Dead Space (2008)

Genuinely the only horror game that I played all throughout and enjoyed cuz of how well made it is.

Might be my favorite survival horror franchise ever. Dead Space is an incredible game and it's sequel Dead Space 2 seemingly improves on it in every way. They are classics in my opinion and absolutely worth your time.

i love this game but i am not able to play it, physics glitching, textures glitching, mouse is glitching

Iconic horror game, scary and unsuspecting at all times

S tier monster shooter, has minor technical issues but those are very easily remedied. The lack of achievements and DLC that was never released to PC is disappointing as it makes the game feel incomplete compared to the console version. Played easy my first run and impossible mode my second play through. I recommend playing hard-normal for your first game and doing new game+ on impossible mode as it will make your runs and encounters feel more rewarding.

Go to work, fix the ship, get traumatised by space zombies and develop schizophrenia. Not exactly what I had in mind when I said i wanted to be an engineer

A Fight For Survival In Space

A massive deep-space mining ship goes dark after unearthing a strange artifact on a distant planet. Engineer Isaac Clarke embarks on the repair mission, only to uncover a nightmarish bloodbath. The ship's crew was horribly slaughtered and infected by an alien scourge. Now Isaac is cut off, trapped, and engaged in a desperate fight for survival.

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[table]
[tr]
[th]About[/th]
[th]Description[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]💾Graphics[/td]
[td]Dead Space is so impressive visually speaking, for a 2008 title. The atmosphere is haunting, and the amount of detail in each location is really good. There is a lot of environmental storytelling here. This ship feels haunted with how dark this atmosphere is. You can feel the dread, you can see the panic and destruction around you in every corner. The lighting is also pretty good. I also really like the UI system. The 3D design is so wicked. The overall UI design is so futuristic and pretty unique, especially the 3D map in real time. A great visual experience for its time. It’s scary, atmospheric, and makes you really feel like you are on that ship.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🎮Gameplay[/td]
[td]The gameplay look is Survival Horror, so if that’s one of your favorite genres, then you will be at home! Ammo conservation, item management, and item storing is a big part of the experience. You can also find currency and sell items to make more money. The money is used to buy weapons, suits upgrades, ammo and health at the stores around the map. I feel like Dead Space has a ton of influence from Resident Evil 4, and that's a good thing. It still feels different, but the similarities are there. You can also upgrade your weapons in the game to make them stronger, have higher ammo capacity, and more! The levels are linier, but well designed. It’s claustrophobic and you do experience some cool Zero G moments in the game. It’s kinda clunky, but still cool to go through. The weapons in this game are really fun. You have weapons that cut through limbs, machine guns, force type weapons, and more! It’s a healthy amount of variety in my opinion. You also have some cool abilities, like slo-mo and a force ability you can use to push objects. It adds such a good layer to the combat and allows you to strategize your fights. The gameplay is just a blast. Melee combat sucks, but that’s about it in terms of negatives.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]📜Story[/td]
[td]The story is really good! I didn’t care much about the "finding your wife” side plot, as it felt kinda like an afterthought. I think the main reason is because the main protagonist is silent. It’s hard to get any emotion from him, if any at all, well not until the end. I know the remake has him voiced, which is good. I do wish he was voiced in this game since it would add a layer of storytelling and character to the protagonist. The main plot was great! It was intense, engaging, and scary. It gives you a sense of helplessness and I will tell you, it was super effective. It’s not a deep story, but overall a good one. The side characters are also good in this game.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🕛Playtime[/td]
[td]The main story was around 12+ hours long. You do have a New Game+ as well. You also have some unlockables after beating the game which is nice to see.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🎧Sound[/td]
[td]Incredible sound design! The ambiance is just terrifying. Hearing people screaming in the background, objects falling around you does make you a bit paranoid. Even the ship's mechanical sounds are creepy. The voice acting in this game is fantastic! Superb performance from everyone. It was believable and really well done. The monster also make some freaking unsettling noises which is cool![/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]❗Bugs❗[/td]
[td]This game has bugs, and some bad ones. For example, controller support is bad. You have so much deadzone on the sticks, that it feels incredibly clunky. The mouse also feels awkward and not smooth. Luckily, there is a fix for the mouse support! Go to Nexus Mods and type “Mouse and Controls Fix” There is a video I will also link that will guide you on how to install it, plus some other fixes, like the game breaking high refresh rate crashes. Link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1SMSc3Xjmc. If you are having any crashes, it’s most likely your high refresh rate (hz). Now I was playing on 300hz and the game was locked at 150 fps, and at the turret fight, my game would always crash. How I fixed it, was simply playing on the 60 hz, beat the boss then saved the game. I then went back to 300 hz and had no crashes after that. It was only that one part of the game I had crashes, so do keep this in mind. That video link I posted should help with the hz issue, if not, then just do what I did.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🔅Performance[/td]
[td]Besides the bugs this game has, the performance is incredible. On 1080p, I was able to get a locked 150 fps with zero slow downs or stutters. The game runs perfectly, even on modern hardware.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]✔️Pro’s[/td]
[td]

