I remember playing through the original Dead Space a few years ago on Halloween weekend, in the dark, alone in my living room. I remember having to stop at each closed door and psyche myself up before pressing on into yet another dark, ominous hallway that was no doubt filled with any number of extraterrestrial abominations hell-bent on feasting on the delicious goodies Isaac carries in that flesh bag he calls a body. Which reminds me of what I truly liked about Dead Space and its zombies: These monsters, unlike your normal zombie fare, retain only a fragment of their human forms, looking just human enough to be completely unsettling. And now I’m seeing that there are baby zombies. Nothing about that seems pleasant at all!
The sequel’s demo has just been released on PS3 and Xbox 360, so there’s plenty of free scares and zombie butchering for everyone. I’m hoping this game answers some of the questions that were raised in the first, but considering what I know of the horror genre we can only expect more Eldricht artifacts and Lovecraftian mysteries from this installment. Still, I’m sure that we can all agree that the holiday season is the perfect time to deck the halls in zombie brains, so be sure to pick up the demo and give it a try. If you’re not too scared, that is.
