Editorials
The ‘Dead Space’ Franchise Ranked, Including Main Games, Spinoffs and DLC Side Stories
It’s been ten years since Isaac Clarke found all manner of grisly trouble aboard the Ishimura and kicked off the whole “Dead Space” franchise. It’s also just over five years since “Dead Space 3” effectively closed the series off. Despite the brief lifespan, the “Dead Space” franchise managed to fit a fair amount of games into that time. Some are great, some are…less so.
But what are the best parts of this short-lived franchise? Where is the unforgettable dreck? Which ones packed the most cynical microtransactions in? We’ve ranked all of “Dead Space”, from main entries to spinoffs to DLC side stories and determined what’s worth revisiting.
So let’s begin with the bottom rung of the ladder.
8. Dead Space Ignition
Designed as a bridging point between “Dead Space” and “Dead Space 2”. “Dead Space Ignition” serves some story purpose, but it’s quite far removed from the rest of the franchise in terms of mechanics and its comic book visual style.
Set on the Sprawl in the lead up to the events of “Dead Space 2”, you follow the story of Engineers Franco and Sarah as they encounter repeated sabotage of the space station and rush to fix them before catastrophe strikes
In Ignition, puzzles are the focus, with Franco using logic to repair various aspects of the space station from elevators to computer systems. Of course, the Necromorph outbreak happens and things get a touch grim. Interestingly, the game ends with Franco reviving the main protagonist Isaac Clarke which ties into the start of “Dead Space 2” (and you’ll know what happens to poor Franco when he does wake Isaac up).
Unfortunately, story aside, there’s not much to recommend about Ignition as its puzzles are hardly innovative, and tend to be a bit dull. As such, it’s easily the weakest chunk of “Dead Space” gaming content.
7. Dead Space 2: Severed
This DLC side story, like Ignition, is set before (and during) the events of “Dead Space 2” but also serves as a sequel of sorts for “Dead Space Extraction” as that game’s characters Weller and Lexine return.
There’s a much deeper look at the mysterious Unitologist cult in this story as Weller fights his way out of a Necromorph outbreak in the mines of Titan and tries to protect his pregnant wife Lexine from the sinister clutches of the organization. In keeping with Ignition, being the lead in a short side story in the “Dead Space” universe is a death sentence and this short and grisly DLC really puts Gabe through the wringer before ending in a rather downbeat fashion.
There are some cool nods to events in “Dead Space 2” as Gabe travels about too. It’s a far more self-contained story than most of the “Dead Space” franchise spinoff content, but that also means it lacks the impact that “Dead Space 3’s” DLC managed.
6. Dead Space 3: Awakened
“Dead Space 3: Awakened” is a decent slab of DLC story and is as close as we’re likely to get to a finale for the “Dead Space” franchise. It’s set in the immediate aftermath of the main game and sets up what is now something of a cruel cliffhanger with Visceral Games now being defunct.
Isaac and Carver miraculously find themselves alive and back on the icy wastes of Tau Volantis. From there, the pair must battle their growing insanity and fight off a Necromorph-worshipping cult whilst trying to get back home to Earth.
That cliffhanger? Having already defeated one of the Brethren Moons (giant Necromorphs that are the source of every outbreak-causing marker) at the end of the main game, Isaac and Carver discover that more have arrived and are set to cause an outbreak on a colossal scale. The story ends with the duo left unconscious and we’re left with a grim, unresolved tale.
5. Dead Space Extraction
“Dead Space” itself embraced and refreshed the core “Resident Evil” formula, so why not head down the on-rails shooter route for a spinoff as Resi did in the 90’s? Thus Extraction was born, and unlike Capcom’s wonky side-series, this was good at the first attempt.
It also started the Visceral trend of filling the blanks of the wider “Dead Space” franchise with prequel/bridging content as Extraction serves as a prequel to the events of the first game. You’ll see the removal of the ominous marker on the Aegis VII Colony and the first outbreak of Necromorph activity that leads to the infestation of the Ishimura.
It’s no surprise that for this was Wii game first. The console did well with on-rails shooters, even providing the first decent ones in the “Resident Evil” franchise. “Dead Space Extraction” managed to blend an interesting continuation of the “Dead Space” franchise with intense shooting that replicated the limb-picking action of the core series.
4. Dead Space 3
Ugly business practices aside, “Dead Space 3” garnered plenty of criticism for further diluting the formula of the original “Dead Space” with a higher emphasis on action and the introduction of human enemies. As such it alienated a significant portion of its fanbase and well, you know what happened to Visceral after that.
