did you know I do a "director's commentary" on every vid for my patreon? This time, I'll be talking MORE great scenes from the game, music choices, and why the hell I keep changing the title/thumbnail: www.patreon.com/JacobGeller
I found the 3rd game to have some really good Lovecraftian themes, unfortunately EA drowned everything in a gaudy shmear of AAA action. The DLC of the third game was top-notch though
Weirdly, the mobile game was the first game in the series I played, and I absolutely loved it. Just like the two (and only two) main-line games, they pulled stunning things out of hardware that was barely capable of doing what they asked of it, and the pacing and tone was impeccable. It’s kind of tragic that it’s no longer available, on the trash pile of no longer supported mobile masterpieces like Infinity Blade and Nightjar.
I know that Jacob has said something to the effect that his brand is “guy who sounds like he’s on the verge of tears” and while I love the emotional Geller videos, “Jacob yelling about how cool something is” is also an essential part of his brand
Another thing I love about the game is Ellie; she's one of my favorite horror npc's ever. Her introduction has her pointing a gun at you and not trusting you in the least, and she's written well enough that by the time the ending rolls around her actions feel totally deserved and earned. Combined with Issac actually talking, the game had shockingly good character interactions. Also, she doesn't have a love plot! Which would be insane if a dead space game decided to drive an entire game with a love triangle or some nonsense.
@@jbrooks4865 the whole romance happened IN between DS2 and DS3, and honestly, it didn't make me care for Ellie all that much, have the actual boyfriend of Ellie coming up for the former to rescue her was just plain stupid, i really don't know what they are thinking when they brought that guy just so you shoot him dead at some point in the game. The guy is a total jerk, if at least was Carver, like the guy knows you are an expert and he need your help to save Ellie, a guy that isn't a total jerk, and that really cares about Isaac former former girlfriend, by the way, why Ellie really need to be Isaac girlfriend at first place? But honestly i really don't see why the need for a love triangle, could be simple as she pursue the goal and Isaac didn't, then one day she is in trouble and you are the only one who can save her blablabla... Dead Space 3 problems, aren't all that much about the story itself is mostly around gameplay tough, with, the game literally become a cover shooter and hack n slash at some points. The whole lootboxe scheme from EA too. But some parts of the story are really great, theres a whole The Thing vibe, but also the space portion of the game is really cool and they should make a better use of it.
@@jbrooks4865 isaac and ellie got together after dead space 2 and then broke up before dead space 3 probably in a spin off game or a movie or comic like they did with why the events of dead space 1 and 2 happened. She broke up with him cuz he refused to try and stop the marker problem cuz ya know the ptsd and shit hes suffering not to mention all the nightmares he still has. So she broke up with him and then got together with some other dude (whos a soldier or marine or something) and a small team to get rid of markers. She then goes missing and the other dude and his team basically kidnap isaac at the same time as the local marker cult decided to activate a marker and destory the mega city isaac lived in on the moon. Isaac (while being repeatedly hazed and shat on by the army bros) had to help them find ellie and her team cuz he misses her and also he was kidnapped. Then i quit playing after a really awkward reunion with ellie and she acted like she doesnt want him there even tho hes the only reason she or her team was alive (seriously the fucking crazy cult and the murder aliens are nicer to isaac than his "allies") and i all lovey dovey with her bf while hes still shitting on isaac and basically every one is treating isaac like shit. And isaac is acting like the standard jealous ex/nice guy. This was maybe 2 hrs in before i stopped playing. Seriously i didnt mind the game play tho they made it alittle more action packed and less creepy tense like the last games. The stupid crafting stuff was annoying and useless by the way really obvious they made it so ya had to buy the scrap packs to make anything good. So it got really boring. So between the lack of atmosphere, shit crafting and seemingly interesting story set up that they immediately ruined than made really annoying and awkward and infuriating.
When I was in high school I got to tour one of EAs facility's as part of a field trip. I was gifted a game(dead space 2) for asking a question during the Q and A. Coming from a fairly conservative family who wouldn't let me get T rated games(nonetheless R) I hid the game and only played it late at night after my parents had gone to bed. All I will say is 15 year old me really loved this game but dam was it scary.
@@IR-Fan It had something to do with if the artists make more money if the game sells well and unfortunately that's a no(for the most part). But if you have questions I now work in that field and would be happy to answer a few of them.
The eye scene is even more tense when you’re doing a hardcore run and if you mess up you need to start over from the beginning of the game. I remember doing a hardcore run and when I reached this part I immediately remembered “fuck this can instantly kill me!” And doing it slowly and noticing my hand trembling trying to be precise
I have completed Dead Space 2 so many times. I never failed the eye scene once until I tried hard core and I was overwhelmed with the fear I might wasted hours of progress and failed.
You get 3 saves in hardcore the pill is to do one halfway through cd1 and then right after the elevator fight when you switch over to cd 2 then right before the final run does king with the alien necro
Oh god, I've actually had someone put a needle in my eye before (There was a piece of metal stuck in my eye, and the doctor had to use a needle to get it out). I'm torn between being impressed at how accurate that piece felt - you know you can't move, can't blink or the needle will tear your eye open, but the closer it gets to your face the more you panic - and creeped out by my own memories. That's pretty impressive for a game I've never played.
Seems like my worst nightmare. I'm very ''sensitive'' about my eyes, hard to explain. This is a place that you can't touch, big no-no, or even get close, I often get irritation from dust or other things. So, having a needle being put in it... So, when I got to this scene, this was hard. Not wanting to watch it or play it, but having to or Isaac will get his eye butchered. Luckily, did on my first try !
@@chriss780 Best guess would be, if you're out of it you no longer have voluntary control of your eyes, which would make the process much harder and potentially more damaging.
God, the list really does go on, doesn't it? I remember adoring this game when I played in high school. For me, it's one of those rare times where you don't realize how monumental something you're experiencing is until much much later. Fuck those screaming bomb necromorphs though, still have nightmares about those xD
The Metroid Prime series and Dead Space have done that for me. I could tell I was playing something special, I just couldn't tell how special at the time.
The preschool is the bit that's stuck with me since I played this ten-ish years ago. Not because you're fighting a bunch of mutated kids - I mean, that's rough, but it's also kind of what you expect in a game like this - but the environment itself. This is a place that parents leave their kids, and it is utterly depressing. After the climax fight, you have a denouement scene in the preschool's playground, and.. damn. It's too small, and too sparse, but what really hits me is the decoration: a cheap-looking wall painting of a happy outdoor scene, and a sad little rocket. Kids play there! This is the closest to being outside they've ever been, and it is so goddamn sad. Child-zombies and explodababies are unpleasant, but having the happiest part of the school be so soul-crushingly inadequate is what's still in my head, even before I had a preschooler of my own. I wish I could find an image of it, because it's environmental storytelling at its very best.
Not just the pre-school, if you read many of the other logs you‘ll realize that the whole Dead Space world was already extremely depressing before all the necromorph outbreaks started. It‘s probably why a cult like Unitology could become the majority religion
I totally agree. To this day, the preschool level is the only video game moment that genuinely shocked me (my mouth was agape the whole time) when I first played it.
@@manospondylus Something about it being a kids' place made it worse. Although, as Carly said, the fact that there's hundreds of real ones is the worst thing of all.
I don’t ever use the term “gave me chills” but when I played this back when it first came out and I saw that the Ishimura was docked at the station, I got chills knowing that I’d have to step back on it. Any kind of media, be that a game or a movie that makes the story revisit a setting that left a lasting impression on you only to throw it back into the current story is a true work of art.
I remember when the first time I played DS2 and I arrived at the Ishimura I legit stopped playing for the day because I did not want to go through all that again 😂
I could be mistaken, but with that enormous screen-sized space junk passes in front of you on your flight back to the station, they hid either an LOD model swap there, or loaded a different level. the space junk hides that transition perfectly
Yeah, they talked about it during a GDC talk, the big object hides a single big LOD transition because the engine didn't have a good pipeline for streaming in different LOD levels of the same geometry. It's such a cool piece of lateral problem solving. It's a cool moment in and of itself, it saves a bunch of work, and it totally prevents a bunch of janky pop-in distracting the player from the cool thing they're doing.
Me for most of this video: GOD I NEED TO PLAY DEAD SPACE 2 IS IT ON SALE IS IT ON STEAM Me when i get to the Eye bit: it is wonderful how video essays can give us windows into masterpieces; ah yes, i am so grateful for this experience here, this small taste of this glorious game i will never play
Start with the first one, then. It may be technically more focused on the horror aspect, but it's slower paced (giving you time to adjust to everything) and doesn't have the Eye bit. Besides, the best place to start is usually the start. It'll make you appreciate what its sequel does even more. All the games are on Steam, I highly recommend using a controller rather than mouse and keyboard. The PC version of the first one has very slight technical issues that can detract a bit from the experience, the PCGamingWiki page for Dead Space goes over how to implement the easy fixes for them. Edit: oh, and play it with a good sound set up, preferably with quality headphones. The audio design in these games is superb. And also very loud, lol.
Dead Space 1-2 are games I playthrough every year just because of how well they hold up. I still can't believe the second one came out in 2011. The lack of obvious loading in between sections is an amazing feat for that generation of consoles. Plus, the lighting. Good lord. Some of the best lighting & sound-design I've ever seen in a franchise. One series I wish I could re-experience again for the first time. How many games let you strategically throw exploding zombie babies as a viable tactic?
