‘Dead Space 3: Awakened’: Review Roundup

Dead Space 3: Awakened released with mixed reviews.

The general opinion all around was a collective “WTF,” as it basically gave us what we thought should have been in the game in the first place.

Dead Space 3 itself wasn’t that memorable either, as it seems the franchise just ran out of ways to scare us with xenomorphs. The first and second games gave us plenty of gruesome or disturbing imagery to store away in our heads for nightmare fodder, but the third game just seemed lacking. We’ve already done the zero-gravity shooter scenes with floating monsters. We’ve already seen a tentacle shoot out of the wall and try to pull us to our deaths. Dead Space 3 by itself offers nothing new.

The Awakened DLC picks up where Dead Space 3 left off and has you trying to find a way off the planet. Isaac and Carver soon meet what appears to be a sect of the Church of Unitology crazier than any worshipper you’ve ever encountered before. Yes, crazier than Katie Holmes’ ex-husband. As they mutilate themselves and whisper their fears aloud, it causes our heroes to have painful hallucinations. Eventually you get to see Isaac and Carver play out what appears to be the classic buddy cop routine.

Dead Space 3: Awakenedalso creates a much different and far, far superior ending than that of the vanilla offering we got in the game it was released for. Unlike Dead Space 3, the Awakened DLC is best started in one-player mode. Once you beat it, then bring a friend along.

The Awakened DLC main story is so integral to the Dead Space story, in fact, that to play it would almost be seen as essential. It actually feels like Dead Space 3 was incomplete without it, like the Awakened DLC was the real ending, even if it does tease a sequel.

The final verdict? The Dead Space 3: AwakenedDLC is what should have been included in the game to begin with, and reviewers feel cheated that it needed to be added on afterward.

What do you think of Dead Space 3: Awakened?