Isaac Clarke returns once again and is joined by EarthGov Sergeant John Carver as they seek to end the Necromorph threat once and for all.
Is “Dead Space 3” a bad game? No, not really. It has some great parts, including its main setting of Tau Volantis, an ice planet with a Necromorph-infested facility. The co-op is also excellent, with the players seeing things differently to each other due to the marker-induced hallucinations.
If “Dead Space” had carried on in the direction set here, a fourth entry would likely have been unpleasant and unwanted, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t regret and longing for what could have been.
3. Dead Space (2011) Mobile
It’s surprising enough that there is a good mobile spinoff of a third-person console survival horror game, but it’s more surprising that “Dead Space” on IOS and Android was almost good enough to be a full-fat entry with a story of its very own.
This new story occurs between the first and second mainline titles and takes on the viewpoint of a newly-converted Unitologist named Vandal who unwittingly unleashes a Necromorph outbreak on the Mines of Titan. Vandal decides to turn on the Unitologists and reveal their misdeeds to the world but first must escape.
Despite some minor control accuracy issues with the touchscreen, “Dead Space Mobile” controlled rather well and was genuinely a top-tier example of mobile gaming bringing console-quality experiences to the palm of your hand. The focus was more on action than the main series, but it still felt like “Dead Space” in a way only the first game did.
Oh and there’s a neat nod to Metroid in the story with the reveal of Vandal’s identity in the finale.
2. Dead Space 2
If the original “Dead Space” is Alien, with slowly-cranked out scares and cautious movement through dark corridors, then “Dead Space 2” is its Aliens, flashes of the same beast, but oh so much more spectacle ($60m worth in fact). That was something of a sore point for some fans of the first game who craved a more polished continuation of it.
Still, “Dead Space 2” is technically the best game in the series, a sleeker, gorier survival horror sequel that cleaned up the rough edges of its older sibling. Isaac Clarke’s Long Bad Day continues at an alarming pace here with horrific bloodshed and insanity-based hallucinations kicking things off straight from the start.
Unwelcome parts exist, however, with a cynically tacked-on multiplayer mode, and a stalking entity towards the end of the game proving more of an annoyance than intimidating. All the same, “Dead Space 2″is a barnstorming survival horror.
1. Dead Space
“Dead Space” should have been so much more than the start of an ill-fated five-year long franchise. Someone needed to take the baton from a flagging “Resident Evil” series and push survival horror somewhere new, and Visceral Games was the one to do it.
The template is borrowed, but the details Visceral overlayed are what makes it. The thematic consistency of Isaac Clarke’s Engineer background, for instance, means he’s only strong due to his engineering suit and an assortment of modified tools that serve as weapons (the plasma cutter is one of modern gaming’s most impressive and satisfying weapons).
Even better was the HUD design, where everything is represented via Isaac’s RIG suit, keeping the screen clear of clutter and opening up more places to watch fearfully for something to jump out at you.
And there was plenty to worry about. “Dead Space” is a masterclass in ratcheting up tension with great audio design and fake-outs constantly pushing your buttons to the point it’s almost a relief when something does show up and try to eat your face.
Yes, it’s rough around the edges, but if you’ve read our retrospective on “Dead Space”, you’ll know why that doesn’t matter.
What do you think is the best of the “Dead Space” Franchise? Let us know.
I first heard about The Mandela Catalogue through a couple of nephews who were obsessed with the ARG’s sinister mythology. It was only after watching Wendigoon’s in-depth analysis of the series that I realized just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
In fact, I’d already been exposed to the nightmarish visuals of Alex Kister’s YouTube creation for years at that point without even realizing that it was the origin of several viral “cursed images” and spooky memes that had leaked into the wider internet – with this viral element actually being a part of the Catalogue’s overarching narrative.
Flash-forward to 2026 and the unprecedented success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has led to Hollywood betting on horrific internet properties with existing fanbases, which means that Kister’s unique hybrid of both religious and analog horror is finally headed to the big screen with a script written by Kister himself alongside Tyler Clifton.
While this news shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing success of The Mandela Catalogue (both myself and Wendigoon having previously predicted that the series would inevitably make the jump to theaters one day), plenty of horror fans are likely confused as to why so many folks are excited for what appears to be a Hollywood adaptation of a series of creepy .jpeg images under a VHS filter.
With that in mind, today I’d like to invite fellow readers to accompany me as I explore the origins of Alex Kister’s viral hit and attempt to explain exactly why we should all be excited about the Mandela Catalogue adaptation!