@@jerrodshack7610 that game was cool but in my oppinion a generation too early. Couldve been even bigger and cooler than it already was. And thr atmosphere was crazy
23:58 "Why would I talk about something bad when I can talk about something good" I know this is was just a throwaway line in a patreon screne rant, but this line encapsulates what I love and find so comforting about your videos!
I LOVED going back to the Ishimura because it's been all covered up and sanitized, and because you've gone through the first game, you know EXACTLY what's underneath all of that plastic and tape. Just kind of heightens the experience of returning to your nightmare.
ah, shiiieet - here we go again. time to hear mr geller - out like a friend. aint nothing that - he will pretend. he's a lot like you - better than me. knows what it means - to be free. (not that he wont - rake in money)! but he'll always choose - integrity! jacob's a friend - not a foe. smarter than either - of us know. his videos mean something - among the crowd. a real diamond - in the ground! smexy man - knows how its done. if only he were up - for a little fun! imagine, me 'n jacob, muckin round! watch him be taken - didn't know that! oh... next time, i guess? damn who knew jacob geller was so cool, amiright? no homo
There is a hilarious behind the scenes reason why the return to the Ishimura is so tense. The writer wanted a certain Necromorph to be fought first, but the only place was far away inside the Ishimura and they didn't want to change the architecture. The memorable tense level is a result of an unintentional want 😂
Actually he says this on the matter "We knew everyone would think, 'oh man, that's where this whole thing started - that's gonna be an absolute gauntlet'," laughs Milham. "So I said, what if it isn't? What if we just held off from doing that for as long as possible, make people soak up the anticipation of something happening for as long as we could get away with?" By the time Isaac finally - and inevitably - encounters a necromorph, the player's nerves have been frayed to the limit."
@@NickHunter Mainly Dead Space, But both 1 and 2 Gave me severe anxiety as a teen and in my early 20s. And the first Dead Space still has the privaledge of being the only game that the Anxiety nevr goes away and in some sections, only gets worse for me each play through. The Hunter parts to this day are some of my most dreaded parts of that game. Dead space 1 is also responsible for making one of my friends shit himself because he was on shrooms when he was halfway into it and had serious nightmares for quite a while after. People today dont realize how scary that first game was to those of us growing up in the late 2000s, It was hands down one of the scarier games that came out back then and had a lot of comparisons to the early resident evils and Playstation horror games. One of my other friends got PTSD with giant air vents in the warehouse part of our grocery store. He hated when they'd power on and make noise in the low light portions in the back lol.
@@joshuakhaos4451 Haha, yeah a big part of what made Dead Space 1 scary was when they robbed you of your hearing by having sustained loud noises be it elevators or machinery. Visceral worked really hard on the Ishimura's ambient sound aswell. You were always hearing whispering or scratching around in the vents. Not one moment where you could relax
@@NickHunter OMG!! Just the memories of all of that give me little pangs of anxiety lol. But yeah, The sound design and just over all atmosphere of the ISHIMURA is almost unrivaled in my opinion. And the graphics are still so good I have to remember it came out in 08 and not recently. All it would need is a texture and slight graphics update and you could sell it as a new game, and None would be the wiser had they not been around when it came out. Just to make the necromorphes move a tad bit smoother. But maybe the jerky movement they have adds to the creepiness
In response to the needle scene discussion: The fact its kind of easy to mess it up is clearly intentional. I didn't realize the whole pupil thing, so with bravado, I just went for it. "Get it over with" I thought. But because I tried to be braver than the game, it gruesomely killed me. You HAVE to be scared, or else its going to get much worse.
Yeah, Issac will actually start to freak out and move more if you come in too fast. They intentionally designed it to be as slow and dread-inducing as possible
@@mothmanmk2547 Honestly that’s a sign of really good design in a small segment of a game! These small moments of absolute dread and horror are beautiful to watch unfold, each moment and breath stretched to the point of snapping. I _really_ need to get my hands on Dead Space and Dead Space 2.
My brother didn’t know that you could let the button go to stop the needle’s descent. He thought that you had to hold the button down and line it up perfectly without stopping.
am I the only one who actually liked dead space 3? sure it wasn't scary, but the weapon crafting and customization system combined with the tried and true combat system was very compelling to me
@@trevsoda I think Dead Space 3 would have been a better game if it hadn't been a Dead Space game. It had some decent set pieces and handled the whole "horror co-op" thing pretty well... but it doesn't fit with the tone or expectations set by the first two games.
@@LadyMapi It's one of those games to throw on easy mode, or put on cheats for, as you ignore the action and just tour the very neato locales and pulpy plot bits. Works fine for me as a trilogy closer that way. Frustrating that it ditched the playful combat and supply management, and the puzzles, for a linear stale shooting gallery.
My favorite scene was killing the tormentor. So much chaos all happening within the span of minutes. I FELT EXHAUSTED at the end. Dead Space was truly an attempt to gamify movie level set pieces.
I love the fact the way you described the return to the Ishimura was exactly how it felt. I was playing this with a friend watching the journey with me. When I knew we were going back I looked at them and said, " I don't know if I can go back on that ship"
Honestly, going back to that ship and seeing the once bloodstained hallways cleaned up and sterilized is somehow more disgusting than the actual gore from the first game. The implication that the ship was being cleaned up to cover up what had happened and to be put back into service makes my stomach turn more so than anything else we witness.
The return to the Ishimura is the scariest part I've ever played in a game. The tension is SO harsh. It literally took me two hours to get through that level the first time I played it because I was so afraid of that inevitable attack that JUST WOULDN'T COME, and I was creeping through it so slowly.
The Ishimura is a masterclass in in how effortlessly a setting alone can unnerve the player. I can't say I was too scared going through Dead Space 2, it definitely trades a lot of the horror elements for a better overall experience, but the moment I was back on that ship it was like I was playing the first game again and agonizing over every corner.
I remember when this game came out, I was obsessed! I played through on Normal. And I loved how how each new game plus I bumped up the difficulty, preparing for the hardcore run where you only get 3 (!) save points. God I think I'm gonna start it up for a fresh Zealot run! It's definitely towards the action side and doesn't ever feel scary per say. Still spot on point about pacing. My friends and I still quote "Make us whole" to each other. Favorite level is the unitologist church and how much propoganda is thrown at us as literally the intro to joining a fleshed out Cult.
I wanna do another run too. It's been too long haha. If I remember correctly I saved right after the Hospital boss(probably should have saved after the upside down train part), then there is a save point right after the Halo Jump, right before the hoard, then I saved right before the final run with everything coming at you
@@bombomos the part after the eye and before the final boss is the hardest for sure, especially in harder difficulty. Still the most memorable and impactful part is return to ishimura
I wouldn’t call it not scary, since I just can’t get the the Ishimura section without getting shit scared, but that’s probably cause I’m a little bitch
One of Dead Space 2's virtues that never gets talked about is the consistency of the map layouts. In most games with linear level design, the level design is solely governed by gameplay concerns, resulting in nonsensical layouts that rarely line up with them maps/layouts established in the lore. Even DS1 suffers from this. But in DS2, with 2 major exceptions, the playable areas can actually fit into the geography established by the maps (eg. the billboard at the end of Ch.1) and vistas found in the game. The developers even added a separate Marker building to the model of the Government Sector's backside, which you can only see for less than a second, to justify the "airgap" section at the end of Ch.13. Now that's what I call commitment!
Geography can make all the difference in games like this. God of War and The Last of Us are some of my favorite games that made use of architecture and geography. It adds a whole other dimension of immersion when you actually feel like you've made distance progress through one area toward another.
I cant help but read "DS" as Dark Souls.. which is kinda funny, because it still applies.. sorta. If you swap DS1 and DS2 in your comment. Dark Souls 1 has incredible commitment to geographical consistency. Dark Souls 2... cared less. But still a good game!
The return to the ishimura is made more intense by finding the voice tapes from the janitor talking about how they keep hearing noises in the vents and voices in the walls. Just slowly building tension as you walk around in silence just listening to another person lose their mind all alone.
My favorite tiny detail I noticed my first play through was that when you went back to the Ishimura, the save station are designed as they were in the first game, such great continuity and really immerses you back into the mindset you had during your play through of the first game
I think Jacob kinda likes Dead Space 2. He does a really good job dancing around it and remaining unbiased, but if you watch the video through the lens of “Jacob is secretly a super fan”, his true feelings are pretty obvious.
The outro where he talks about additional things after the Morning Brew ad break definitely seal the deal if there was any chance you were still questioning how much he likes the game.
i'm pretty new to gaming and, as a consequence, not very good at it, so i tend to stick to walking simulators and other similar games. your videos make me feel like i have a place in gaming culture, and i just wanted to say thank you for that.
You are quite fortunate. There are so many cool experiences waiting for you from games new and old. Many of us will recommend some of our favorites, because we love to share them with others. There are few things more gratifying than watching a new person fall in love with something you also love. I hope for your enthusiasm for games to never dim. And don't worry about being bad at playing them, Just have fun. Best of luck.
I recommend Stardew Valley. It doesn't take any skill to play, and I found it so entrancing that I played it for over 300 hours in 2 weeks last year while I was laid off from work. The developer also releases huge content updates for free.
@@choronos i tend to go for more story focused games (night in the woods, firewatch and gone home are some of my favorites) but a lot of my friends enjoy stardew, so i'll have to check it out!
