EA and Visceral Games has released the first piece of DLC for Dead Space 2 called ‘Severed’ and it is quite a unique one as well. You see Dead Space has really built itself a franchise and not just a game series. There are books, comics, movies, toys and these all tie in together, kind of like the Star Wars franchise, just much… much smaller. But I say this because if you play this DLC you might not have any clue as to what is going on, other than your jumping into the middle of a story that you just know is going on while Issac is doing his own thing. You see the ‘Severed’ DLC is stand alone from the Dead Space 2 game we have come to love, playing Issac the engineer. In Severed you are not playing Issac, but instead someone named Gabe and although you have all the same similar weapons, armor and powers, Gabe is not an engineer.

In the Severed DLC the main character you play is Gabe Weller who is a Security Guard on the Sprawl making him a little more battle ready then Issac but mostly in the sense of story, not gameplay. Gabe Weller one of the main characters in the Dead Space: Extraction game for the Wii, a prequel to Dead Space 1. In Dead Space: Extraction Lexine Murdoch is the hero of the game, whether you call it surviving or doing something heroic, it doesn’t really matter. These are two of three characters that play a role in the DLC. So if you have not played the game (Dead Space: Extraction), I suggest you do for two reasons. One being the fact that you will be more acquainted with the story somewhat and two being that the DLC lasts roughly 2 hours long, give or take depending on the difficulty you play one. In those 2 hours it’s hard to get used to the characters and understand their emotions as the Severed DLC deals a little more with human interaction, where as Dead Space 2 is mostly killer alien interaction.

In Severed, you will eventually find out that Gabe and Lexine are married. To top it off with out trying to spoil too much Lexine is now pregnant, and Gabe’s goal of trying to get her and himself to safety, becomes even more important to him. Him and Lexine are separated but have radio contact, but other then that he must succeed though this while a Necromorph outbreak occurs which happens to be the one that starts off in Dead Space 2. So while Issac begins his mission in Dead Space 2, the same time Gabe is trying to get Lexine to safety while a bunch of surprises become apparent along the way, some leaving more questions in the world of Dead Space.

Being a Security Guard, Gabe starts off with a partially upgraded Pulse Rifle, Rig and Stasis Module. You will have access to all you weapons and armor from Dead Space 2 that you found or downloaded, but will have to upgrade things again. Don’t worry, if you went through the painful journey of beating Dead Space 2 on Hardcore, your foam Hand Cannon will be waiting for you, infinite insta-kill bullets and all. The action and gameplay is just as good as Dead Space 2 if not more intense at certain moments and you will even see some new enemies too. I would say that this DLC for Dead Space 2 is just what the doctor ordered. Topping it off with a ‘killer’ ending this DLC is new (with the exception of Enslaved), as well as unique and will hopefully give other games more incentive to do something like this.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.