Dead Space 2 Limited Edition

Overview

Dead Space 2 is a 2011 survival horror game developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3, Windows and Xbox 360. It is the second main game in the Dead Space series. It is set on the Titan-based Sprawl space station and follows Isaac Clarke as he fights an outbreak of Necromorphs while dealing with mental illness brought on by the alien Markers. The game also has a competitive multiplayer mode.

You play from a third-person view through a level-based campaign, solving puzzles, finding resources and fighting Necromorphs. Saving is manual at crafting stations and automatic at checkpoints, and New Game Plus carries over your items. There are four difficulties at the start, Casual, Normal, Survivalist and Zealot, and a fifth, Hard Core, unlocks after a first run. Hard Core restarts you from your last save on each death and allows only three saves across the campaign.

As in the first game, the interface is shown as holograms in the world. Isaac can stomp and melee, and uses Kinesis to move objects, including Necromorph limbs as makeshift projectiles, and Stasis to slow enemies. The multiplayer mode, called Outbreak, has teams of four playing either the Sprawl's security forces or four types of Necromorph.

Pre-production began in 2008, right after the first game. The story looks at Isaac's deteriorating mental state, with nursery rhymes used as motifs for his visions. The gameplay was changed based on player feedback, made faster-paced and given more overt action. Multiplayer was added as a separate mode because of fan feedback and requests from Electronic Arts. Production took roughly two and a half years.

The game came out in North America on January 25, 2011, in Australia on January 27 and in Europe on January 28. The German release slipped to February because local rating laws required the friendly fire option to be removed. Alongside the standard edition there was a limited Collector's Edition with a soundtrack CD, a Unitology-themed armour and weapon set and concept art lithographs. A port of Dead Space: Extraction came free with the PS3 Collector's Edition and with standard first prints, and was also released on PlayStation Network.

Three paid armour and weapon packs, Hazard, Martial Law and Supernova, came out on January 27. The story DLC Severed arrived on March 1 for the console versions only. A final free update added multiplayer maps on May 24.

Reviews were generally favourable, with the Xbox 360 version receiving universal acclaim. Critics praised the atmosphere and design and many called it an improvement on the original. Electronic Arts said it shipped nearly 2 million units in its first week. A developer later said it sold about four million copies worldwide, which the publisher still considered a commercial disappointment given the budget.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Survival horror

Developer

Visceral Games

Publisher

Electronic Arts

Series

Dead Space

Composers

Jason Graves

Designers

John Calhoun, Jatin Patel

Writers

Jeremy Bernstein

Producers

David Woldman

Directors

Wright Bagwell

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

8 players (4 against 4)

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Trophies

Trophies59

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

3

Silver

8

Bronze

47

Total

59

Points

1515

Platinum time

40 hours

Difficulty

8 out of 10

Playthroughs for platinum

2

New Game Plus

Yes. Community plans use a New Game Plus run for the weapon and upgrade trophies.

Platinum without online

Yes

Online trophies

0

DLC has trophies

Yes

DLC note

Severed has its own trophies, about 3 hours over two runs (PSNProfiles).

Trophy list shared with other versions

Yes

Other versions

Same Dead Space 2 trophy list as the standard release. The Limited Edition disc also carries Dead Space Extraction with its own trophy support and PlayStation Move play.