@@katyb6009 It's not focused on story in the same way those games you mentioned are, but it's still got a lot of fun story elements if story is your thing. All of the villagers have friendship ratings that you can improve with gifts and by doing chores for them, and at certain "heart levels" you'll get special cut scene events with those villagers that reveal something about their backstory or character. There's also a wide variety of characters to start relationships with. So you kind of create your own story in Stardew, which would be a change of pace for you, but you might like it. I hope you do!
That's surprising! I was a serial video game quitter back when I played games often. I must have not finished more games than I finished because I'd eventually get bored at the relative repetitiveness, but I finished Dead Space and Dead Space 2. They never managed to lose my interest.
@@connorperrett9559 I can relate because when I buy a game I play for a little bit and then buy another game and play that for a little bit and so on. I have so many games that I have not completed and yet dead space 1 and 3 were amongst the few games that I actually completed. I need to go back to DS 2 to understand what happened in part 3. I feel hyped now:)
DS2 is just one of those masterpieces of a game that I’ve gone back to play every couple years. I will continue to play it periodically in the future. When my son grows up I’m totally gonna be back seat gaming as he plays through the very best that my generation had to offer.
Gonna be honest, when I first played Dead Space 1, I was constantly expecting everything to be a trap. I was suspicious that every save point was going to kill me somehow like an enemy was gonna appear behind me or something. But it was the Shops that always fucked with me. When that light goes down that middle part, I was always expecting the doors to open and Isaac would have been sawed in half.
As a kid and even teen, I was always really sensitive to horror. I was scared easily and avoided that shit. I don't know why, but I bought the first Dead Space. Every single moment of that game was a mild anxiety attack to me, constantly thinking "I just want to get to the next save point so I can stop playing". But then I'd get to the next save point and I'd think "... Ok just a little further". I always credit this game as being the piece of media that finally showed me how fascinating horror can be as a genre. It's so expertly crafted.
That's a great way to look at it. I too was easily scared when I was young but I got myself to test out some horror games and I found myself falling in love with the genre when done well. It really can be so immersive and engaging in the most unique an obscure macabre ways. Diving deep into the cracks of our mind and really get abstract with relatable human thoughts, questions and feelings.
It's crazy how much this series mirrors the Alien franchise: The first two entries are very different, but both classics in their own right. The third entry is a complete trainwreck. After that the entire franchise falls to pieces.
Half of the third game is perfectly creative and cool, though, even as half of its systems, action, and plot got ruined by soulless producer logic. So like alien3 in that way as well. I'm just glad we never got the alien4 of this franchise, and hope we someday do get this franchise's Prometheus. Also yes, do look up the Alien 3 Assembly Cut. It mostly lifts that film up to Alien2's level.
@@Don_Von dead space 3 on the objective scale of badness isnt all that bad, it just has some really badass older brothers to live up to. So it falls into an okay game in a great series thats a guilty pleasure for most of us.
This game is still close to my heart, i played completely blind not knowing what to expect, alone at night with my sister watching, we both where horrified during the first hour. One moment in particularly during the first levels, there's a baby cry coming from a washing machinE, to me that is still one of the most terrifying moments I ever feel in a game, just thinking about that little baby, alone, in the dark, crying, her parents probably dead, hoping they could of save her from that fate, it didn't help that my other sister was born just a year ago, the idea of her suffering something like that keep me awake hours and days after I experience it, i stayed there a while, trying to figure out how to save it, maybe punching it, or shooting it... but nothing, until i just continued moving and the cries stopped, and i was swarmed by necromorphs, and after i was done with them, going back to where the cries where and not hearing them just sank my heart even more. The kindergarten was even worse, even replaying them almost 10 years later i still think back to those emotions i had. It still is one of my favorite games ever and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD EA, DONT REMAKE THEM, JUST REMASTER THE GAMES, ILL BUY THEM AT FULL PRICE! YES, EVEN DS3!
DS3 was still phenomenal just by its scale which I think most players didn’t realize. The moon dropping on me is when it all clicked and I realized how much more insane the game could be
To be fair, the remake is looking really faithful to the source material, with a lot of QoL and graphical updates. One thing Im really excited about is that the necromorphs will have more "realistic" damage, like when you shoot a limb, it actually blows off a chunk of flesh and doesn't just throw a burn decal on it.
@@zacharychristy8928 yeah, tbh made this comment way before they showed anything about the remake and seeing it now, the remake looks amazing and very faighfull, i cant wait to play it.
@@ElEscolta same, and I was equally skeptical when it was first announced. I didn't think DS1 ever needed a remake, it's graphics hold up really well, but they can appear kinda flat in places and there were a few design choices that made the game feel a little clunky. Like Isaac the engineer being told how to make a bomb by Hammond the security man. Aside from some minor aesthetic nitpicks, Im mostly very optimistic for it now!
I had a really meaningful conversation with a new coworker about your channel and it hasn’t left my mind in weeks. I love your content so much Jacob. Your voice and your energy transcends your videos. It’s so comforting
To this day, the first two Dead Space games are two of my favourite games ever and have given me some of the most thrilling and tense moments I've ever had the joy of experiencing in a videogame.
The way you get in the zone while playing these games, a zone full of, as you said, tension and thrilling moments, grasping your controller or mouse/keyboard, short of breath, ... Amazing games, amazing experiences, truly among the best.
Dead Space 2 is SO good, that it retroactivly makes DS1 better, even when the game is a straight upgrade and there are many things in the game that make it better to play. Every gun is so fun to discover, because they aren't your regular handguns or shotguns...
FUN FACT I HAPPENED TO WALK INTO THE ROOM WHILE MY DAD WAS PLAYING THAT GAME AND HE FAILED THE MINIGAME I WAS A KID *AND THATS HOW I GOT MY PHOBIA CONCERNING MY EYES BEING OBLITERATED*
Having played all the dead space games I can’t help but think of a quote from the movie Aliens. “I don’t know who’s worse, you don’t see them (the aliens/markers) screwing each other over for a percentage”
"i think about thinking a lot, a lot" nah but legit i like how that statement can be applied to anything and it works: "i think about dead space 2's camera a lot" "i think about that one scene in wonderful 101 where all the superheroes join together and make a giant robot out of all the buildings of the city to destroy a gigantic spaceship, then destroy the mastermind core of that spaceship, then annihilate the final robot that is built out of the destroyed spaceship, with a gigantic blast as both the player and the superheroes all slam on their respective controllers to make the most powerful laser to destroy the most powerful enemy as the music crescendos in one final farewell from platinum games to the player in the most extravagant over-the-top scene in gaming history, a lot"
I replayed the Dead Space series earlier this year and the second game was just...SO GOOD. I found it to be the perfect sequel to the masterpiece that was the first game. Glad to see people still give it love, you mostly just see people praising the first game
I couldn't count all the times the DS2 had me on the edge of my seat. The unitology freezer graveyard, riding the giant drill, unleashing necromorphs on the government sector, the ishimura medical wing, and many more. Such masterpiece of a horror game.
I never really realized that the Dead Space games were made in a continuous shot, which really helped with the immersion. I love the series even more now cus I absolutely love continuous/one-shot style films. Thanks for pointing that out man. Gonna definitely pay attention to all that now while replaying it.
Took a UA-cam video over 11 years later to realize this myself 😅it’s insane since we’re talking about 2011. Goated game sadly we may never see something as great from that universe again. The callisto protocol is what I’m hoping to be amazing next. Even then I can say for a fact if it isn’t necromorphs I’m fighting then I won’t be as scared then some space zombie prisoners or aliens. I just don’t think anything tops a necromorph frankly. Just pure rage and meat and claws
ugh dude this game has held a grip on me so tight for years, even if it has mostly faded from the front of my brain. The sequence in the chapel with the charging necromorphs (and the sounds they make!! Good lord!!) stuck with me just as much as the parts you talked about here. Really an achievement of game creation, so glad to have played this back in high school in 2011 when my brain was all squishy and impressionable.
Bro, this video stuck in my head long enough that i had a dream that you were showing the fail states of the eyeball minigame uncensored, i've never played the game but apparently it disturbed me enough to manifest in my dream. Keep up the great work man!
I can't belive he didn't even mention the jurassic park sections with the raptor necromorphs! Seriously I've never been so scared and frustrated by a group of enemies in a game before or since
I wanna like this a million times.. Actually one of the best experience i've had watching a youtube video. I wish you'd kept going man, your love for that game is freaking contagious
Coincidentally, I've been playing through the first _Dead Space_ in an attempt to go through the whole series together back-to-back for the first time (may skip _Dead Space 3_ , though. Playing it once was enough). _Dead Space 2_ was the first in the series I played, and the one I've played the most. And this video is making it even harder for me to resist saying "Fuck it" and going straight into Dead Space 2.
@@BongoBaggins It caps your fps to 30 in DS1, though having above 30 can make physics break and the mouse has a sensitivity issue i believe, but the second issue can be fixed with a file that allows raw input to be used.
wow, the way the necromorphs go flying when you hit them with their own limbs feels just like using a bow in warframe... i remember you could literally shoot enemies outside of the skybox if you hit them from the right spot, on the right map, with the right bow! that is, until you hit lv 40 and everything gets 100% slash resist and your arrows do negative damage - oh, the good ol days.
There’s an Ars Technica “War Stories” video on UA-cam from Dead Space’s creator Glenn Schofield called “How Dead Space’s Scariest Scene Almost Broke The Game” that’s worth a watch too. He’s now making the new prison-in-space-horror game The Callisto Protocol that looks to be a sort of spiritual sequel to Dead Space 1+2, and the video I’m talking about is a good showcase for how much he understands what makes Dead Space work and why we remember it. Really have high hopes for TCP, I hope it’s the Dead Space 3 that we never got.
