Beginner's Guide - Dead Space Guide - IGN (2024)

Welcome to the nightmarish world of Dead Space. Over the next 10 or so hours, you'll embark on a tension-filled adventure teeming with psychological scares, claustrophobic hallways and a bevvy of undead abominations that'll hunt you mercilessly. For new players, it can be intimidating, but we're here to help.

Below you'll find our Beginner's Guide, which will take you through all the information, tips and tricks you'll need to survive in this world of reanimated corpses and fleshy hive minds. So, whether you're a new player wanting to get to grips with the game or a returning fan wanting a refresher, let's give you a Dead Space crash course.

Beginner's Guide

Need clueing up on something specific? Jump between each category using the links below:

The Story

Our story begins in the year 2508 and chronicles the story of a famed futuristic mining ship known as the USG Ishimura. We follow protagonist Isaac Clarke; an engineer who is called to the Ishimura alongside his colleagues, Zach Hammond and Kendra Daniels, following a distress call emanating from the ship.

Alongside heading to the vessel to answer the distress call, Isaac has another reason for wanting to visit the Ishimura. His girlfriend, Doctor Nicole Brennan, is currently stationed on the ship, working to research a mysterious project. When Isaac arrives, it's instantly clear that something's not right. Due to a malfunction, his ship crashes into the Ishimura's docking bay, however, no personnel are on the scene to assist him.

After exploring the nearby area, the crew's fate becomes clear. Mutated abominations known as necromorphs begin assaulting Isaac and his colleagues, killing all but Isaac, Hammond and Daniels. Leaving Isaac separated from his allies and with little more than a Plasma Cutter, he begins a journey through the Ishimura that will unveil what happened to the ship and the source of the undead abominations stalking him through its halls.

Combat

With the game throwing necromorphs at you from the jump, you'll be forced to get to grips with Dead Space's combat relatively quickly. However, there are a few tips to note if you want to make navigating the Ishimura's isolating corridors slightly easier.

The most important pointer? Aim for the limbs. The game will remind you of this frequently in its early hours, but it's crucial to remember that this is imperative to dispatching Dead Space's foes. Aiming for the body won't work. Instead, try to dismember your enemies, aiming for their legs, arms and neck.

Not only will this deal more damage, but it'll also weaken them. Knocking off a leg slows a foe, while detaching an arm makes it harder for them to attack. It's worth noting the best method to dismember with a weapon, as every gun you'll find has a different use. The Plasma Cutter can switch between horizontal and vertical projectiles, giving you surgical precision to blow off limbs. Meanwhile, the Ripper allows you to get up close and personal, carving limbs less precisely but much faster.

You'll also want to make sure you're always backing away from opponents. Necromorphs are aggressive and will run at Isaac in an attempt to overwhelm him. The wisest option is to back away, hitting sprint to get yourself out of situations quickly. If an enemy does approach you, Isaac has melee options. He can hit foes with R1 / RB and stomp them with R2 / RT. These help tremendously if you're backed up against a wall and need to push a necromorph back to escape.

Necromorphs

As for the undead enemies themselves, you'll encounter a variety of mutated creatures throughout your time in Dead Space's world. From the standard Slashers that attack Isaac with their razor-sharp pincers to the enemy-spawning Infectors and the hyper-agile Leapers, you'll need to be prepared for anything when you round the next corner.

Your best chance of surviving Dead Space is to learn each of your enemies' weaknesses and exploit them. While a foe like The Brute may seem unbeatable initially, learning that the small yellow sacks on its back can be blown up to dismember its limbs means you'll have a much easier time thwarting it when you encounter it again. Knowledge is power and while you'll meet a range of monsters throughout your time on the Ishimura, they'll all have a weakness that can be exploited by Isaac's arsenal.

Weapons

Although Isaac will only start with the Plasma Cutter, as Dead Space continues, he'll gain access to an array of other, more powerful weapons he can use to take the fight to the necromorphs. You'll find these on the key story path or in side rooms, where they're often located next to dead crew members. You can see how much ammo you have in your gun via the ammo counter projected above it while aiming.

The best tip with weapons is to play around with them and see what their strengths and weaknesses are. The Ripper, for example, is an amazing close-range weapon. Firing it causes a floating sawblade to appear in front of Isaac, pushing back oncoming necromorphs and dismembering their limbs, although it can make you vulnerable to enemies that scale walls or attack at range. The Contact Beam, on the other hand, is an extremely powerful cannon. It will eviscerate enemies quickly, but it consumes a lot of ammo, so you'll want to make sure you're saving it for tougher foes.

All weapons also come with an alternate fire mode, which allows Isaac to access a more powerful ability for a higher ammo cost. For the Pulse Rifle, that's launching a brutal proximity mine, while the Flamethrower can shoot a wall of fire that hits all enemies in its radius. Using these alt-fire modes is a great way to even the odds against tougher enemies, so make sure to use them.

Health, Kinesis and Stasis

When looking at Isaac's back, you'll likely notice the colourful blue spine running down his torso and the dial to its right. These are Dead Space's crafty ways of showing you your health, stasis and kinesis.

