Dead Space 2 is a science fiction survival horror video game, developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, released in January 2011. Set three years after the events of the first game, the game follows protagonist Isaac Clarke's fight against a new Necromorph outbreak on the Sprawl, a space station surrounding a shard of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Unlike its predecessor, Dead Space 2 has a multiplayer mode, pitting human characters against Necromorphs across the Sprawl. A Collector's Edition is available for all three platforms; the PlayStation 3 Limited Edition includes Dead Space: Extraction as a PlayStation Move compatible title. A port for Wii was planned, but not released. It is one of the most expensive video games, made with a $120 million budget split evenly between development and marketing during 2008 to 2010.
Dead Space 2 received critical acclaim. A sequel, Dead Space 3, was released in February 2013 to positive reviews.
Plot[]
During the 23rd century, Earth's population found themselves suffering resource and energy crises, causing world government EarthGov to begin research on solutions. The former was resolved with "planet-cracker" spaceships, created to smash and harvest other planets for resources, and the latter with an investigation of a black alien monolith discovered in the Chicxulub crater, which emits a sourceless electromagnetic field. Dubbed the "Marker", the monolith begins causing violent psychoses in people near to it, prompting lead researcher Michael Altman to try and leak its existence. Assassinating Altman too late, EarthGov inadvertently turns him into a martyr, leading to the formation of the Church of Unitology, a cult that uses the Marker as a religious idol.
During the events of the first game, set in 2508, CEC Engineer Isaac Clarke was a member of the USG Kellion, a ship that responded to a distress call from planet-cracker USG Ishimura; Isaac himself joined as the crew-member who sent the distress signal was his girlfriend, Nicole Brennan. Crashing into the ship due to a malfunction, the Ishimura was found to be overrun with hostile monsters (dubbed "Necromorphs"), created from the reanimated, mutated corpses of the crew. Isaac soon learns that the Ishimura uncovered a man-made red Marker on Aegis VII, its disturbance causing homicidal insanity and the spread of the Necromorph infestation. Trying to return the Red Marker to Aegis VII, Isaac is betrayed by Kellion crew member Kendra Daniels, who intends to steal the Marker.
With the help of Nicole, Isaac returned the Marker to Aegis VII, triggering an electromagnetic pulse that indirectly disabled the gravity tethers holding the planet together. Isaac then learns from Daniels that Nicole has long since committed suicide; Isaac's interactions with her were hallucinations caused by the Red Marker. Daniels, removing the marker to try and steal it, reawakens the Necromorph Hive Mind in the process, which kills her. Isaac kills the Hive Mind and narrowly escapes the planetary collapse on a ship, only to be attacked by a hallucination of Nicole.
Isaac Clarke returns as the game's protagonist, initially aided by a mysterious woman called Daina Le Guin who claims she can cure him of his insanity. Isaac later teams up with Ellie Langford, a CEC pilot, and Nolan Stross, Isaac's fellow patient who underwent the same mental treatment as him while imprisoned by EarthGov and presumably holds the knowledge of how to destroy Titan Station's Marker. They are antagonized by Hans Tiedemann, the EarthGov director of Titan Station who performs a mass civilian evacuation of Titan in the face of the Necromorph outbreak and orders the elimination of key subjects like Isaac and Stross. Nicole also appears in the game as a hostile and disturbing hallucination haunting Isaac, created by a combination of the Marker's influence and Isaac's own feelings of guilt regarding her death.
Plot
Three years after the Aegis VII event, Isaac Clarke awakens on the Sprawl, a civilian space-station in orbit around the remnants of Titan. He awakens amidst a Necromorph outbreak, with no memory of the past few years and suffering severe hallucinations. Narrowly escaping as people are murdered or commit suicide, Isaac is contacted by Daina Le Guin, who explains that Isaac's encounter with a Marker has encoded its information into his brain; Sprawl Director Hans Tiedemann had gradually extracted the data to reverse-engineer a new Marker, drugging Isaac to erase his memory and protect him from insanity and suicide.
Isaac fights his way through the city to reach Daina, who promises rescue and a cure for his worsening insanity, where he finds himself being deterred by violent hallucinations of Nicole Brennan, his deceased girlfriend who insists on becoming "whole" with him. Isaac eventually reaches Daina, only for her to betray him and reveal that she is a Unitologist who plans to use Isaac to create more Markers in order to spread "Convergence", an event foretold in Unitology. However, before they can take Isaac away, an EarthGov gunship kills Daina and her associates, allowing Isaac to escape.
Isaac is then contacted by fellow patient Nolan Stross, who reveals the Marker is located in the government sector and claims they can destroy it. Isaac also encounters Ellie Langford, a CEC pilot who lost her crew during the outbreak. As they progress together, Tiedemann shuts off the Sprawl's life support, forcing Isaac to reactivate it with a solar array beam; Tiedemann then takes control of the array to sever the transport tramline to the government sector. Cut off, Isaac is forced to detour through the Ishimura, which is docked at the Sprawl for decontamination and repair after the events of the first game. Stross' dementia soon worsens to the point he attacks Ellie, removing her eye with a screwdriver, and Isaac is forced to kill him in self-defense. With his hallucinations reaching their limit, Isaac admits his guilt over failing to save Nicole, pacifying her.
Reaching the government sector, Isaac and Ellie repurpose a mining drill to bore an entrance. Tricking Ellie into boarding a ship, Isaac remotely forces it to depart so that she can escape. Isaac then releases the Necromorphs onto Tiedemann's forces as a distraction, causing the government sector to be overrun and the Necromorphs to reach the Marker, triggering Convergence. With Nicole's help, Isaac uses a machine that allows him to recall Marker data and understand how to destroy it. Reaching the Marker, Isaac kills Tiedemann, only to be betrayed by Nicole, who invades his mind; "Nicole" explains that she is simply the Marker's means to manipulate him, and to become "whole" is for the Marker to absorb the body and mind of its creator. Isaac destroys Nicole and the Marker codes in his mind.
As Titan Station begins to collapse, Ellie returns with the gunship to rescue Isaac, and they both safely escape just as the station explodes.
In a post-credits scene, an audio transmission is heard between two people: a survey flight pilot and his ranking superior, known only as "the Overseer". The subordinate relays that Titan Station, which he calls "Marker Site 12," and its Marker have been destroyed. The Overseer retorts that it is a pity and that the other sites will have to pick up the pieces.