OMGG YESSS I haven’t thought about this game in so long, but my older brother was so into it when it came back, and I legit used to just sit down and watch him play like it was a movie- even in the moments the plot wast being pushed forward, the tension was enough that I was still glued to the screen!
What strikes me about the Dead Space series is that I feel like the day-to-day living in these environments would be no less oppressively unnerving if there weren't monsters all about. There's a segment in Dead Space 3 where a room of a spaceship has mouldy bathroom tiles lining the floor and walls, and that is just... viscerally uncomfortable, somehow. This idea that somebody, somewhere, figured a lick of modern amenities, like tiles, would spruce up the dreary interior of a spaceship, but clearly didn't consider that, actually, tiles on a spaceship make for a bad no-no unfun terror time!
Only Jacob Geller could make me stop watching a video, play an entire game from start to finish, come back and finish said video only to say "hell yeah, man, Dead Space 2 does indeed rock, can confirm". If that's not quality content, I don't know what is
I watched my partner play this game all the way through (because I can’t play scary game). What an amazing experience. We thankfully were successful on the eye mini game the first time
I remember DS1 getting repetitive two thirds in and overstaying its welcome. DS2 really perfected the concept to such a point that a third game never would have worked.
I agree 100% DS1 is still absolute class. (remake makes it much better) But DS2 is the pinnacle of the series of my eyes. Just perfected everything the first did really well. Even in regards to how scary DS2 is in comparison. I feel Mandalore says it perfectly, DS1 is scarier on average, but DS2 and its peak is MUCH scarier than DS1, Ishimura section is phenomenal.
@@kieranduffy3434 I think the only thing I didnt like about DS2 was that it was completely linear. I loved that you could freely explore the Ishimura in the DS1 Remake (well, until the AI director decides that playtimes over).
Ds2 will always have a place in my heart, I get so happy talking about how AMAZING the intro of the game is. Easily has to be the best video game intro of all time
finally a comment mentioning this. I was actually kinda sad when he didnt mention it in his video cause that one of the most memorable parts for me. Just helplessly running in that jacket and then only defending yourself by throwing spearlike objects at enemies really sets the tone of SURVIVAL horror
Yeah I gotta play this again, it was so good back on the 360. Also, Jacob, can’t help but notice the Metroid music here, I’d love to see you talk about it :3
Your rambling praise for DS 2 at the end of the video convinced me to subscribe because that’s basically how I talk about DS 2 to my wife at 3 in the morning and subsequently why she tried to poison my coffee so many times that I developed immunity.
Amazing work Jacob. I just finished watching a no-damage, hardest difficulty play through of this and realized I've never watched if before. Then I find this video and it was icing on the cake. Thanks for the time, effort and creativity.
@@wowdevon1893 I know this is a joke but it has me wondering how you'd even quantify that in a game like Isolation. Like, you can bum rush the game and finish it in an hour. Or, more likely, you'll spend hours crawling around the place in fear. It's kinda tough to gauge ya know?
@@wowdevon1893 that depends on you. It gave me panic attacks and so I still haven’t completed it - I’d put it down for a month, then come back lost, with no idea which way I was going, or what the controls were, and then **OH LOOK A FUCKING XENOMORPH FUCK FUCK IT SAW ME IT SAW ME FUCK FUCK** and then repeat every month or two, for years. It’s a bit long in terms of pacing, but my god is it worth playing as a survival horror title that has you almost entirely powerless against your biggest enemy to do anything but briefly scare it away with fire or confuse it with noisemakers. Using it to kill off humans by luring it to them is such a fucked up thing to do, and the androids are especially creepy too. If you’re an Alien fan especially, there’s so much love and care crafted into this game from people that clearly grew up watching the movie and paid special detail to everything in the environment and sound design and overall aesthetic. It’s literally Ripley’s daughter and her story.
@@rainbowkrampus isolation is different from Dead Space. The pacing is slow... Also Amanda isn't Isaac walking around in heavy engineer power armor. She is a simple human who can die from a single shot. In fact one of the characteristics of Isolation is that you die easily. The whole point is avoid getting caught, so the game is based around stealth mechanics (but no, you don't have predator cloak, you need to hide, under tables, in the corners, inside lockers. Confrontation isn't advisable, in fact, the last thing you want is confrontation of any kind, altough you do have guns (that are more a trap than anything else) best gun you have is the noise maker...
ive had DS2 for so long i forgot it was still in my steal library, gotta download this again, i didnt realize it has been long enough to feel nostalgic about it
did you know I do a "director's commentary" on every vid for my patreon? This time, I'll be talking MORE great scenes from the game, music choices, and why the hell I keep changing the title/thumbnail: www.patreon.com/JacobGeller
I am tremendously excited to go over nebula and re-watch this entire video
You sound like Jesse Eisenberg narrating Zombieland😁👍
Fuck yes dude, im about to put on my dead space 2 shirt. 👍👍👍👍
man, I've been thiking about that halo jump for years too - Dead Space 2 is a mf masterpiece
I u
Storyline twas retrospective art
The Dead Space games were extremely ahead of their time, all two of them
But...
the third one...
@@himoz1 While not without its flaws, I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Lol
I found the 3rd game to have some really good Lovecraftian themes, unfortunately EA drowned everything in a gaudy shmear of AAA action. The DLC of the third game was top-notch though
Weirdly, the mobile game was the first game in the series I played, and I absolutely loved it. Just like the two (and only two) main-line games, they pulled stunning things out of hardware that was barely capable of doing what they asked of it, and the pacing and tone was impeccable. It’s kind of tragic that it’s no longer available, on the trash pile of no longer supported mobile masterpieces like Infinity Blade and Nightjar.
I know that Jacob has said something to the effect that his brand is “guy who sounds like he’s on the verge of tears” and while I love the emotional Geller videos, “Jacob yelling about how cool something is” is also an essential part of his brand
Absolutely
Another thing I love about the game is Ellie; she's one of my favorite horror npc's ever. Her introduction has her pointing a gun at you and not trusting you in the least, and she's written well enough that by the time the ending rolls around her actions feel totally deserved and earned. Combined with Issac actually talking, the game had shockingly good character interactions.
Also, she doesn't have a love plot! Which would be insane if a dead space game decided to drive an entire game with a love triangle or some nonsense.
Having a romance subplot in Dead Space sounds so awful that I kind of wish they did it
@@jbrooks4865 dead space 3 is all about that romance. Hell its the main driving force for the entire game that and jealousy.
@@Kris-wo4pj I've never played DS3 and it looks like it's staying that way now lol.
Was it supposed to be him moving on from Nicole or something?
@@jbrooks4865 the whole romance happened IN between DS2 and DS3, and honestly, it didn't make me care for Ellie all that much, have the actual boyfriend of Ellie coming up for the former to rescue her was just plain stupid, i really don't know what they are thinking when they brought that guy just so you shoot him dead at some point in the game.
The guy is a total jerk, if at least was Carver, like the guy knows you are an expert and he need your help to save Ellie, a guy that isn't a total jerk, and that really cares about Isaac former former girlfriend, by the way, why Ellie really need to be Isaac girlfriend at first place?
But honestly i really don't see why the need for a love triangle, could be simple as she pursue the goal and Isaac didn't, then one day she is in trouble and you are the only one who can save her blablabla...
Dead Space 3 problems, aren't all that much about the story itself is mostly around gameplay tough, with, the game literally become a cover shooter and hack n slash at some points.
The whole lootboxe scheme from EA too.
But some parts of the story are really great, theres a whole The Thing vibe, but also the space portion of the game is really cool and they should make a better use of it.
@@jbrooks4865 isaac and ellie got together after dead space 2 and then broke up before dead space 3 probably in a spin off game or a movie or comic like they did with why the events of dead space 1 and 2 happened. She broke up with him cuz he refused to try and stop the marker problem cuz ya know the ptsd and shit hes suffering not to mention all the nightmares he still has. So she broke up with him and then got together with some other dude (whos a soldier or marine or something) and a small team to get rid of markers. She then goes missing and the other dude and his team basically kidnap isaac at the same time as the local marker cult decided to activate a marker and destory the mega city isaac lived in on the moon. Isaac (while being repeatedly hazed and shat on by the army bros) had to help them find ellie and her team cuz he misses her and also he was kidnapped. Then i quit playing after a really awkward reunion with ellie and she acted like she doesnt want him there even tho hes the only reason she or her team was alive (seriously the fucking crazy cult and the murder aliens are nicer to isaac than his "allies") and i all lovey dovey with her bf while hes still shitting on isaac and basically every one is treating isaac like shit. And isaac is acting like the standard jealous ex/nice guy. This was maybe 2 hrs in before i stopped playing.
Seriously i didnt mind the game play tho they made it alittle more action packed and less creepy tense like the last games. The stupid crafting stuff was annoying and useless by the way really obvious they made it so ya had to buy the scrap packs to make anything good. So it got really boring. So between the lack of atmosphere, shit crafting and seemingly interesting story set up that they immediately ruined than made really annoying and awkward and infuriating.
When I was in high school I got to tour one of EAs facility's as part of a field trip. I was gifted a game(dead space 2) for asking a question during the Q and A. Coming from a fairly conservative family who wouldn't let me get T rated games(nonetheless R) I hid the game and only played it late at night after my parents had gone to bed. All I will say is 15 year old me really loved this game but dam was it scary.
