Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Too short"

"Severed" is the first instalment of DLC for Dead Space 2. It follows the attempt of Gabe Weller, one of the protagonists of Dead Space Extraction, to reach his now-wife, Lexine Murdoch-Weller, the female protagonist of the same game, as the chaos unfolds on The Sprawl.

Being part of the security detail for Titan Mines, Gabe is well-armed from the start with an upgraded Pulse Rifle amongst his arsenal. As the story progresses, it is revealed that Lexine is considered one of the key targets that Titan Administrator Hans Tiedemann has ordered eliminated. Hearing this over the radio traffic and double-crossed by his commanding officer, he battles from the darkness of the mines through to the hospital, where he has told Lexine to hide in the psychiatric ward.

As is the case with the main game, Necromorphs attack unrelentingly, and the infamous "Twitcher", one of the super-fast mutations from the first game make their not-so-welcome return, sprinting at Gabe with nightmarish speed, making combat frantic. There are the obligatory shocks and scares as enemies smash through airvents, and some of the puzzles, while basic, must be completed in almost total darkness, and usually whilst fending off barely visible monsters.

This is all fine, but there's no real departure from the gameplay, and as a result it's a rather simple rescue mission, which has been done a thousand times over in other games.

It offers no story or character development outside of the main series, nor is there any explanation as to what happened to Gabe and Lexine after the events of Extraction, or why they're on The Sprawl. That said, the script is solid and the voice acting respectable, and if anything the only drawback is that it's nothing to write home about as whole.

This is run of the mill DLC that's forgettable as soon as you've completed it, and you won't be that bothered about getting all the achievements either. It's also a bit too short at just over an hour's play. Nice try, but must do better.