Really, Just Give Isaac a Break. Really.

I’ve played through both Dead Space installments, watched any even remotely related movie, and have to say that it’s one of my favorite games. Unfortunately, I missed out on Dead Space Ignition, the prequel to Dead Space 2, but only because it was exclusively for Xbox and I’m a PC girl. IGN reported back in 2011 that playing through each of the four endings in DSI would give you special items to use in Dead Space 2, which released last January.

I remember when I started playing the first game in the summer of 2010, and my boyfriend making fun of me because I would try to physically lean my body from side to side in order to peep around corners with Isaac. Look, it’s a scary game. Especially when you get motion sickness from FPS games. You’re sitting there, trying not to hurl, and these creepy gangly monsters are launching themselves at you and waiting for the perfect opportunity to make you pee your pants.

The terror factor aside, it’s really just a well-made game. The graphics are smooth and the storyline is easy to get into. It has its twists and turns, its ups and its downs, and I found myself rooting for Isaac more than I had ever rooted for any character before him. I related to him, put myself in his shoes, and realized…

Two games with these things is a lot. If I were Isaac, I would be exhausted.

So how does Dead Space 3 fit into any of this? What I loved most about the first two is that their endings were intertwined (I won’t spoil it!) and it made me feel like I was getting closure at the end of the second game. It felt good. I was in a good place. Isaac was going home and he was going to be happy and not have to stomp limbs. I was happy for him. So when they announced the third game, I was anxious to say in the least.

With this third game on the way, what can we expect? Most notably, co-op. Yes, Isaac has a BFF in the third installment, and he comes in the form of John Carver, a soldier who joins our favorite protagonist in this hellish world to unlock cut scenes, battle strategies and story content that you can’t unlock on your own. According to the DS3 website, you can drop in and out seamlessly at checkpoints, meaning you’re not trying to keep up with your friends when you can’t play.

I suppose adding that second character offers some relief to Isaac and to players who may feel like Isaac has played his part in this series. But we aren’t in space anymore, Dorothy. We’re in the open tundra.

DS3 boasts a hostile environment where we’re not only going to be stomping on some new and improved monsters, we’re going to be braving the elements. I guess snow is scary enough.

We’re also going to be uncovering more of the story from the first two games, discovering the truth about the Necromorph plague and more about the Marker.

You’re also going to see an upgrade to the bench that allows you to actually create your weapon piece by piece. This feature excites me, and is maybe one of the more redeeming qualities of DS3. You gather up the parts you want, build the perfect weapon, and then share it with your friends so that they can use it too. I can only hope that it’s not a Facebook Share button that pops up after you’ve created a new plasma cutter.

According to the Dead Space 3 website, you can even use your Mass Effect 3 save file to unlock an N7 suit.

Though some of my anxieties about Dead Space 3 have turned into full-blown panic, there are definitely some aspects of the game that I will be dying to try. Keep an eye out, EA has announced a launch date of February 5th, next Tuesday.