[Flopjack]

Dear Geniuses of Dead Space,

I am at heart, a multiplayer kind of guy. I like commanding my armies in RTS against players, I like adventuring in quests with people. I like PvP fighting through and through. There simply aren't many single player titles that interest me because they seem like one gimmick after another, rated on the 7-10 scale with as much marketing as the game is linear, shallow and boring. That being said, I absolutely love Dead Space for the PC. I have a number of issues I want to bring up to the development team as a fan, as an aspiring game designer and as someone who follows the talent behind the games he greatly enjoys.

My first issue is with Dead Space for PC. When I first saw a friend playing the game, I didn't know what it was. I saw a very bright action game with nasty little monsters. He was running around and gunning everything down. He said it was a horror game. I laughed and asked why the game was so bright. He laughed and said he didn't know. The brightness was down as far as it would go, but the game still lit up like a Christmas tree. I told him it didn't look scary at all. He agreed. I suggested he look on the internet and see if there is a known issue with brightness in the game. He took a short break from fighting necromorphs and we googled the supposed issue and sure enough page after page of this brightness issue came up. With a little research, editing files and testing, we check out our new brightness setting which turned out to be a -2.000000 in the options file. We both agreed the new atmosphere added much to the game and was a vast improvement.

(1. Why is it so bright? I'm not saying Dead Space is a bright game via screen shots or videos I saw, and I also pass my issue off as a bug, but even in the 'proper' brightness setting, everything is adequately lit to the point where I actually don't need a light. Darkness is a tool it seems you're not fully tapping into. You're creating a horror game and giving me a flash light. Give the flash light reason to exist: To cut the darkness. It shouldn't be a tool which negates the darkness, it should be a shimmer of false hope that you can think you know what's coming. There were literally times in which my light would not reach the end of a hallway because it was so dark and it was perfect. It forced me to move through the darkness, an extremely unsettling thing, and approach the unknown rather than simply gazing and seeing there was nothing to worry about. Often times I would hear a necomorph and see it slip out of the darkness into my light's range. Very creepy and very cool!

The game is better played in a dark room. Don't fool yourselves thinking people follow the advice of "playing within a well lit room" because they don't. I've been a gamer for years and most of my friends are gamers and when we play, it's dark. Please consider this when choosing the brightness throughout your game.)

It wasn't long after I had the game myself and was ready to give it a try, but unlike my friend I was going to do this thing right. I waited until it was night and totally dark around myself. I had brand new head phones with very nice sound quality. I was alone. I was immersed. I was ready to see what Dead Space had to offer and if it could scare me. I tweaked the -2.000000 option again and I was ready. I put it on the hardest difficulty you guys allowed me to play (hard) and began.

Over the next week or so, I was inching and I mean INCHING my way through the space faring vessel. The game was scary. I was on the edge of my seat and I had a gun or tool up the entire time. I barely ran in the game for fear of something coming up and not having those precious milliseconds to react. I partly imposed the scare on myself too because of the very slow rate of movement I chose, but that was only because Issac was not getting his balls chopped off, not on MY watch.

Needless to say and a long story short, it's the scariest game I've every played. I'd love to go into details about each memorable experience, but I'd be writing a novel. Dead Space actually made me squeak verbally a few times in fear. (a manly squeak, mind you) The atmosphere, the sounds (oh the sounds...), the music, the motif of it all... it simply fit the bill. The models were really good, but the animations is what made them. I personally haven't played anything that scary since Doom 3, but then again I haven't played a horror game since Doom 3. (another game I didn't expect to play and was a gift from a friend, very scary as I played it the same way.) When it was all said and done I immediately started on Impossible (A new file, didn't do the wussy 'start with all your guns' business.) and completed the game figuring out how to combat certain enemies without using a shot and having something like 200K (or something ridiculous) at the end. My weapon of choice each time I've played (which is I think about 4 times now, 1 hard ad 3 impossible) has been the Plasma Rifle and elaborate ways of using non-upgraded weapons to inflict maximum damage possible to conserve supplies.

Right on, so I had a good time, right? But I wanted more. I played that game for hours and hours straight and literally walked away from my computer in the dead of night sometimes nervously twitching, but it wasn't enough. I was so psyched up and psyched out that I was dreaming of another game like Dead Space and the fantastic torture it put me through. Needless to say I was excited when I heard there was going to be a sequel, but I was dis-heartened when I heard you're purposely putting in breaks in the game play because people were 'too scared' when they were playing it.

Apparently people were only playing for an hour or half of an hour at a time because it was too scary. Heaven forbid they realize they are picking up a title with an M rating on it, specifically designed to scare you; a horror game. Please do not treat this as a complaint! It's silly to bend your initial philosophy because you did it too well. Dead Space is virtually the only title with EA stamped on the side I'm not ashamed of owning and showing people and this is a slight but noticeable change in your initial approach to make it more friendly to people. I didn't play Dead Space to have a friendly gaming experience, there are plenty of mediocre titles I can pick up for that. I played it because it pushed me to my limits in terms of skill and my mental state.

That being said, I admit I don't know exactly what you mean by when you say something like: "There will be scary times, then not so scary times where there is more action allowing the player to feel like they are in control." It very well may be that you have this all figured out and the new formula is indeed better than the first one, but I'm also saying please be careful not to ruin even in the slightest, what you created before. Don't dilute the feeling the necromorphs give off by making "action parts" where you start to single handedly take 10 or 20 in a row making the player feel like a champ. Each encounter needs to be more unsettling then the last.

(2. What I'm really trying to say, is if you could count up all the 'scariness' in Dead Space 2, it has to be GREATER than that of Dead Space 1. This is a non-negotiable. I don't want action, I want horror. I don't want my esteem built up unless it's going to fall shortly after further than it was before. I don't want to think I have a glimmer of hope when I open that next door or see that new monster or monsters. I want a proper sequel to Dead Space.)

I'm going to switch gears here for a bit. I'd simply like to congratulate the former team and if anyone still remains on the team of Dead Space on Dead Space 1. The art direction was awesome. The sound direction was awesome. The end result was simply awesome. I know you know this but I can't stress how awesome everything felt. Anyway, I was going to write a long drawn out paragraph of praise, but you've heard it before a thousand times so I'll just say it like this: Thank you.

***Edit: I have since used God's gift of knowledge to mortals, Wikipedia, to find out you are indeed releasing it for PC too.
***Edit2: I relearned it is indeed not being release for the PC.

Alas! I think I covered everything I wanted to say save for the most important part. Upon viewing an article in some gaming magazine I noticed something that was greatly discouraging. I didn't see a PC logo for available platforms. All my excitement rushed out of me when I found out. Is it true? Will you not release a version for the PC? If this is true, this means I cannot and will not play. I don't own an xBox or PS3 and have no desire to buy them. I am unable to skillfully target with dual-analog controls and any attempt has only left me frustrated. I am however quite adept at a keyboard and mouse setup and is why I felt so inclined to 'do things right' on Dead Space 1 and set it on Hard my first time through. (I also did this because it added to the horror element, but than again I play all games on the hardest difficulty because games are wussy now days.) PC also boasted slightly better graphics (or so it seemed) and I'm physically closer to the screen. Needless to say here, I'm trying to ask for a PC release. Nay, I'm begging for one.

Dead Space is one of the very few single player games I give any care about at all. In a sea of crap that is passed off as gaming it's something I continually look back on in terms of a good gaming experience, excellent design and people who 'get it' working together to create greatness. I thank you for the first and plead that you consider my words for the second.

Good luck to you all.

-Jw