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Games Like Dead Space: Sci-Fi Survival Horror

Dead Space puts an engineer on a dead mining ship with a plasma cutter, scarce ammunition and a crew turned into monsters that only stop when you take them apart. These games share its mix of science fiction and survival horror, from the series' own sequels to stations, prisons and planets of their own.

The games

  1. Dead Space 2 key art: Isaac Clarke's helmet with its glowing green visor lines in darkness SurvivalDead Space 2The sequel: a new Necromorph outbreak on a city-sized station above Saturn, faster and with Isaac's mind giving way.
  2. The Callisto Protocol key art: Jacob Lee in a prison block surrounded by mutated inmates SurvivalThe Callisto ProtocolFrom a studio led by Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield: brutal close combat, scarce ammo and mutated inmates on a moon of Jupiter.
  3. Alien: Isolation key art: Amanda Ripley's face inside a space helmet lit green against black SurvivalAlien: IsolationOne alien you cannot kill hunts you through a space station built to look like the 1979 film.
  4. Extreme close-up of Elster's shadowed face with glowing red eyes against a deep red background, drawn in a pixel anime style PsychologicalSIGNALISSurvival horror in a collapsing off-world facility with a six-slot inventory and very few bullets.
  5. Dead Space 3 key art: Isaac Clarke's battered helmet, its visor glowing blue, against a snowy planet Co-opDead Space 3The third game, on an ice planet, with weapon crafting and online co-op.
  6. Cronos: The New Dawn art: the Traveler in a dented diving-style helmet with a shoulder lamp, a dark tower under a red sky behind SurvivalCronos: The New DawnHeavy, careful third-person fights in an armoured suit against creatures that merge with the fallen.
  7. SOMA key art: a battered diving-suit robot with glowing lights beside a woman's face pressed to a wet glass window PsychologicalSOMAA failing research station at the bottom of the sea, with no weapons and horror that turns inward.
  8. The Thing: Remastered key art: soldiers in snow parkas charge forward under a huge snarling, misshapen dog-like creature in red and blue light CosmicThe Thing: RemasteredA squad in frozen Antarctic stations, never sure which teammate is the shape-shifting alien.
  9. Alien: Rogue Incursion key art: Zula Hendricks with a rifle surrounded by Xenomorphs, a huge alien head looming above them against a starfield SurvivalAlien: Rogue IncursionMade first for VR: a pulse rifle and motion tracker against an infested research facility.
  10. Scorn screenshot: a vast bone-like biomechanical palace with pipes and spires rising out of purple fog SurvivalScornWordless body horror in a biomechanical world of flesh and machines.
  11. Iron Lung art: the grainy red surface of an ocean of blood PsychologicalIron LungA short horror in a one-man submarine at the bottom of a blood ocean, navigating by instruments alone.

If you finished the remake and want more of the same, play Dead Space 2. Isaac Clarke wakes on the Sprawl, a city-sized station above Saturn, as a new Necromorph outbreak tears through it; it is faster and more action-led, with a mind giving way to visions. Dead Space 3 moves to the ice planet Tau Volantis, adds weapon crafting from scavenged parts and online co-op, and is the most action-heavy of the three.

The Callisto Protocol is the spiritual successor, led by Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield: an inmate fights his way out of a prison on a moon of Jupiter as an outbreak mutates its people, with brutal close-quarters combat, scarce ammunition and a gravity weapon. Cronos: The New Dawn has the same heavy, careful fights and creatures that grow stronger by absorbing the fallen, in an armoured suit in a ravaged future.

For more fear and less shooting, Alien: Isolation is essential. One alien that cannot be killed hunts you through a space station built to look like the 1979 film, and you hide, sneak and improvise. Alien: Rogue Incursion goes the other way, made first for VR with a pulse rifle and motion tracker against an infested facility. The Thing: Remastered sends a squad into frozen Antarctic stations where any teammate could be the shape-shifting alien.

If what you love is the atmosphere of a dead place in space or under the sea, Signalis is survival horror in a collapsing off-world facility with a six-slot inventory and very few bullets, SOMA is a failing research station on the sea floor where you cannot fight at all, and Iron Lung locks you in a one-man submarine at the bottom of a blood ocean. Scorn, finally, is all body horror: a wordless, biomechanical world of flesh and machines.

If you only try one, play The Callisto Protocol for the closest feel of combat, or Alien: Isolation for the most frightening station.

Questions

What is the closest game to Dead Space?

Dead Space 2 and 3 first; outside the series, The Callisto Protocol, made by a studio led by Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield, is the closest in combat and setting.

Is there a Dead Space game I can play with a friend?

Dead Space 3 has online co-op for two players.

What are good space horror games without combat?

SOMA has no weapons at all, and Alien: Isolation is mostly about hiding from an alien you cannot kill.

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