*same*
It’s not that scary compared when you are 14 year old boy and playing final scene of Dead Space at 2 am, I turned off my Xbox 360 immediately
May if I ask what kind of question did you asked during the Q&A session? If you still remembered it. I'm just curious about it.
@@IR-Fan It had something to do with if the artists make more money if the game sells well and unfortunately that's a no(for the most part). But if you have questions I now work in that field and would be happy to answer a few of them.
2 isn’t scarier than 1 to me
The eye scene is even more tense when you’re doing a hardcore run and if you mess up you need to start over from the beginning of the game. I remember doing a hardcore run and when I reached this part I immediately remembered “fuck this can instantly kill me!” And doing it slowly and noticing my hand trembling trying to be precise
I have completed Dead Space 2 so many times. I never failed the eye scene once until I tried hard core and I was overwhelmed with the fear I might wasted hours of progress and failed.
You get 3 saves in hardcore the pill is to do one halfway through cd1 and then right after the elevator fight when you switch over to cd 2 then right before the final run does king with the alien necro
I save after the tripod fight, and duplicating nodes and semi conducters
Well your last save but yeah
Oh god, I've actually had someone put a needle in my eye before (There was a piece of metal stuck in my eye, and the doctor had to use a needle to get it out). I'm torn between being impressed at how accurate that piece felt - you know you can't move, can't blink or the needle will tear your eye open, but the closer it gets to your face the more you panic - and creeped out by my own memories. That's pretty impressive for a game I've never played.
Seems like my worst nightmare.
I'm very ''sensitive'' about my eyes, hard to explain. This is a place that you can't touch, big no-no, or even get close, I often get irritation from dust or other things. So, having a needle being put in it...
So, when I got to this scene, this was hard. Not wanting to watch it or play it, but having to or Isaac will get his eye butchered. Luckily, did on my first try !
jesus that would freak me out- can't they like put you under and then hold the eye open or something?
@@chriss780
Best guess would be, if you're out of it you no longer have voluntary control of your eyes, which would make the process much harder and potentially more damaging.
@@100acatfishandwillbreakyou2 aw damn yeah i forgot your eyes move when you sleep, but yeah that would freak me out
Geez don't they have something to hold your eye still?
God, the list really does go on, doesn't it? I remember adoring this game when I played in high school. For me, it's one of those rare times where you don't realize how monumental something you're experiencing is until much much later.
Fuck those screaming bomb necromorphs though, still have nightmares about those xD
no youtube comment section of a video game essay is complete without either a comment from razbuten or a comment from daryl
@@grey_f98 or, yknow, grey fox
I 100% agree with all of this, had the same experience
The Metroid Prime series and Dead Space have done that for me. I could tell I was playing something special, I just couldn't tell how special at the time.
YES!
The preschool is the bit that's stuck with me since I played this ten-ish years ago. Not because you're fighting a bunch of mutated kids - I mean, that's rough, but it's also kind of what you expect in a game like this - but the environment itself. This is a place that parents leave their kids, and it is utterly depressing. After the climax fight, you have a denouement scene in the preschool's playground, and.. damn. It's too small, and too sparse, but what really hits me is the decoration: a cheap-looking wall painting of a happy outdoor scene, and a sad little rocket.
Kids play there! This is the closest to being outside they've ever been, and it is so goddamn sad. Child-zombies and explodababies are unpleasant, but having the happiest part of the school be so soul-crushingly inadequate is what's still in my head, even before I had a preschooler of my own. I wish I could find an image of it, because it's environmental storytelling at its very best.
Yeah I was watching someone else play this game and even though I wasn't PLAYING, I felt really sad looking at all the bright happy stuff
For me, it just looks so normal. Go to any poor area and you will see multiple daycares decorated like it.
Not just the pre-school, if you read many of the other logs you‘ll realize that the whole Dead Space world was already extremely depressing before all the necromorph outbreaks started. It‘s probably why a cult like Unitology could become the majority religion
I totally agree. To this day, the preschool level is the only video game moment that genuinely shocked me (my mouth was agape the whole time) when I first played it.
@@manospondylus Something about it being a kids' place made it worse. Although, as Carly said, the fact that there's hundreds of real ones is the worst thing of all.
I don’t ever use the term “gave me chills” but when I played this back when it first came out and I saw that the Ishimura was docked at the station, I got chills knowing that I’d have to step back on it. Any kind of media, be that a game or a movie that makes the story revisit a setting that left a lasting impression on you only to throw it back into the current story is a true work of art.
There’s a very similar premise to this in The EviL Within 2
Scariest chapter easily
I remember when the first time I played DS2 and I arrived at the Ishimura I legit stopped playing for the day because I did not want to go through all that again 😂
I could be mistaken, but with that enormous screen-sized space junk passes in front of you on your flight back to the station, they hid either an LOD model swap there, or loaded a different level. the space junk hides that transition perfectly
Yeah, they talked about it during a GDC talk, the big object hides a single big LOD transition because the engine didn't have a good pipeline for streaming in different LOD levels of the same geometry. It's such a cool piece of lateral problem solving. It's a cool moment in and of itself, it saves a bunch of work, and it totally prevents a bunch of janky pop-in distracting the player from the cool thing they're doing.
Oh, hey ben hows it going?
That's such a cool little technical fact, thank you!
14:40
Me for most of this video: GOD I NEED TO PLAY DEAD SPACE 2 IS IT ON SALE IS IT ON STEAM
Me when i get to the Eye bit: it is wonderful how video essays can give us windows into masterpieces; ah yes, i am so grateful for this experience here, this small taste of this glorious game i will never play
I tried to laugh react this comment
Great laugh out of this. Thank you for making my day better.
Start with the first one, then. It may be technically more focused on the horror aspect, but it's slower paced (giving you time to adjust to everything) and doesn't have the Eye bit. Besides, the best place to start is usually the start. It'll make you appreciate what its sequel does even more. All the games are on Steam, I highly recommend using a controller rather than mouse and keyboard. The PC version of the first one has very slight technical issues that can detract a bit from the experience, the PCGamingWiki page for Dead Space goes over how to implement the easy fixes for them.
Edit: oh, and play it with a good sound set up, preferably with quality headphones. The audio design in these games is superb. And also very loud, lol.
Fun fact, this game is what gave me my phobia of eyes being absolutely ruined or anything sharp near it.
Yup. Exactly.
Dead Space 1-2 are games I playthrough every year just because of how well they hold up. I still can't believe the second one came out in 2011. The lack of obvious loading in between sections is an amazing feat for that generation of consoles. Plus, the lighting. Good lord. Some of the best lighting & sound-design I've ever seen in a franchise. One series I wish I could re-experience again for the first time.
How many games let you strategically throw exploding zombie babies as a viable tactic?
Jak & Daxter got rid of loading screens in a semi-open world on the PS2
Strategic baby chucking!
The elevators and doors act as loading screens. It's so seamless that you barely even notice. That's excellent game design.
baby, i still watch your playthrough every now and then, and i really enjoyed it. the sound of necros scream always put me to sleep 💀
@@jerrodshack7610 that game was cool but in my oppinion a generation too early. Couldve been even bigger and cooler than it already was. And thr atmosphere was crazy
23:58 "Why would I talk about something bad when I can talk about something good" I know this is was just a throwaway line in a patreon screne rant, but this line encapsulates what I love and find so comforting about your videos!
“Hey Jacob, what you thinking about?” “Dead Space 2’s camera, why?” 🤣 Awesome as always!
Bioneer! One of my favorite UA-camrs commenting on another one of my favorite UA-camrs lol
I know it really doesn’t matter but I’m shocked you’re not verified
@The Bioneer fancy seeing you hear and watching so much of your content that I read that in your voice 😂
Hi adam
I LOVED going back to the Ishimura because it's been all covered up and sanitized, and because you've gone through the first game, you know EXACTLY what's underneath all of that plastic and tape. Just kind of heightens the experience of returning to your nightmare.
"I think about Dead Space 2 a lot"
HE SAID THE WORDS
ah, shiiieet - here we go again.
time to hear mr geller - out like a friend.
aint nothing that - he will pretend.
he's a lot like you - better than me.
knows what it means - to be free.
(not that he wont - rake in money)!
but he'll always choose - integrity!
jacob's a friend - not a foe.
smarter than either - of us know.
his videos mean something - among the crowd.
a real diamond - in the ground!
smexy man - knows how its done.
if only he were up - for a little fun!
imagine, me 'n jacob, muckin round!
watch him be taken - didn't know that!
oh...
next time, i guess?
damn who knew jacob geller was so cool, amiright?
no homo
According to his videos, Jacob routinely thinks about the Isle of Skye, "The Finkelstein Five" and Dead Space 2. All the more endearing.
what words? i feel like i'm missing out on something
@@Blockistium Just a joke on how often Jacob surprsingly uses the turn of phrase: 'I think about [blank] a lot' :)
There is a hilarious behind the scenes reason why the return to the Ishimura is so tense. The writer wanted a certain Necromorph to be fought first, but the only place was far away inside the Ishimura and they didn't want to change the architecture. The memorable tense level is a result of an unintentional want 😂
Unintentional want first, conscious decision to go with that second + unwillingness to bend the rules for the ship architecture.
Actually he says this on the matter "We knew everyone would think, 'oh man, that's where this whole thing started - that's gonna be an absolute gauntlet'," laughs Milham. "So I said, what if it isn't? What if we just held off from doing that for as long as possible, make people soak up the anticipation of something happening for as long as we could get away with?" By the time Isaac finally - and inevitably - encounters a necromorph, the player's nerves have been frayed to the limit."