From High School Writing Project to Internet Horror Phenomenon
The first seeds of The Mandela Catalogue were sown when Kister was still in high school and developed a writing project subverting religious tropes in a world where biblical history had been altered by demonic forces. A little while later, Kister came across an analog horror contest on Reddit and decided to adapt his ideas into a standalone video where he would edit a religious kids’ cartoon –The Beginner’s Bible: The Nativity, to be specific- into something far creepier. This is how the iconic Overthrone video was born, with this viral short film taking on a life of its own as fans demanded more eerie content from Kister.
Though the video was originally meant to be a one-and-done sort of affair, with Kister actually regretting some of its primitive visuals and considering the editing amateurish and “YouTube-Poop-like” when compared to his current standards, fan reaction and free time during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the (then) seventeen-year-old filmmaker to continue producing content set in this same world. The Mandela Catalogue name was inspired by the Mandela Effect conspiracy theory, as the series would slowly begin to explore the subtle horror of alternate histories.
Inspired by existential dread brought on by extended periods of quarantine as well as a personal crisis of faith, Kister continued to expand his alternate timeline where the rise of Christianity had been prevented by what was presumably the Devil disguised as the Archangel Gabriel. This alternate course of fictional events led to the existence of certain paranormal anomalies that had come to be accepted as “normal” by the 1990s, which is why most of the series’ supernatural horror is presented in such a matter-of-fact manner.
Most of this background information and religious lore is delivered by increasingly cryptic broadcasts and in-universe PSAs, as well as the occasional found footage video, that often have to be decoded by clever viewers. Of course, it’s the consistently disturbing imagery that made the series so popular – much of which was originally created by Kister on a smartphone!
The Alternates: Horror’s Most Unsettling Modern Monsters
The show’s early episodes mostly take place within the fictional Mandela County in Wisconsin and depict life in a world where demonic entities are capable of using media to enter our reality. This process usually involves scaring victims into killing themselves and then repurposing their bodies as horrific doppelgangers referred to as “Alternates”. This terrifying phenomenon has become so common that local police already have specialized procedures in place to deal with the issue, though this usually consists of simply ignoring calls for help so as to avoid spreading so-called “Metaphysical Awareness Disorder” any further.
Over time, Kister would expand this mythology and incorporate different kinds of Alternates into the mix, though the story never stopped deconstructing religious concepts. The series’ second volume exponentially increased both video quality and the overall narrative scope as we began to follow the lives of characters who had already grown up in this dystopian hellscape where the government is forced to prohibit religion, television, and even mirrors in the hopes of mitigating the damage done by the ongoing invasion of otherworldly entities.
The really interesting part comes into play when you realize exactly how the Alternates make use of scary media in order to spread their demonic influence, with the analog horror of it all being a diegetic part of the story and something of a memetic trap orchestrated by the false Gabriel.
I particularly appreciate how some characters begin to suspect that there’s something wrong with their version of reality and that things weren’t meant to play out this way, especially when Mark utters the haunting line “who have I been praying to all this time?” That’s why I think The Mandela Catalogue is an effective piece of religious horror even if you don’t subscribe to the Christian worldview, as the mere idea of a world where evil has already won is a universally terrifying concept in and of itself. Not only that, but the series’ uncanny analog imagery alone is already worth the price of admission, as you’ve likely already noticed by looking at the pictures accompanying this article.
Why The Feature Adaptation Could Be Horror’s Next Big Success
It’s actually been a whole year since Kister first announced that he had been working on a feature-length screenplay for a Mandela Catalogue movie since 2022, with his proposed story following an ensemble of high-school graduates who uncover a supernatural conspiracy after the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student. This premise sounds similar to narrative elements present in the series’ second volume, but I’m pretty sure that Kister is going to go the Kane Parsons route and make the movie more of a spin-off than a re-imagining of its source material.
While notable Hollywood producers like Aaron B. Koontz, Scott Stuber, and Steven Spielberg himself are backing the upcoming project, I feel like there’s no one better to adapt this deeply personal exploration of faith and the dark side of communication than the person who first came up with it. That’s why I can’t wait to see Kister’s work on the big screen, as I have a feeling that this young filmmaker is the next one on the list about to make cinematic history – especially since this is clearly a passion project that has been in the works for years at this point!
That being said, there’s always a chance that the film could end up unleashing a fresh wave of Alternate incursions, but I guess that’s just a risk we’ll have to take.
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