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I recently played through the Dead Space 3 DLC Awakened as part of my quest to play all the games again. You can check out the full review for the game here, but I want to discuss something else now. That is that the DLC really tried to fix what EA messed up in the base game. What am I talking about? Let’s discuss further.
More Action, Less Horror
If you played the first couple of Dead Space games, as you should have, then you know that this game really swapped out the genre. There were no moments of horror. I think they may have tried a little bit, in certain areas, but it failed massively and that was not Visceral Games’ fault either.
From everything I remember, EA pushed them into this route because EA thought, “action games good, horror games bad” and tried to make it a cash grab on a popular genre at that time. Unfortunately, all they did was kill their own franchise and reputation.
I feel like the DLC tried to fix what was done. How? Let’s get into that.
Unitologists, Religion & The Marker
So one of the main aspects of the Dead Space universe is Unitology. Which is a religion surrounded around the Marker, an Alien Artifact that some people believe to be their salvation. All throughout the first game and especially the second, you saw how the Marker affected someone. they would begin to hallucinate, maybe hurt their friends, family or themselves. Isaac suffered from this as well, and unfortunately, this stopped in the third game.
Awakened, however, brought that back to us in several ways. Not only did we get to see the hallucinations, there are several times we see Isaac fighting against enemies that aren’t even really there. It also is a major story plot for the DLC itself, that I won’t spoil.
Spooky Corridors and Rituals
This was something I was very excited to see return. Once you reach space again, you’re tasked with exploring a certain ship and that ship is dark, creepy and there’s enemies waiting for you. Are they real? Not entirely sure on that but they definitely can freak you out. With darker corridors to explore, watching some of those people off themselves and the ritualistic candles they have sprawled about, it definitely made it feel much more like Dead Space than the entirely of the third game did on its own.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a good final goodbye to the series, then the DLC is your go to. It’s recommended you actually play the base game of Dead Space 3 to understand what’s happening, but it’s worth it.
Now, I will move on to the Dead Space Remake, which I’m finding a little difficult to get into. I’ve already discussed this in a different blog where I felt it was almost like an entirely different game in the series versus an actual remake, but that may just be me. However, my feelings still stand as I continue to play through it. Anyway, you’ll be seeing more Dead Space content from me in the near future.
In the meantime, happy gaming.
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