@@NickHunter Mainly Dead Space, But both 1 and 2 Gave me severe anxiety as a teen and in my early 20s. And the first Dead Space still has the privaledge of being the only game that the Anxiety nevr goes away and in some sections, only gets worse for me each play through. The Hunter parts to this day are some of my most dreaded parts of that game. Dead space 1 is also responsible for making one of my friends shit himself because he was on shrooms when he was halfway into it and had serious nightmares for quite a while after.
People today dont realize how scary that first game was to those of us growing up in the late 2000s, It was hands down one of the scarier games that came out back then and had a lot of comparisons to the early resident evils and Playstation horror games. One of my other friends got PTSD with giant air vents in the warehouse part of our grocery store. He hated when they'd power on and make noise in the low light portions in the back lol.
@@joshuakhaos4451 Haha, yeah a big part of what made Dead Space 1 scary was when they robbed you of your hearing by having sustained loud noises be it elevators or machinery. Visceral worked really hard on the Ishimura's ambient sound aswell. You were always hearing whispering or scratching around in the vents. Not one moment where you could relax
@@NickHunter OMG!! Just the memories of all of that give me little pangs of anxiety lol. But yeah, The sound design and just over all atmosphere of the ISHIMURA is almost unrivaled in my opinion. And the graphics are still so good I have to remember it came out in 08 and not recently. All it would need is a texture and slight graphics update and you could sell it as a new game, and None would be the wiser had they not been around when it came out. Just to make the necromorphes move a tad bit smoother. But maybe the jerky movement they have adds to the creepiness
In response to the needle scene discussion: The fact its kind of easy to mess it up is clearly intentional. I didn't realize the whole pupil thing, so with bravado, I just went for it. "Get it over with" I thought. But because I tried to be braver than the game, it gruesomely killed me. You HAVE to be scared, or else its going to get much worse.
Yeah, Issac will actually start to freak out and move more if you come in too fast. They intentionally designed it to be as slow and dread-inducing as possible
@@mothmanmk2547 Honestly that’s a sign of really good design in a small segment of a game! These small moments of absolute dread and horror are beautiful to watch unfold, each moment and breath stretched to the point of snapping. I _really_ need to get my hands on Dead Space and Dead Space 2.
It's worse on hardcore difficulty 😂😂
My brother didn’t know that you could let the button go to stop the needle’s descent.
He thought that you had to hold the button down and line it up perfectly without stopping.
@@MattSipka ummm.... That would be a resounding "NO"
"It preserves the survival part of Survival Horror"
Well, that one line just completely sold me on this game.
Play them, you won't regret it.
If you have an Xbox m, you can buy all three
Eye really loved this vid, Jacob!
Lol.
"You NEED to forcefully return limbs to their original owners." is probably the best line I never expected to hear.
Dead Space trilogy is one the best 2-parters in gaming.
Beautifully put
am I the only one who actually liked dead space 3? sure it wasn't scary, but the weapon crafting and customization system combined with the tried and true combat system was very compelling to me
@@trevsoda dead space 3 was fine to play but the dlc was better than the main game
@@trevsoda I think Dead Space 3 would have been a better game if it hadn't been a Dead Space game. It had some decent set pieces and handled the whole "horror co-op" thing pretty well... but it doesn't fit with the tone or expectations set by the first two games.
@@LadyMapi It's one of those games to throw on easy mode, or put on cheats for, as you ignore the action and just tour the very neato locales and pulpy plot bits. Works fine for me as a trilogy closer that way.
Frustrating that it ditched the playful combat and supply management, and the puzzles, for a linear stale shooting gallery.
My favorite scene was killing the tormentor. So much chaos all happening within the span of minutes. I FELT EXHAUSTED at the end. Dead Space was truly an attempt to gamify movie level set pieces.
Dead Space 2 was a walking simulator done right.
I love the fact the way you described the return to the Ishimura was exactly how it felt. I was playing this with a friend watching the journey with me. When I knew we were going back I looked at them and said, " I don't know if I can go back on that ship"
The first and only time I got cold sweats playing a video game.
@@MCH-23.Quintus same
Honestly, going back to that ship and seeing the once bloodstained hallways cleaned up and sterilized is somehow more disgusting than the actual gore from the first game. The implication that the ship was being cleaned up to cover up what had happened and to be put back into service makes my stomach turn more so than anything else we witness.
The return to the Ishimura is the scariest part I've ever played in a game. The tension is SO harsh. It literally took me two hours to get through that level the first time I played it because I was so afraid of that inevitable attack that JUST WOULDN'T COME, and I was creeping through it so slowly.
And that first actual scare hit like a truck
The Ishimura is a masterclass in in how effortlessly a setting alone can unnerve the player. I can't say I was too scared going through Dead Space 2, it definitely trades a lot of the horror elements for a better overall experience, but the moment I was back on that ship it was like I was playing the first game again and agonizing over every corner.
"reduce, reuse, recycle" was so corny and good
Reduce reuse ecyc e
Reduce, reuse, _deanimated_
We use every blade on the necromorph in this house.
I remember when this game came out, I was obsessed! I played through on Normal. And I loved how how each new game plus I bumped up the difficulty, preparing for the hardcore run where you only get 3 (!) save points. God I think I'm gonna start it up for a fresh Zealot run!
It's definitely towards the action side and doesn't ever feel scary per say. Still spot on point about pacing. My friends and I still quote "Make us whole" to each other. Favorite level is the unitologist church and how much propoganda is thrown at us as literally the intro to joining a fleshed out Cult.
FLESH CULT
@@JacobGeller YES
I wanna do another run too. It's been too long haha. If I remember correctly I saved right after the Hospital boss(probably should have saved after the upside down train part), then there is a save point right after the Halo Jump, right before the hoard, then I saved right before the final run with everything coming at you
@@bombomos the part after the eye and before the final boss is the hardest for sure, especially in harder difficulty. Still the most memorable and impactful part is return to ishimura
I wouldn’t call it not scary, since I just can’t get the the Ishimura section without getting shit scared, but that’s probably cause I’m a little bitch
One of Dead Space 2's virtues that never gets talked about is the consistency of the map layouts. In most games with linear level design, the level design is solely governed by gameplay concerns, resulting in nonsensical layouts that rarely line up with them maps/layouts established in the lore. Even DS1 suffers from this. But in DS2, with 2 major exceptions, the playable areas can actually fit into the geography established by the maps (eg. the billboard at the end of Ch.1) and vistas found in the game. The developers even added a separate Marker building to the model of the Government Sector's backside, which you can only see for less than a second, to justify the "airgap" section at the end of Ch.13. Now that's what I call commitment!
Geography can make all the difference in games like this.
God of War and The Last of Us are some of my favorite games that made use of architecture and geography. It adds a whole other dimension of immersion when you actually feel like you've made distance progress through one area toward another.
I really loved how Prey did this too
I cant help but read "DS" as Dark Souls.. which is kinda funny, because it still applies.. sorta. If you swap DS1 and DS2 in your comment.
Dark Souls 1 has incredible commitment to geographical consistency. Dark Souls 2... cared less. But still a good game!
The return to the ishimura is made more intense by finding the voice tapes from the janitor talking about how they keep hearing noises in the vents and voices in the walls. Just slowly building tension as you walk around in silence just listening to another person lose their mind all alone.
My favorite tiny detail I noticed my first play through was that when you went back to the Ishimura, the save station are designed as they were in the first game, such great continuity and really immerses you back into the mindset you had during your play through of the first game
I think Jacob kinda likes Dead Space 2. He does a really good job dancing around it and remaining unbiased, but if you watch the video through the lens of “Jacob is secretly a super fan”, his true feelings are pretty obvious.
"kinda"
The outro where he talks about additional things after the Morning Brew ad break definitely seal the deal if there was any chance you were still questioning how much he likes the game.
That's alright, when the game is worthy of praise. And it so is. It really is. This games fuckin great man.
i'm pretty new to gaming and, as a consequence, not very good at it, so i tend to stick to walking simulators and other similar games. your videos make me feel like i have a place in gaming culture, and i just wanted to say thank you for that.
Welcome to the fold, and may your virtual adventures be glorious
You are quite fortunate. There are so many cool experiences waiting for you from games new and old. Many of us will recommend some of our favorites, because we love to share them with others. There are few things more gratifying than watching a new person fall in love with something you also love. I hope for your enthusiasm for games to never dim. And don't worry about being bad at playing them, Just have fun. Best of luck.
I recommend Stardew Valley. It doesn't take any skill to play, and I found it so entrancing that I played it for over 300 hours in 2 weeks last year while I was laid off from work. The developer also releases huge content updates for free.
@@choronos i tend to go for more story focused games (night in the woods, firewatch and gone home are some of my favorites) but a lot of my friends enjoy stardew, so i'll have to check it out!
@@katyb6009 It's not focused on story in the same way those games you mentioned are, but it's still got a lot of fun story elements if story is your thing. All of the villagers have friendship ratings that you can improve with gifts and by doing chores for them, and at certain "heart levels" you'll get special cut scene events with those villagers that reveal something about their backstory or character. There's also a wide variety of characters to start relationships with. So you kind of create your own story in Stardew, which would be a change of pace for you, but you might like it. I hope you do!
This has convinced me to go back and replay Dead Space 2. I never finished it from stress!
