’m really proud of you son.

you truly are my YourFavoriteSon

33:35 you can actually turn on the classic aiming method in the settings, at least on pc

such good narration

I love both Alien and Aliens, for obvious yet distinct reasons - but only one of those two films is capable of whipping up a hurricane of foreboding, panic and utter shock within the walls of my skull 😳

OMG the ripper is ideal for dealing with the those litter swarmers. When I did my hardcore run 3000 years ago. I just used the plasma cutter and ripper to make sure I had enough ammo for each

I like to think of Dead Space 2 as if it is like Aliens, the sequel to Alien. Where the horror gets behind and the feeling is more chaotic than scary.

Top quality video.. proud of you son 😊

Simply one of the best horror games ever made

I really appreciate that you were willing to be critical of this game, and open about the fact that you think it didnt live up to the expectations it and the first game hD set you up with! Personally i think Dead Space 2 executes its horror excellently, just in a much different way than the first does. In my view, its like if Dead Space 1 is more slow burn horror, like a broad-strokes oil painting, Dead Space 2 lights the bottom of the painting on fire and tells the subject to run to the top before the flames engulf them. Its frantic and caustic and massive in scope of setting. If i had to give it a prefix, i think id deem it "meltdown horror"

The voice for this channel just hits different very awesome

Horror, coitus and tOOL : the crescendo's best friend

Good vid lad

Dead Space 2 is consistently in my top 5 games ever. I think it's perfect.

"Almost like a small Velociraptor" I don't remember Stalkers being smaller than a turkey.

Since I'm not really one to find videogames scary like that, I really liked the shift in Dead Space 2. The deeper story and kind of "grim space adventure" vibe is something I really like. More like Warhammer 40k, it's dark and brutal but not scary. I like that, I wish more things fulfilled that niche.

Great stuff, thankyou! Personally i found the fully upgraded Force Gun my go to weapon after the Plasma Cutter. Force Gun was almost OP when fully upgraded, felt like cheating but hey it was there. Fully upgraded Pulse Rifle for ranged attacks was more than sufficient. Loved Dead Space II and i agree it was more action than horror but i see it as Aliens compared to Alien. It would be hard to maintain the horror when having played the original Dead Space you kinda know the score, so it's not as scary/creepy anymore. Therefore ramp up the action.

i like how you try not to say Vent instead saying "maintenance hatch". The Struggle is real

You can change the reticle in the options menu to it's original style. I always change it.

I genuinely think think that horror does eventually mould into action. If you follow the same protagonist and look at the horrors he's been through, those same horrors won't have the same effect. The protagonist will be more prepared for to fight back against those horrors. The best example of this is Alien and Aliens...

Howard Phillips is the HP in HP Lovecraft. It's a horror reference, though there's not really anything lovecraftian about the dead space franchise

Fun fact Steve Papoutsis played bass in my teenage years favourite band No Use For A Name

Just to clear this up on the direction of the game’s development, it was EA that insisted that the franchise go in a more action oriented route not Visceral themselves. The market at the time was nothing but action games. Visceral wanted to go deeper into the psychological horror aspect of the series in this game and even in dead space 3. But since they had to answer to EA they had to try and strike a balance between both and in my opinion they nailed it. Dead Space 2 has great bombastic and tense action sequences that are capable of going head to head with the early uncharted series. As well as a fantastic atmosphere of dred and horror. In fact more than the first in the psychological aspect. As for cheap jump scares or enemy placement I personally enjoy the tense and slow moments where I had to keep my eyes and ears open. It didn’t feel cheap to me it just meant I had to pay more attention which is crucial for survival horror.

Woo! Every time you post you make my week, son. Hope that you're staying healthy & happy!