• Solid story
  
• New game+
  
• Deaths are brutal
  
• Great optimization
  
• Scary atmosphere
  
• Terrifying sound design
  
• Enemies look horrifying
  
• Cool UI inventory design
  
• Item/Resource management
  
• Item shop in different locations to buy weapons, ammo, etc
  

[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]❌Con’s[/td]
[td]

• Mouse controls are horrible (Mod fixes this issue)
  
• Controller support is not good (Too much deadzone)
  
• No mouse support to navigate through inventory/store
  
• High refresh rate issues (Fix is in video I linked in bugs section)
  

[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🏆Rating[/td]
[td]8/10
This game is worth full price if you want to support the devs, if not, then you can get this game on sale pretty frequently.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🔗Conclusion[/td]
[td]Dead Space is a gem! I don’t know why it took so long for me to play this game since I’m a Survival Horror fan. It’s scary, intense, haunting, and a memorable experience. The original still holds up strong! This game is a must play for any horror fans or even Sci-Fi Fans! So happy I finally got to experience this game. You will not be disappointed.[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/17470/Dead_Space_2008/

Links to help you in Dead Space (2008):

1. Cheater's Guide To : Dead Space & More
   
2. Dead Space Weapons Guide - Best to Worst Weapons
   

Specs for Review:

• GPU: RTX 3080 (Laptop GPU)
  
• CPU: Intel Core i7-11800H 4.6 GHz
  
[*]RAM: 32GB Ram

Other that the sensitivity and v-sync issue, this game is really good. While the story may be lacking for some, the gameplay is the real seller, tense but fun, Once you see all the possible places that the necromorphs can come out, it gets pretty terrifying for a while.

Isaac fix this, Isaac fix that, who is going to fix Isaac's heart :(

First of all, let me talk about negatives because there are really not much negative about this game. Only thing that bothered me was controls, they require a fix and there are not trustable one. I used another app to lock fps and disabled v-sync, kinda messed with sensitivity but worked in game for 2k and 144fps.

About positives, I am flabbergasted. This game is from 2008? It really did not felt like it was that old. Graphics are still holding somehow. Gameplay is really creative and I even don't see this much creativity in newer titles. They used environment so well. Here I am thinking that this is a boring survival horror game then suddenly I have to do some parkour and puzzle in a zero gravity area. Weapons are lovely and I am so happy that they left what to use for us. There are two tools outside weapons too. I also liked the store and upgrading systems. Like I had to make some economical decisions to survive further.

Level design is also really great. I think it is a great example for a survival horror game. Enemy placement was smart and enemies too. It kept me on my toes since I knew I also had to shoot carefully, to defend myself and save ammo too. I mean lower difficulties really choke you on ammo but you can go for harder difficulties. This game gave me the chills and paranoia, I did not get directly scared since there is not much cheap jumpscares in the game.

