Our Dead Space tips, hard-earned over hundreds of Necromorph encounters, will help you stay alive and find resources across the remake. Not only that, but we can give you tips and tricks to actually thrive, doing better than ever before. If encounters with Necromorphs are leaving you constantly torn to pieces, our help will help make you whole again.
Here are some quick Dead Space tips to get you started, with more detail below :
- Always look behind you - Necromorphs love attacking in groups from all sides.
- Re-explore areas with new clearance - you'll find vital resources and new upgrades.
- Don't worry about buying ammo or supplies - you'll generally get enough from crates and kills.
- Not max out one gun - ammo supplies can be inconsistent so don't fully upgrade a single weapon you can't use all the time.
- Stamp on all the corpses - just to make sure you have any resource drops.
- Don't forget to use stasis - it's easy to forget you can slow enemies.
- Look for glowing lights - crates and lockers can be hard to see in the gloom but their illuminated locks always stand out.
- Learn ambushes and necromorph tricks watch vents, check 'dead' bodies, trut nothing.
- Throw necromorphs' spikes back at them! - use kinesis to save ammo, turning claws, shelf and wall parts into make do spears.
1. Always look behind you when Necromorphs appear
Dead Space loves attacking you from behind. Especially in the early half of the game. When a Necromorph pops out of a vent in front of you, you can almost always guarantee another's done the same behind you. Get into the habit of checking every direction the second you hear bad noises to see what directions you need to worry about. If you get jumped and don't have time, kill the immediate threat and just assume there's one behind you as well. You'll rarely be wrong.
2. Re-explore old areas with new security clearance
It's tempting to go off looking for keys or a way to open the various Dead Space Security Clearance doors and lockers you'll find. Don't sweat it too much though, as the game is fairly linear and you'll be backtracking a lot through areas with increasing access to the various things you can't open. It's more about making sure you have resources to pick up the second or third time you pass through an area than giving you a challenge or puzzle to solve. That's especially true of the Dead Space crew rigs and Master Override side mission that gets you a final security level. Just remember to look out for any locked things you can later open when you revisit places.
3. Don't worry too much about buying ammo or supplies
As you play you might be tempted to stock up on loads of ammo for all the Dead Space Weapons. Don't. You'll rarely find yourself running short as there are plentiful supplies to loot and most enemies drop something when you kill them. A far more useful tactic is to transfer any excess when you have it to storage in case you need it later. Or, more usefully, sell it later when you need spare change for an upgrade or the power nodes you use to unlock new abilities. Same goes for things like Stasis batteries, O2 cylinders and so on - treat it like cash and store it all until you need to sell it.
4. Spread your nodes around a bit
It's tempting to try and fully upgrade a favorite gun, but try to spread the love around as ammo availability can vary over the course of the game. Because of that you want at least a few viable options so have something to fall back on if you run out. Whatever you go for damage is always a priority, scooping up any useful and relevant extras like ammo capacity or reload speed along the way. You should also make sure that you're doing the same for your armor - as you unlock new Dead Space suit upgrades you'll have no opportunities to modify them with nodes.
5. Stamp on anything you kill
Every enemy you kill will usually drop some supplies if you stomp them once they're dead, if they don't pop something out in the process of you killing them to death with extreme prejudice. Always do a quick sweep of the battlefield after a fight to make sure you've got everything that could have been dropped.
6. Don't forget to use stasis regularly
This might seem obvious but just in case it isn't, your time-slowing stasis power is for more than just keeping doors open and invaluable in combat. Use it whenever you can to slow enemies down and buy yourself a little more time to handle things. Or, in the case of the giant brute mini bosses you encounter occasionally, it can let you get behind them where they have hugely damaging weak spots you can take advantage of.
7. Always look for glowing lights as you explore
Dead Space is a dark game and while you might not see ammo or a crate tucked away in a dingy corner, you should soon start to recognize the telltale lights that give away something useful. They usually have shapes and colors as well that will help you see what it is - green for money, white for ammo/health, rectangles for lockers and so on. Once you've seen a few and know what you're looking for you'll be able to tot up what's in a room from a glance, not to mention that there'll be bigger opportunities to earn loot now and then, like the Dead Space Z-Ball rewards.
8. Learn to recognize ambushes and necromorph tricks
Necromorphs love to jump the player either by playing dead, or leaping out of vents. To clarify, not every vent will spit out a Necromorph, but enough will do so that you should always keep a close eye on them. Meanwhile, any Necromorph lying on the ground that you didn't kill is almost certainly faking it, especially if they haven't been cut to pieces yet. Keep your distance and throw something at it with Kinesis to see how it reacts (probably violently). Oh, and speaking of which…
9. Throw necromorphs' spikes and claws back at them!
Kinesis is probably the most underrated power or attack you have, but it's very dependent on what you throw. ANY object slung with Kinesis will do at least a little damage, but if you pick the right projectile, it'll spear through the Necromorph for a massive critical hit, and you barely need to aim. Wall pipes and explosives are good, but you can also throw the claws and spikes from Necromorphs' arms and tails back at them! So if you've already killed a few, don't bother using guns - just pick up the sharper limbs and sling them at the survivors. Or, if you've shot off a Necromorph's arm and it's still coming, pick the arm up and use it to deliver a killing blow.
