There are a couple of sections set in the vacuum of space and outdoors on an ice-covered planet, but players will find a lot of their surroundings quite familiar. Like all the other Dead Space games, most of the action takes place in badly-lit clanking corridors. The way the monsters regularly attack from both the front and the rear is no longer challenging as much as it is annoying, as is the way the developers make use of the game's unwieldy camera – positioned over the protagonist's right shoulder – to blindside the player. The game's flailing monstrosities, the Necromorphs – which looked so thoroughly disturbing in the series' first outing – are now all-too familiar, and so too is the way some of them play possum until the player approaches. The reason for this is because, if you're a fan of this series, a lot of Dead Space 3's beats feel telegraphed.

But I can speak for veterans of the series and here comes some bad news: if you've played through any of the games in this franchise – especially the first terrifying entry – you're not likely to find much in Dead Space 3 that'll make your hair stand on end. I can't speak to the experience of someone whose entry into the franchise is Dead Space 3 – you may be frightened out of your wits when you play this game for all I know. This is the reality that any Dead Space fans who pick up a copy of the latest instalment in EA's sci-fi horror series are staring down the barrel of.

On the other, it has to up the ante considerably how do you scare an audience, after all, who – to a degree – know what to expect? Unless a horror sequel attempts to build on the unsettling foundations of its forebear, audiences simply wind up with re-packaged scares. On the one hand, it has a proven audience and willing consumers.

Once a horror series can lay claim to a fan base, it's faced with something of a double-edged sword. Lovecraft was right and the greatest type of fear is fear of the unknown, then it stands to reason that any horror franchise faces problems when it hits its third iteration.

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