I also loved the character we play. I also want to compare this to newer titles. At least in my experience our character usually is a super hero comparing to others or a low-life that get bossed around. Isaac is not like that. He is just working. You can understand from his body language that he is paranoid. You clearly see that he does whatever he has in his hands just to survive further and complete the mission. There is really a weight to his character despite him not speaking once.

To be honest, I did not expect much from a game this old but I found myself really wrong. I enjoyed it a lot and had one of the best experiences of survival horror genre. I might even prefer this game to newer Resident Evil games, comparing to this game they feel so bland. There are enough enviromental obstacles, enough enemies, enough weapon choices to keep this game creative. Also a well designed map makes it complete. I bought this game long ago with a really cheap price and did not want to buy the remake in current, still had an amazing time. Go for this game absolutely if you crave some single-player shooter game with survival-horrror aspects.

I don't know how this game was received back then, I wrote this review completely based on today with no previous knowledge about this series.

Old game but still really good and I had lots of fun.

Overall game is good like you feel the adrenaline like a brash teenager looking for a way out of the madness.
The only flaw in Dead Space (2008) is that you can't change PC controls for some reason.
Also there's a glitch in chapter 2 when you first encounter the bat necromorph you can collect as many nodes and credits from that glitch just don't save till you're done collecting enough for upgrading your gear.

scared the shit out me more times than i care to count and it wasnt all necromorphs

It is hard to review this game. I'm on level 7, and this game is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY longer than I thought it'd be. I read the average completion time is 9 hours to beat. Over 10 hours in and still a LONG way from the end. This game is clearly influenced by the movie "Alien" story wise. It's a very anxiety filled game with brief but very intense combat sections and very grim and dark horror factors. Avoid if you have heart problems (lol). My biggest complaint with this game is the anti-gravity levels. I love almost every other thing about this game expect for the anti-gravity levels. For me, they just take the game to a screeching halt and honestly discourage me from playing the game. I wish there was some way to just skip them.

Best Horror Game. I needed a friend to help me complete it :D it was so damn scary :P

Better character design compared to the WOKE remake they really don't make games like this anymore another thing i noticed they ruined the necromorphs encounters with cinematic ones instead of gameplay in the Remake. EA wants you focused on visuals while pushing EAs agendas. I highly recommend this version over the new one it's way better!

Necromorphs looks and sounds like my ex-wife 10/10 would curb stomp again.

Best in the series. I include the remake in that statement. Fight me.

Although not a timeless classic, it is a classic non the less. The story is well written and through the game you are going to be followed by a creeping feeling of panic, which is important for a horror game. Although the game isn't perfect since the environments you are going through are a tad bit too samey and the game is a bit too easy on the normal difficulty, it's still a really good buy and a fun 7-8 hours for any horror lover.

great game great story but hard mode just give you a middle finger on ammo

I feel, that love is in the air.
This game feels like a child of DOOM 3 and [PROTOTYPE], and it is amazing.

Really enjoyed, holds up surprisingly well to modern sensibilities. Be sure to set the frame rate to 30 fps (via Nvidia assist) to minimize bugs.

Horror classic fondly remembered, and for a good reason. The perfect blend of combat and atmosphere. The weapons are punchy enough to feel potent, but the enemies are scary and strong enough to feel like a threat at all levels of the game. The Statis and telekentic mechanics are fun. Only downside is the Zero-G segments get pretty motion-sickness inducing but they are thankfully few and short.

A classic survival horror game, loved every second of it!
Gameplay, story telling, visual effects, sound effects, UI design are all on point.
It's a great game, it's Dead Space.

Absolute classic so many years later, decided to play before hitting the remake and still makes me wish we saw more from this franchise. The only major bug ive seen was in the beginning section when you obtain the plasma cutter, the necromorph wouldnt appear until Vsync was turned on but other than that it ran just fine.

Finally played it, beat it and I loved every horrifying minute of it. <3

This is a very good survival horror game, the enemies are terrifying, the story is interesting and the weapons are awesome, if you can, please get not only this game, but Dead Space 2 as well, if you really feel you have to complete the trilogy then Dead Space 3, otherwise i'd recommend Dead Space 2008 (or 2023 if you have a beefy PC.) and Dead Space 2, 3 is a certified maybe.

messed with the setting's, then played for a while then turned the game off, went to go play it again. It won't even get the the selection menu it'll just crash. waste of money. better to get a ps3 or xbox and play it on that.

