Thankfully, there's a "previously on Dead Space" feature built right into the game!
Three years earlier, an alien outbreak on a space station saw Issac Clarke, the protagonist of both games endure a horrific bunch of Necromorphs obliterate the human life aboard. As a result, he is understandably traumatised, which is what Dead Space 2 appears to build its story upon.
In a way, Dead Space 2 is both excellent, and bad. It exemplifies an attempt to extract the maximum amount of value out of a video game's success, coupled with buidling a deeper story, and exploring the aftermath of the first title in more depth.
As you creep around the claustrophobic and dark corridors of Dead Space 2, you engage and dismember alien creature after alien creature.
You have save stations that you encounter along the way. There's also digital stores, where you can trade the goods you obtain along the way for credits, and then use those credits to upgrade various bits and pieces.
There's energy orbs you can use to unlock doors, or increase the strength of Issac. There's a lot to see and do, but the game's atmosphere and mechanics are well built. I don't know how well built compared to the first game, because as I've said, I've not played that first game.
Overall, the game is engrossing, enticing, and appealing, but it lacks a sense of wanting to draw me into its world the same way the Necromorphs bring Issac Clarke into their dismembering clutches. As a result, I feel rather conflicted about the entire game.
It sounds good. It plays good. It feels good, and the story seems good, but there seems to be something missing among all the tension. The game is linear, yet, makes me feel like I'm playing a more modern System Shock game, which frankly, confuses me.
I think Dead Space 2 is the type of game that I want to get more and more immersed within, following my initial assesment of its merits, and that's exactly what I'm going to do - it is a complicated little world to understand, but at the same time, as a standalone title (without the context of the first) - it feels really rushed, desperate and lacking the impact of the unknownable, which is what excellent survival horror thrives upon.
Don't get me wrong, this is an excellent game, I'm just conflicted as to how far along the excellence scale its creepy mandibles and appendages manage to crawl.