[Multiplatform] Dead Space 2

My main concerns are:

1.) What will they make Isaac's character out to be, now that he actually talks?

2.) How much will interaction with (non-insane?) outbreak survivors affect the feel of being alone?

Regarding concern 1: While playing the demo I actually thought "Who the hell is that?" when a male voice started talking over the radio. Then I realized it was Isaac. Also, this last year proved how disastrous it can be to give a silent protagonist a voice. At least Isaac shouldn't have any lengthy inner monologues.

Regarding concern 2: Yes, there were survivors on the ship the first time around, but the few that seemed to have retained core mental functions were clearly off the deep end. The shipmates you brought with you were pretty much just there to give you objectives, and it became apparent they had their own agendas anyway. If Dead Space 2 has survivor characters that you feel you can trust, it will eliminate that feeling of being alone.

Spoiler:

Insert forever alone dead girlfriend joke here.

Concerns aside, I am immensely looking forward to this game, and have my copy pre-ordered. I don't really have any strong feelings about the inclusion of multiplayer just as long as it didn't divert an excess of resources from the single player. If it's good, that's a bonus. If not, no big loss.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So uh... this is out now. Anyone care to talk about it?

I did my first playthrough on survivalist difficulty, and I found it to be a lot more difficult than the hard setting of Dead Space 1. I think they've cranked up the difficulty to account for players now having the ability to change the difficulty when they start a ng+ and bring all their upgraded stuff with them. I won't spoil anything, but by the end there were some areas where I found the only way to stay alive was to run like hell and not look back other than to stasis things long enough to get the next door open.

I will admit that I think there were some things the first game did a bit better, but there are also a lot of good new things too. I don't think at this point I can really say I like either one better than the other.

Oh, and I haven't tried multiplayer yet. I'll probably get around to it fairly soon.

There's nowhere I can't reach.