Let's start with health. The bar on Isaac's spine indicates exactly how much health he has left. If the bar is full and glowing blue, you're at high health. If it's drained halfway and is yellow, that means you're at half health. If it's almost depleted and is red, you're at low health. If you have a health kit in your inventory, you can use it to instantly boost your health by pressing CIRCLE / B.

As for the dial next to the health bar, that indicates how much stasis Isaac has left. Discovered during the first chapter of the game, stasis gives Isaac the ability to slow enemies and objects by hitting TRIANGLE / Y. How much stasis you have in your tank will be shown by the colour of the dial. Blue means you have a full tank of stasis, yellow means you have half a tank of stasis and red means you have very little stasis. If the tank is empty, it won't light up at all. You can refill stasis by finding stasis stations on walls around the Ishimura or using stasis recharge kits.

Finally, Kinesis. This is acquired at the very beginning of Dead Space's second chapter and allows Isaac to pick up and move objects using a magnetic wrist brace. To use stasis, aim at an object and press CIRCLE / B. You'll then be able to launch the object by hitting R2 / RT. Certain objects work better as Kinesis weapons, the best two being explosive barrels and metal rods.

Oxygen and Exiting The Ship

During certain moments in Dead Space, Isaac will have to exit the ship or venture through areas without oxygen. When this happens, a small timer will appear on Isaac's back. This shows you how much oxygen Isaac has left in his tank. When it runs out, he'll suffocate and die, so you want to make sure he's back inside by the time it hits zero.

There are ways to extend this timer, however. If you find oxygen tanks on the wall, you can interact with them to restart the timer. Meanwhile, you can spend nodes at the workbench to increase the amount of time Isaac will have before his tank hits zero. When at the bench, focus your nodes on AIR to boost how much time you can spend outside before dying.

It's worth noting that, while walking through space, your ability to hear is reduced, making enemies harder to spot. When you're in the void of space, keep an eye out for foes approaching from behind to make sure you aren't overwhelmed.

Zero-G Environments

At several points in the game, Isaac will enter areas where there's no gravity. In these rooms, he can engage his jet boots to glide around the environment, accessing hard-to-reach areas. You'll know you've entered a zero-G environment when the L1 + R1 / LB + RB to Take Off prompt appears on Isaac's back.

Press the buttons to fly. When you're in the air, you can use L1 / LB to roll left and R1 / RB to roll right, meanwhile pressing the left stick will allow you to fly faster. When you're above a flat surface, you can press L1 + R1 / LB + RB to land again. Be warned that enemies will still attack you in zero-G, with leapers able to grab you out of the air with brutal lunging attacks.

Stores

Throughout your travels around the Ishimura, you'll come across several storefronts that Isaac can access. By using credits found around the map, you'll be able to purchase items from these stores, including ammo, health, nodes and major upgrades for your suit and guns. When approaching a store, you'll open a tab that shows you every item available to purchase.

You can also tab between your inventory, where you can sell items or send them into storage, and the storage section. To add new items to the store, you'll have to seek out schematics that, when brought back to a store, can be uploaded. Once a schematic is uploaded, the item it has a blueprint for will be available to purchase. Stores are usually found in each area's main hub, so make note of their location and return whenever you need ammo or a new upgrade.

Workbenches

Much like stores, workbenches can be found in most area hubs and allow Isaac to invest nodes into his weapons and armour, increasing their stats and capabilities. Whenever you find a node, bring it to a workbench and pick which part of Isaac's arsenal you'd like to upgrade.

When you open the menu, you'll see several upgradable stats connected by small branches. You'll have to start your node chain on the left-hand side of the tree and can only invest nodes into stats that connect together. Using the example above, that would mean you couldn't immediately invest a node in AIR, but instead would have to place a node in HP first.

Later in the game, you'll be able to find and purchase useful weapon upgrades which you can bring to a workbench. Much like schematics, they'll then be uploaded and added to your guns, although you won't be able to instantly unlock them. Instead, you'll have to invest nodes and build towards these upgrades, which are usually in the far corners of each tree.

The Tram System

One of the new introductions in Dead Space's 2023 remake is backtracking, allowing Isaac to return to old areas and find new secrets. Luckily, you won't have to walk all the way through the ship manually every time you want to return to an area, as the game allows you to fast travel using the tram system.

Every time you access a new area, you'll be able to override its tram stop to add it to the tramline. That means you can call and hop on the tram to take it to any destination you've visited previously. When you're lacking ammo or health, be sure to take the tram back a few stops to see if there's anything you left behind.

Security Clearance

An extension of the last point, a huge new feature in Dead Space's remake is the addition of the security clearance mechanic. Over the course of the game's story, Isaac will gradually be given higher security clearance, which he can use to access new rooms, open lockers and unlock cabinets.

That makes backtracking an essential part of the game, especially as it'll keep you loaded with ammo and health kits moving into some of the game's tougher areas. If you see a door that Isaac isn't cleared to enter, make a mental note and return when your clearance is the right level. It'll ensure you're always stocked for whichever monstrosity you'll face next.