April 9th, 2011 - Survival Horror

Part 1

I have recently played through the Dead Space series, Extraction through Dead Space 2. This is one of my favorite franchises, and a big influence over my qualities and visions as a game designer. But, as true as this may be, I realize that it’s important to play a game as a designer nowadays, not simply a video game player. Recognizing the flaws is just as important as enjoying the beauty of a game’s design.

Survival horror is one of my favorite genres, and has been for over 10 years. Dead Space is, in my opinion, one of the few games in recent memory that has done a fantastic job of staying true (for the most part) to the key aspects of survival horror. One area in which they succeed with flying colors? Atmosphere.  When you play any of the games in the franchise, you are constantly noticing the great design behind the many environments you’re traveling through. You can hear things clinking and crashing in the distance as if something nasty were slithering by; there are little bits of dust flickering about in the dying lights; the music creeps up into haunting crescendos, before dying down again and melding perfectly into the background noise again.

Another thing that is done well is the sense of isolation and powerlessness that you have against the horrors of the Ishimura (Dead Space/Extraction) and The Sprawl (Dead Space 2). You can truly feel the alien strength and violence behind the enemy’s attacks, your heart rate rises, and you try your very hardest to fight for your survival. Of course, you’re not without aid; the player is able to upgrade her weaponry and armor through the discovery of “Power Nodes”, and this can give you an extra punch and defense against the hordes, but then the attacks get more fierce and intense! Long and short, the enemies gain strength as the player does. This retains the challenge, and, as a result, the horror stemming from isolation and weakness.

I could go on about the things that I love about Dead Space, but that’s not the whole point. There are drawbacks. While this problem has been fixed to a degree in Dead Space 2, there is little variation in the mission types that you’re given throughout the game. Most of it consists of find (insert key item here), fight for your life, get back to the destination to use (insert key item), next chapter. Basically, Dead Space is fetch quest after fetch quest. The characters actually even make a reference to it, and while it doesn’t break the “fourth wall”, the fact is never more present that there is very little variation in the gameplay. Dead Space 2 fixes this problem somewhat, and there is more varied environments as well, but much is left unchanged. But, don't get me wrong here. While there is little mission variety, the paths in which you take to complete your goals are fraught with dangers and terrifying moments that keep the player looking over their shoulder and expecting the next thrill.

In the next post, I'll be comparing Dead Space 2 and Resident Evil 5, and seeing how they stack up against each other.