I've played DS2 and 3 many times.
But I never beat 1 from stress.
The part in 2 near the end gave me video game ptsd.
Fuck that ship.
Same here. I was too stressed out from continuing. I need to go back.
That's surprising! I was a serial video game quitter back when I played games often. I must have not finished more games than I finished because I'd eventually get bored at the relative repetitiveness, but I finished Dead Space and Dead Space 2. They never managed to lose my interest.
@@connorperrett9559 I can relate because when I buy a game I play for a little bit and then buy another game and play that for a little bit and so on. I have so many games that I have not completed and yet dead space 1 and 3 were amongst the few games that I actually completed. I need to go back to DS 2 to understand what happened in part 3. I feel hyped now:)
did you finsich DS2 on the hardest difficulty with only 3 saves. the stress is mest up if you play it lol
DS2 is just one of those masterpieces of a game that I’ve gone back to play every couple years. I will continue to play it periodically in the future. When my son grows up I’m totally gonna be back seat gaming as he plays through the very best that my generation had to offer.
Gonna be honest, when I first played Dead Space 1, I was constantly expecting everything to be a trap. I was suspicious that every save point was going to kill me somehow like an enemy was gonna appear behind me or something. But it was the Shops that always fucked with me. When that light goes down that middle part, I was always expecting the doors to open and Isaac would have been sawed in half.
As a kid and even teen, I was always really sensitive to horror. I was scared easily and avoided that shit. I don't know why, but I bought the first Dead Space. Every single moment of that game was a mild anxiety attack to me, constantly thinking "I just want to get to the next save point so I can stop playing". But then I'd get to the next save point and I'd think "... Ok just a little further". I always credit this game as being the piece of media that finally showed me how fascinating horror can be as a genre. It's so expertly crafted.
That's a great way to look at it. I too was easily scared when I was young but I got myself to test out some horror games and I found myself falling in love with the genre when done well. It really can be so immersive and engaging in the most unique an obscure macabre ways. Diving deep into the cracks of our mind and really get abstract with relatable human thoughts, questions and feelings.
It's crazy how much this series mirrors the Alien franchise: The first two entries are very different, but both classics in their own right. The third entry is a complete trainwreck. After that the entire franchise falls to pieces.
Watch Alien 3: Assembly Cut, which is *objectively* better that Aliens. :)
*hugs Alien3, and no-one can make me stop*
@@lauschangriff true, dead space 3 is hot garbage, but VERY fun to play, more than I would like to admit.
Half of the third game is perfectly creative and cool, though, even as half of its systems, action, and plot got ruined by soulless producer logic. So like alien3 in that way as well.
I'm just glad we never got the alien4 of this franchise, and hope we someday do get this franchise's Prometheus.
Also yes, do look up the Alien 3 Assembly Cut. It mostly lifts that film up to Alien2's level.
@@Don_Von dead space 3 on the objective scale of badness isnt all that bad, it just has some really badass older brothers to live up to. So it falls into an okay game in a great series thats a guilty pleasure for most of us.
This game is still close to my heart, i played completely blind not knowing what to expect, alone at night with my sister watching, we both where horrified during the first hour.
One moment in particularly during the first levels, there's a baby cry coming from a washing machinE, to me that is still one of the most terrifying moments I ever feel in a game, just thinking about that little baby, alone, in the dark, crying, her parents probably dead, hoping they could of save her from that fate, it didn't help that my other sister was born just a year ago, the idea of her suffering something like that keep me awake hours and days after I experience it, i stayed there a while, trying to figure out how to save it, maybe punching it, or shooting it... but nothing, until i just continued moving and the cries stopped, and i was swarmed by necromorphs, and after i was done with them, going back to where the cries where and not hearing them just sank my heart even more. The kindergarten was even worse, even replaying them almost 10 years later i still think back to those emotions i had.
It still is one of my favorite games ever and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD EA, DONT REMAKE THEM, JUST REMASTER THE GAMES, ILL BUY THEM AT FULL PRICE! YES, EVEN DS3!
I am from the future, and I am sorry
DS3 was still phenomenal just by its scale which I think most players didn’t realize. The moon dropping on me is when it all clicked and I realized how much more insane the game could be
To be fair, the remake is looking really faithful to the source material, with a lot of QoL and graphical updates.
One thing Im really excited about is that the necromorphs will have more "realistic" damage, like when you shoot a limb, it actually blows off a chunk of flesh and doesn't just throw a burn decal on it.
@@zacharychristy8928 yeah, tbh made this comment way before they showed anything about the remake and seeing it now, the remake looks amazing and very faighfull, i cant wait to play it.
@@ElEscolta same, and I was equally skeptical when it was first announced. I didn't think DS1 ever needed a remake, it's graphics hold up really well, but they can appear kinda flat in places and there were a few design choices that made the game feel a little clunky. Like Isaac the engineer being told how to make a bomb by Hammond the security man. Aside from some minor aesthetic nitpicks, Im mostly very optimistic for it now!
I had a really meaningful conversation with a new coworker about your channel and it hasn’t left my mind in weeks. I love your content so much Jacob. Your voice and your energy transcends your videos. It’s so comforting
Excited for your future video essay about Train Levels
Ah, my favorite Geller video. The "Jacob screams at you about something he's really passionate about" type.
"You NEED to forcefully return limbs to their original owners"
Love that line
The HALO Jump. Yes Lad. Fully replayed the entire game multiple times just to revisit that scene. It's a gaming and cinematic masterpiece
When you revealed the "dead," cold silence of the train scene, it gave me chills. Equally an incredible video and an incredible game.
Well well well, look who just got a remake
All aboard!
To this day, the first two Dead Space games are two of my favourite games ever and have given me some of the most thrilling and tense moments I've ever had the joy of experiencing in a videogame.
The way you get in the zone while playing these games, a zone full of, as you said, tension and thrilling moments, grasping your controller or mouse/keyboard, short of breath, ...
Amazing games, amazing experiences, truly among the best.
Dead Space 2 is SO good, that it retroactivly makes DS1 better, even when the game is a straight upgrade and there are many things in the game that make it better to play.
Every gun is so fun to discover, because they aren't your regular handguns or shotguns...
FUN FACT
I HAPPENED TO WALK INTO THE ROOM WHILE MY DAD WAS PLAYING THAT GAME
AND HE FAILED THE MINIGAME
I WAS A KID
*AND THATS HOW I GOT MY PHOBIA CONCERNING MY EYES BEING OBLITERATED*
Same thing happened to me expect with my mom
@@DAIJ0UBUDESUKA1FAN but...your mom's supposed to hate Dead Space...
@@Nolaris3 😂 That ad campaign was too Mtn Dew for its own good
Want to relive it?
:P
The Movie “Eye See You has this plus an excellent plot that you just may want to go see.
Having played all the dead space games I can’t help but think of a quote from the movie Aliens.
“I don’t know who’s worse, you don’t see them (the aliens/markers) screwing each other over for a percentage”
During that halo jump you can actually see the USG Ishimura docked at the station.
i've never noticed. In this year's play through of DS2 i'll be surely be looking for it
I think the “I think about ____ a LOT” is slowly becoming this channel’s trademark
"I think about Dead Space 2's camera a lot"
"i think about thinking a lot, a lot"
nah but legit i like how that statement can be applied to anything and it works:
"i think about dead space 2's camera a lot"
"i think about that one scene in wonderful 101 where all the superheroes join together and make a giant robot out of all the buildings of the city to destroy a gigantic spaceship, then destroy the mastermind core of that spaceship, then annihilate the final robot that is built out of the destroyed spaceship, with a gigantic blast as both the player and the superheroes all slam on their respective controllers to make the most powerful laser to destroy the most powerful enemy as the music crescendos in one final farewell from platinum games to the player in the most extravagant over-the-top scene in gaming history, a lot"
@@we-must-live We live in a society where people think about things alot
"I wake up, pick up my phone, and download some truly terrible takes into my brain" maybe one of the most based things Jacob has ever said
I replayed the Dead Space series earlier this year and the second game was just...SO GOOD. I found it to be the perfect sequel to the masterpiece that was the first game. Glad to see people still give it love, you mostly just see people praising the first game
I love him continuing on to talk about the minutia of the game at the very end, his passion for what he does is just wonderful to see
I couldn't count all the times the DS2 had me on the edge of my seat. The unitology freezer graveyard, riding the giant drill, unleashing necromorphs on the government sector, the ishimura medical wing, and many more.
Such masterpiece of a horror game.
I can play this game over and over again. It’s basically the perfect game.
Next to Warframe lol 😂. Well one is free and the other is not
I never really realized that the Dead Space games were made in a continuous shot, which really helped with the immersion. I love the series even more now cus I absolutely love continuous/one-shot style films. Thanks for pointing that out man. Gonna definitely pay attention to all that now while replaying it.
Took a UA-cam video over 11 years later to realize this myself 😅it’s insane since we’re talking about 2011. Goated game sadly we may never see something as great from that universe again. The callisto protocol is what I’m hoping to be amazing next. Even then I can say for a fact if it isn’t necromorphs I’m fighting then I won’t be as scared then some space zombie prisoners or aliens. I just don’t think anything tops a necromorph frankly. Just pure rage and meat and claws
God of War: First to present a free flowing, cinematic camera.