Dead Space is a masterpiece of survival horror, setting a gold standard for the genre and leaving an indelible mark on gaming history.
This spine-chilling title expertly combines atmospheric storytelling, innovative gameplay, and nerve-wracking tension to deliver an unforgettable experience!
The storytelling is masterfully subtle, unfolding through audio logs, environmental details, and Isaac’s growing desperation.
Gameplay is where Dead Space truly shines...
The innovative "strategic dismemberment" mechanic forces you to rethink traditional shooter tactics.
Simply aiming for the head won’t cut it here; you need to sever limbs and incapacitate enemies in creative ways, which adds a layer of strategic depth to every encounter.
The weaponry, especially the iconic Plasma Cutter, feels satisfying and perfectly suited for the grim task at hand.
The immersive presentation elevates Dead Space to another level.
The HUD, integrated seamlessly into Isaac’s suit, is a stroke of genius that enhances immersion and keeps you grounded in the game world.
The haunting sound design deserves special praise, with eerie whispers, distant clanging, and the Necromorphs' guttural screeches creating an atmosphere of constant dread.
The visuals, even today, hold up remarkably well, with the Ishimura’s dark, oppressive corridors dripping with detail and oozing with atmosphere.
Dead Space is relentless in its ability to unsettle...
The pacing is immaculate, alternating between moments of high-intensity action and quieter, more psychological horror.
The jump scares are earned and effective, complemented by an overarching sense of dread that keeps you on edge throughout the game.
Isaac Clarke himself, initially a silent protagonist, becomes a relatable and compelling figure as the game progresses.
His vulnerability, coupled with the weight of his personal struggles, adds an emotional layer to the horror, making his journey all the more gripping.
Dead Space is not just a game, it’s an experience!
Its ability to terrify and captivate in equal measure ensures its place among the all-time greats of the horror genre.
If you’re a fan of survival horror and haven’t ventured into the Ishimura yet, you’re missing out on a seminal experience!
Dead Space is a must-play, and its legacy as one of the finest horror games ever made remains unshaken.

Its Dead Space! Do I need to tell you how amazing this game is! You already know that! JUST PLAY THE GAME!

Classic game that broke what was a horror game at the time. great game even still to this day

An old classic and a must play - but, if you haven't done Dead Space before, I HIGHLY recommend buying the 2023 Dead Space remake instead. The remake basically takes everything great about the original, updates it for our era, and also addresses many old bugs and "jankiness" endemic to a game of this age.

Even playing this game for the first time, 16 years after its initial release, it carries well in today's horror game genre. It blends the horror of Resident Evil with the shooter theme of games like Half Life in an interesting way. Haven't played any other ports in this series, but this game has me intrigued at giving them a go sometime.

You should do these two things before playing the game on PC with mouse and keyboard:
1) Don't use the game's vsync feature and use vsync via your graphics driver. The game's own vsync caps the fps to 30 and makes it very unpleasant.
2) Download the Dead Space mouse fix fan patch. The mouse aiming is normally dreadfully bad and this patch makes it perfect.

Those two easily fixable issues aside, this game is so fantastic. I'm not all that familiar with horror games, and I don't think this game is scary in the slightest, but every other aspect of it is top notch.

First, the gameplay. It's absolutely perfect. You have to shoot the Necromorphs' limbs to kill them, then stomp on them to make sure they are dead. The shooting is impactful, satisfying, requires precision and the gore is really good too. There's a lot of weapons that can be bought from the store, though I only used the Plasma Cutter and the Pulse Rifle, both of which were enough.

You have some tools like Stasis and Kinesis, though they are used more often for puzzles than combat. Stasis is used to slow down fast object/enemies, and Kinesis allows you to move objects and throw smaller ones at enemies. These tools make the puzzle sections fun, and though I didn't use them much in combat they were useful in that regard too.

