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Dead Space

PC, X360, PS3

First Released Oct 13, 2008

To play a video game is to give up some control over your emotional state. No matter how stoic you may try to remain in the face of fast-paced action, witty dialogue, dramatic storytelling, or plaintive music, some part of you is feeling what that game wants you to feel, providing that game is any good at what it does. Dead Space is very, very good at what it does, and what it wants you to feel is nerve-fraying, gut-churning, heart-pounding terror.

To accomplish this goal, Dead Space uses all the tricks in the horror book and then some. The game is set on a large spaceship overrun with gruesomely mutated humanoid creatures. These monsters are terrifying to behold, and even the sound of one scuttling through the walls is enough to set your skin crawling. The sound effects and musical cues in Dead Space are impeccably designed to draw you deeper into the experience, and as they echo through the oppressive, claustrophobic corridors of the spaceship, you may be tempted to yell at the screen, “Don’t go in there!” But this isn’t a horror movie; you are in control. You are the one that is going in there, and that makes it all the more frightening.

Fortunately, you are not defenseless, and the arsenal of repurposed mining tools that you use to fight back is formidable. The creatures don’t die easily, so you’ll have to take time to dismember them instead of just blowing them away, and this ingenious system heightens the tension of combat. The story of your mission to figure out what’s going on and evacuate survivors is a harrowing one, suffused with dread and punctuated by some jaw-dropping action sequences (did someone say zero gravity?). Dead Space is a master class in horror, destined to claw its way into your mind and never, ever leave.