DS2: Hold up
That halo jump really shows the power of music and sound
ugh dude this game has held a grip on me so tight for years, even if it has mostly faded from the front of my brain. The sequence in the chapel with the charging necromorphs (and the sounds they make!! Good lord!!) stuck with me just as much as the parts you talked about here. Really an achievement of game creation, so glad to have played this back in high school in 2011 when my brain was all squishy and impressionable.
The "we will not talk about Dead Space 3" got me good, haha
Bro, this video stuck in my head long enough that i had a dream that you were showing the fail states of the eyeball minigame uncensored, i've never played the game but apparently it disturbed me enough to manifest in my dream. Keep up the great work man!
You know its going to be good when Jacob says: "ive been thinking about (input subject here) a lot."
I can't belive he didn't even mention the jurassic park sections with the raptor necromorphs! Seriously I've never been so scared and frustrated by a group of enemies in a game before or since
I wanna like this a million times.. Actually one of the best experience i've had watching a youtube video. I wish you'd kept going man, your love for that game is freaking contagious
Pretty sure the "improbable vent design" is a direct homage to that Event Horizon scene
Coincidentally, I've been playing through the first _Dead Space_ in an attempt to go through the whole series together back-to-back for the first time (may skip _Dead Space 3_ , though. Playing it once was enough). _Dead Space 2_ was the first in the series I played, and the one I've played the most. And this video is making it even harder for me to resist saying "Fuck it" and going straight into Dead Space 2.
This has been a better ad for this game than literally anything else I've ever seen ever, and now I want to buy it.
Love how you played a remix of the Red Brinstar theme from Metroid in the background Dead Space and Metroid are 2 of my favorite franchises
The feeling of being helplessly vulnerable to brazenly taking on the hellhole that is titan station after multiple playthroughs is unmatched
I've never played any Dead Space, they completely passed me by. Gonna start.
brilliant series (well 1 and 2 are, 3 was full of EA microtran$action$ and a naff plot)
It is crazy to me that these games are old enough for a lot of players to have never even heard of them.
TURN OFF VSYNC!!!
@@AbsoluteHuman Off? 🤔
@@BongoBaggins It caps your fps to 30 in DS1, though having above 30 can make physics break and the mouse has a sensitivity issue i believe, but the second issue can be fixed with a file that allows raw input to be used.
wow, the way the necromorphs go flying when you hit them with their own limbs feels just like using a bow in warframe...
i remember you could literally shoot enemies outside of the skybox if you hit them from the right spot, on the right map, with the right bow!
that is, until you hit lv 40 and everything gets 100% slash resist and your arrows do negative damage - oh, the good ol days.
There’s an Ars Technica “War Stories” video on UA-cam from Dead Space’s creator Glenn Schofield called “How Dead Space’s Scariest Scene Almost Broke The Game” that’s worth a watch too. He’s now making the new prison-in-space-horror game The Callisto Protocol that looks to be a sort of spiritual sequel to Dead Space 1+2, and the video I’m talking about is a good showcase for how much he understands what makes Dead Space work and why we remember it. Really have high hopes for TCP, I hope it’s the Dead Space 3 that we never got.
Sadly it wasn't.
OMGG YESSS I haven’t thought about this game in so long, but my older brother was so into it when it came back, and I legit used to just sit down and watch him play like it was a movie- even in the moments the plot wast being pushed forward, the tension was enough that I was still glued to the screen!
Dead Space 2 is a masterpiece of a game, it’s one of my favorites in over two decades of gaming.
Finally some love for this game. The raptor enemies are still some of the most fun I've had in a horror game. Also the grenade launcher is my baby.
Perfect timing, currently replaying this for the first time since 2011. It's still an amazing game.
"This is just a video about how much I like Dead Space 2"
Fair enough, I'm in.
Dead Space was an obsession for a critical point in my life. So happy to hear you ramble on about it
It was today that I realized I wasn't subscribed to you, even though I've been watch for about a year. That has since changed.
To basically everyone who wants to play Dead Space now after seeing this:
TURN OFF VSYNC!
Make sure to force that shit off in the video card control panel too.
Play it on a console, how it was meant to be played.
@@ericstaples7220 Classic argument of "Play it how it was meant to be or play it with enhancements"
What strikes me about the Dead Space series is that I feel like the day-to-day living in these environments would be no less oppressively unnerving if there weren't monsters all about. There's a segment in Dead Space 3 where a room of a spaceship has mouldy bathroom tiles lining the floor and walls, and that is just... viscerally uncomfortable, somehow. This idea that somebody, somewhere, figured a lick of modern amenities, like tiles, would spruce up the dreary interior of a spaceship, but clearly didn't consider that, actually, tiles on a spaceship make for a bad no-no unfun terror time!
Yeah the games actually set up a world where joining that fleshblob alienzombie apocalypse cult seems maybe not as bad an idea.
Fuck, I have to play this game now
Good luck and have fright !
Also, it's quite short, so easy to get into if time is a problem !
Just don't forget to TURN OFF VSYNC
PLAY IT.
IT
IS
SO
FUCKING
GOOD.
the eyeball scene, aka The Blinding Of Isaac
Only Jacob Geller could make me stop watching a video, play an entire game from start to finish, come back and finish said video only to say "hell yeah, man, Dead Space 2 does indeed rock, can confirm". If that's not quality content, I don't know what is
"Just like Isaac Clarke, I like to wake up and immediately punish myself"
Same Jacob, same...
I watched my partner play this game all the way through (because I can’t play scary game). What an amazing experience. We thankfully were successful on the eye mini game the first time
I remember DS1 getting repetitive two thirds in and overstaying its welcome. DS2 really perfected the concept to such a point that a third game never would have worked.
Yeah, good on the series ending then and there. Can you imagine a third Dead Space?
I agree 100% DS1 is still absolute class. (remake makes it much better) But DS2 is the pinnacle of the series of my eyes. Just perfected everything the first did really well.
Even in regards to how scary DS2 is in comparison. I feel Mandalore says it perfectly, DS1 is scarier on average, but DS2 and its peak is MUCH scarier than DS1, Ishimura section is phenomenal.
@@kieranduffy3434 I think the only thing I didnt like about DS2 was that it was completely linear. I loved that you could freely explore the Ishimura in the DS1 Remake (well, until the AI director decides that playtimes over).
I seriously need to replay the first two Dead Space games.
Somehow the fact that Jacob has a cat just feels ... *right* . He feels like a guy who should and does have a cat. It's also so incredibly adorable !
Cat people are weird
@@AdoreYouInAshXI non cat people are weird
@@kentknightofcaelin4537 non cat people don’t make their pet their entire identity. Weirdo.
I stg every person named Jacob has a cat.
8:15
You could stop at five or six stores...
Or just one.
[action]
Ds2 will always have a place in my heart, I get so happy talking about how AMAZING the intro of the game is. Easily has to be the best video game intro of all time
finally a comment mentioning this. I was actually kinda sad when he didnt mention it in his video cause that one of the most memorable parts for me. Just helplessly running in that jacket and then only defending yourself by throwing spearlike objects at enemies really sets the tone of SURVIVAL horror
Yeah I gotta play this again, it was so good back on the 360.
Also, Jacob, can’t help but notice the Metroid music here, I’d love to see you talk about it :3
Your rambling praise for DS 2 at the end of the video convinced me to subscribe because that’s basically how I talk about DS 2 to my wife at 3 in the morning and subsequently why she tried to poison my coffee so many times that I developed immunity.
Don’t forget, you can legit use Push Brooms as a Piercing javelin to help “clean” up the place
Amazing work Jacob. I just finished watching a no-damage, hardest difficulty play through of this and realized I've never watched if before. Then I find this video and it was icing on the cake. Thanks for the time, effort and creativity.
Would love to hear you speak about Alien: Isolation!
Was the pacing okay?
@@wowdevon1893 I know this is a joke but it has me wondering how you'd even quantify that in a game like Isolation.
Like, you can bum rush the game and finish it in an hour. Or, more likely, you'll spend hours crawling around the place in fear.
It's kinda tough to gauge ya know?
@@rainbowkrampus true that krampus. You're exactly correct
@@wowdevon1893 that depends on you. It gave me panic attacks and so I still haven’t completed it - I’d put it down for a month, then come back lost, with no idea which way I was going, or what the controls were, and then **OH LOOK A FUCKING XENOMORPH FUCK FUCK IT SAW ME IT SAW ME FUCK FUCK** and then repeat every month or two, for years. It’s a bit long in terms of pacing, but my god is it worth playing as a survival horror title that has you almost entirely powerless against your biggest enemy to do anything but briefly scare it away with fire or confuse it with noisemakers. Using it to kill off humans by luring it to them is such a fucked up thing to do, and the androids are especially creepy too. If you’re an Alien fan especially, there’s so much love and care crafted into this game from people that clearly grew up watching the movie and paid special detail to everything in the environment and sound design and overall aesthetic. It’s literally Ripley’s daughter and her story.
@@rainbowkrampus isolation is different from Dead Space.
The pacing is slow...
Also Amanda isn't Isaac walking around in heavy engineer power armor.
She is a simple human who can die from a single shot.
In fact one of the characteristics of Isolation is that you die easily.
The whole point is avoid getting caught, so the game is based around stealth mechanics (but no, you don't have predator cloak, you need to hide, under tables, in the corners, inside lockers.
Confrontation isn't advisable, in fact, the last thing you want is confrontation of any kind, altough you do have guns (that are more a trap than anything else) best gun you have is the noise maker...
this is video game journalism
ive had DS2 for so long i forgot it was still in my steal library, gotta download this again, i didnt realize it has been long enough to feel nostalgic about it