There's a lot of Necromorph types with distinct behaviors. Slashers are the most common ones and are easy to kill, Swarmers constantly leap at you and can be annoying to deal with, Pregnants spawn more enemies if you shoot their belly, and the Exploders might be my favourite type of Necromorph. You can shoot down the explosive they carry to kill them and other enemies around them, and the explosion is glorious. Every now and then there's also the Brute, a miniboss that is very dangerous and makes you want to use Stasis on it to make it more easily manageable.

The presentation of the game is really good too. The graphics on a basic standpoint look good, and the ship has a lot of dark areas and areas filled with fleshy walls that are kinda gross. The most interesting part of the game is the HUD. Instead of it being a typical HUD, it's very different. The player's health and stasis are shown on the back of the suit, video screens are shown in front of Isaac and move with him as he moves etc. It's very innovative.

There's the Zero-Gravity areas which are creative, with you being able to jump from one distant location to another, and enemies like Leapers attack from every direction in those areas. I find them to be some of the most fun parts of the game.

Levels also have parts where you are outside the ship and need oxygen to survive, which gives a sense of tension. Enemies often appear and you want to kill them quickly so you can leave the areas before your oxygen becomes dangerously low. Isaac's exhausted breathing and a lot of things being quiet makes it quite tense.

Enemies and ammo crates give you resources you need, like ammo and weapons, and you can also buy said resources from the shop. There's items that have the sole purpose of giving you more money when you sell them, making you want to look for them. The most important things to buy in the shop are suit upgrades and power nodes. Suit upgrades allow you to carry much more resources, and you can use power nodes for things like increasing your health, making weapons deal more damage and take less time to reload etc. Power nodes also appear in many locations, so it's good to look for them.

The story is... alright. Isaac tries to find his girlfriend over the course of the game, and the other few survivors like Hammond help him. I didn't find any of the characters all that interesting, and Isaac has Gordon Freeman personality. The twist at the end of the game was cool though, and the ending... had something sudden happen out of nowhere.

Boss fights are fun, but they are on the easier side. All of the bosses require you to shoot at yellow parts of their bodies to kill dismember them, and they all can be killed without much trouble. I'd say the hardest boss was the Slug, and that was mainly due to the bad turret controls.

As I said, I find the game to be very lacking in the horror department. It's atmospheric, but not really scary. The game sometimes uses jumpscares that aren't even shocking, and I also didn't find the violent death scenes to be that disturbing.

Conclusion

Dead Space 1 might be one of the best games I have played in a long time. Lackluster horror and kinda bad story aside, the game is amazing in every aspect. Combat is great, graphics are great and level design is great. The game is outright a masterpiece in my eyes and I recommend it.

9.5/10

I totally recommend this on other consoles. Due to issues with the PC Version. Specifically is a lot of issues happened during Chapter 5 where you can't progress. Sadly you may have to restart.

While I do love the atmosphere, the story, etc, it can get really annoying with the standby door glitches despite me doing everything correctly. Other than that, it's a good game.

An iconic classic still fun today, 7.5/10 at its worst.

This is a critical review looking back at a game from 2008 and how it plays today on PC. The weapon balancing seemed off, I ditched the plasma cutter early on which clearly was never thought about. My game became soft locked as the ripper couldn't kill the tentacle drag pull or the leviathan so had to run back to buy the contact beam (note this is on impossible but max upgrades).

Odd design decisions that left me scratching my head. Had a node locked door not returnable but no store or node pickups in that section. I used stasis on a moving object that kills you instantly for it to have no effect (turns out you have to go out into space to complete the objective) just short sighted stuff.

I liked the forgiving checkpoint system as it made death not painful and pushed the player to inch further ahead, you could always give it another try. As the game is dated, the keybind options for me were poor. A known issue where I had to enable vsync and lower my frames to get through one door at the beginning. Also I fell through the map at one point when using a lift, so the game does lack some polish.