Missable trophies

• Lightspeed de Milo
• Elevator Action
• Collect Peng
• Vacuum Cleaner

• The Final Frontier Earn all Trophies in Dead Space™ 2 Platinum 6.3% of players
• Patient on the Loose Get your first Suit Bronze 86.32% of players
• Derailed Survive the Train Sequence Bronze 81.36% of players
• One Small Step Get through the first Zero-G area Bronze 78.58% of players
• Clever Girls Survive your first encounter with Stalkers Bronze 74.42% of players
• Torment Me No More Kill the Tormenter Bronze 71.93% of players
• The Graduate Win the fight at the School Bronze 67.16% of players
• Elevator Action Knock off every Tripod during the Elevator Sequence Bronze 15.53% of players
• Shut Down Defeat the AI Bronze 65.11% of players
• Powered Up Complete the Solar Array Puzzle Bronze 64.14% of players
• Hornet's Nest Destroy the Tripod Nest Bronze 60.29% of players
• Operation! Snare the Shard with the Ishimura Bronze 58.07% of players
• Knock Knock Complete the Drill Ride Bronze 56.84% of players
• The Final Sacrifice Destroy the Marker Bronze 53.29% of players
• The Fugitive Escape the Facility Gold 53.27% of players
• Cross your Heart, Hope to Die Survive the Eye Poke Machine Bronze 55.8% of players
• Made Us Whole Complete the game on any difficulty setting Bronze 53.26% of players
• Mission Impossible Complete the game on Zealot setting Gold 14.55% of players
• Romper Stomper Stomp 10 Containers Bronze 76.79% of players
• Vacuum Cleaner Decompress 20 Necromorphs without getting sucked out yourself Bronze 15.61% of players
• ...And Stay Down Kill 25 crawling enemies with Stomp (single player only) Bronze 30.18% of players
• Think Fast Kill 30 Necromorphs with Kinesis objects Bronze 25.45% of players
• The Nanny Kill 30 Crawlers without detonating them Bronze 18.81% of players
• Frozen in Time Kill 50 Necromorphs while they are in Stasis (single player only) Bronze 42.29% of players
• First Aid Use Quick Heal ten times (single player only) Bronze 80.02% of players
• Epic Dismemberment Dismember 2,500 Necromorph Limbs (single player only) Silver 23.53% of players
• Looking good Purchase the Advanced Suit Bronze 55.61% of players
• Fully Outfitted Upgrade your RIG and Stasis completely Bronze 32.65% of players
• Picking favorites Upgrade 1 Weapon completely Bronze 41.99% of players
• Fully Loaded Simultaneously have four completely upgraded weapons Bronze 20.24% of players
• The Sampler Platter Kill a Necromorph with every Weapon in the game (single player only). Bronze 19.76% of players
• Lightspeed de Milo Dismember the Lightspeed Boy Statue Bronze 33.34% of players
• Collect Peng Find the Peng treasure Silver 33.37% of players
• The Librarian Collect 100 logs Bronze 57.36% of players
• The Electrician Collect 10 Semiconductors Silver 60.75% of players
• The Engineer Collect 10 Schematics Silver 61.31% of players
• My Boom Stick Kill 6 enemies at once with Line Gun's Alt-Fire (single player only) Bronze 21.68% of players
• Shock Therapy Impale an enemy with the Javelin Gun and use its Alt-Fire to shock 3 others (single player only) Bronze 28.92% of players
• Lawnmower Man Kill 4 enemies with the same Ripper blade Bronze 30.92% of players
• It's a Trap! Kill 20 enemies with Detonator Mines in a deployed state Bronze 24.02% of players
• Necro Flambé Kill 50 enemies using the Flamethrower Bronze 22.93% of players
• Peek a Boo! Kill a Stalker with the Seeker Rifle while in Zoom Mode Bronze 28.48% of players
• C-Section Knock down an enemy with Contact Beam Alt-Fire then kill it with Primary Fire before it stands up Bronze 23.08% of players
• Going for Distance Impale an enemy and make him fly through the air for 17 meters - it must stick to the surface Bronze 42.08% of players
• Taste of your own Medicine TK Impale a live Slasher to a surface using a Slasher's arm - it must stick to the surface Bronze 53.68% of players
• Skewered in Space Impale an enemy into a Decompression Window to cause it to blow out Bronze 22.42% of players
• Hard to the Core Complete the game on Hard Core setting Gold 6.52% of players
• Clean Cut Sever all three tentacles of a Lurker with one Line Gun Primary Fire shot (single player only) Bronze 34.15% of players
• Brute Juke Kill a Brute without taking damage Bronze 51.07% of players
• Shoot the Limbs! Dismember 25 Necromorph Limbs (single player only) Bronze 90.23% of players
• Bouncing Betty Kill a Cyst by catching its Mine and throwing it back Bronze 31.36% of players
• The Betrayal Severed: Complete Chapter 1 Silver 31.1% of players
• The Sacrifice Severed: Complete Chapter 2 Silver 29.93% of players
• Ship Shape Severed: Take out the gunship within 30 seconds Silver 19.48% of players
• The Veteran Severed: Complete on Zealot difficulty Silver 16.17% of players
• Remember the Alamo Severed: Kill 16 or more enemies in the final last stand combat sequence Bronze 23.35% of players
• Peng Me Again Severed: Find the Peng treasure in Severed Bronze 25.5% of players
• King of the Hill Severed: Defend the quarry platform until the door unlocks Bronze 21.29% of players
• Grind House Severed: In the grinder room, cause an enemy to die in the grinders Bronze 18.11% of players

Space and patches

Update patch01.02

These are the patches Sony still hosts for this disc ID. The game's real history can be longer.

DLC

Three paid armour and weapon packs, the Severed story episode and free multiplayer maps were released in 2011.

Items

Name	Date	Adds
Hazard, Martial Law and Supernova packs	2011-01-27	A themed armour and weapon set in each pack
Dead Space 2: Severed	2011-03-01	Story episode with Gabe Weller, console versions only
Free multiplayer maps	2011-05-24	Maps based on areas of the main game

Playable today

Online

Online servers runningNo

EA ended the multiplayer servers for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions in December 2023.

Services

Service	Status	Shutdown date
Multiplayer (Outbreak)	ended	2023-12-08

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	PS3	89	100
Metacritic	Xbox 360	90	100
Metacritic	PC	87	100
Metacritic	PS3 (Severed DLC)	65	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale	Platform
IGN	9	10	PS3
GameSpot	9	10	PS3
Eurogamer	9	10	PS3
Edge	9	10	PS3

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Wright Bagwell
Producer	David Woldman
Designer	John Calhoun
Designer	Jatin Patel
Programmer	Steve Timson
Artist	Ian Milham
Writer	Jeremy Bernstein
Composer	Jason Graves

Notes for collectors

• Dead Space: Extraction came free on the PS3 Collector's Edition and on standard first prints, with an Extraction Rivet Gun as an in-game weapon.
• The German version was delayed into February 2011 and had the friendly fire option removed to meet rating law.
• A Dead Space save file unlocks the original Plasma Cutter as an early bonus weapon.
• Severed was never released on PC.
• A Wii version was in production and cancelled in 2011.
• The list on PS3 has 59 trophies, 8 of them from Severed. Several are marked single player only in their descriptions, and none need multiplayer.
• This release has several disc IDs in North America and Europe. Sony's server lists patch 01.02 for most of them.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 9 hours