Introduction:
For those of you who didn’t have enough horror over the Halloween weekend, I recommend checking out a great game which just turned seven years old, Dead Space. I decided that Your Mid-week Mission series, which is now two months old, is long overdue for something besides a 2-D, pixel art, indie PC game (as much as I obviously enjoy those). So I’m getting about as far from that as possible with this article about a AAA action horror third-person shooter.
In particular, this article will explore what makes Dead Space succeed as a horror game, which is a genre with a disproportionate number of failures. I intend to encourage any fans of the horror or third-person shooter genres to play the first part of the Dead Space trilogy as soon as possible, so let’s get to why.
AAA Horror that Works:
![[Game: Elden Ring, FromSoftware, 2022] Tarnishing: A Thorough Critique Detailing the Few Mechanical Flaws of FromSoft’s Elden Ring](https://i0.wp.com/thegemsbok.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Elden-Ring-screenshot-with-draconic-tree-sentinel.png?fit=722%2C406&ssl=1&resize=200%2C200)
![[{Interview}] [Topics: Existentialism, Philosophy of Art, Utopia, Utilitarianism] Interview with Nabra Nelson, A Theatre Professional who Calls Aldous Huxley's Brave New World a Utopia, Not a Dystopia](https://i0.wp.com/thegemsbok.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Nabra-Nelson-2.jpg?fit=263%2C380&ssl=1&resize=200%2C200)
![[Game: Mini Motorways, Dinosaur Polo Club, 2019] Mini Metrics: 5 Ways Mini Motorways Improves on the Studio's Earlier Release Mini Metro](https://i0.wp.com/thegemsbok.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Mini-Motorways-screenshot-with-over-5000-trips-completed.png?fit=722%2C406&ssl=1&resize=200%2C200)
![[Work: The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker, 1973] The Denial of Life: A Critique of Pessimism, Pathologization, and Structuralism in Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death](https://i0.wp.com/thegemsbok.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Ernest-Becker-Sketch-by-M.R.P.-Presentable-1.jpg?fit=254%2C415&ssl=1&resize=200%2C200)