Honestly there is so much to love in this game including your death animations. It hasn't aged the best but is playable provided some tweaks here and there and a little patience. When it works it works great and you can quickly forget that this game came out in 2008. This game does a lot right just age catching up to it.

Great Game, great graphics, storyline, experience and more stuff... Worth every penny spent.
If ever you have low fps, just disable V-Sync.. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The horror and suspense of this game built a franchise.

P.S. 100x scarier when you share the main characters name.

I'm kind of disappointed with Dead Space, honestly. Now, it is not a bad game, first and foremost, it's just I went in with high expectations, and it simply did not quite fulfill them. I thought "The political intrigue and character motivations of Ridley Scott's 'Alien', coupled with the psychological and body horror of John Carpenter's 'The Thing'? This must be one of the best horror games ever!" How naive of me.

Body horror has never quite been my cup of tea. I do not directly associate blood and gore with fear or even 'unsettling-ness'. To me, the more viscera you pump into your game does not make it scarier, it only makes it a bit more gross, and over doing it makes graphic deaths lack impact as the audience grows accustomed to the gore.

Jumpscares are a topic I touch on with every horror game and movie I play or watch. They rarely startle me passed the first few, and even when they do, the instant shock passes very quickly, not leaving any lasting impression.

The story is forgetful, and shallow. I cannot remember a single character's name beyond Isaac and Nicole, nor can I recall major plot points. Characters, regardless of their importance to the story, drop like flies, as such it felt useless to become attached to any in any way.

The core story-gameplay loop got tiresome. "Isaac, this part needs fixing!" You go to fix it, fighting monsters along the way. "Good work Isaac! Ah, damn it, now this other thing needs fixing, go fix it!" Rinse and repeat for 12 chapters, some reusing the same levels you already cleared once before.

If I were to give my own two cents: Watch Alien and The Thing instead. They tell better stories in shorter time frames with great pacing and memorable characters. Now, if you enjoyed both and desire more, then Dead Space is an ok place to continue.

I give Dead Space (2008):

7 Power Nodes out of 10

The more I play and watch horror content, the more I realize maybe the genre simply isn't for me. I find most shallow, and not very scary at all, really. This game might've gotten me with a jumpscare once in the entire 8 hours of playtime.

P.S. - Jumpscares are loud, like REALLY loud. Do your ears a favor, and play at lower volume, lest you be ear-graped (minus the g)

great game decent story line gun play is fairly basic the 3rd person view at the time was definitely interesting but for 2008 this game is pretty solid

If you like RE4 and ripping limbs off of alien zombies, then you may enjoy this game.
Darker than the time I spent with a homeless guy in the mens room of the Chicken Treat in Daglesh
Its a shame the others aren't as great... and they made that remake for a game with a simple fix to run smoothly.
there were some bugs

I find disheartening that the new remakes are worse than their respective originals in anything but graphics .

Don't bother buying the 2023 remake , apart for achievements and barely graphics , everything is better in the original.

One of the best games ever made, it's really an incredible experience from start to finish!

Good story, pacing, and game play. Got it on sale but its worth the full price.

It's a classic, you better play this game. Don't use anything but the default pistol.

Controls were not that great from the porting but still loved the game when it came out and today

designs were sick, gameplay was alright, dont play it on a keyboard like i did. not that scary at all though

The game's alright, but it wasn't spooky or atmospheric to me.

Dead Space is a sci-fi horror masterpiece, to put it short, it's a foundational work in the genre. The artwork is disgustingly delightful, the sound design is exemplary, the gameplay can be fast-paced when it needs but is also conducive to slower pacing for more effective tension-building; this game has it all. The story kept me engaged and retained a consistent amount of tension throughout, and the combat is incredibly satisfying. Honestly the plasma cutter, your first weapon, might be my favorite in the game. It's super fun cutting the necromorphs apart limb from limb. If for whatever reason you're a sci-fi horror fan and you still haven't played this game, you need to fix that immediately. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Except on the visuals, this game is far superior than the remake in every other aspect!

If you are looking for the true master piece of survival horror, this is the one, the remake is infected with DEI propaganda,