There’s a scene in this game set in a Unitology Church where you encounter a room with a sign over the door that from the outside reads “Indoctrination Session in Progress.” This brand of cloying unsubtly is the biggest weakness of Dead Space as a franchise, transforming any sense of horror or dread into mere overstimulation. Furthermore, the combat also lacks the finely tuned balance of the third person Resident Evil games it so brazenly imitates. Whereas RE4 uses contextual attacks to give limb shooting a tactical risk-vs-reward and RE2 Remake had "they just keep coming!" thrills as their arms and legs are blown off, the damage model for the limb based shooting in these games means that enemies unsatisfyingly crumble as you plug away at shooting parts of their body with considerably large surface areas. Still, Dead Space 2 at least stands out for its suburb pacing, dishing out remarkable setpieces regularly alongside an otherwise solid gameplay loot of combat and collecting. The final levels in particular are fantastic, featuring the scariest Nemesis enemy in one of these games that put the thrills into overdrive and left me feeling satisfied with the game despite its weaker elements.