Every Dead Space game, ranked
All 4 Dead Space games we hold, spanning 2009 to 2023: 4 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 144,332 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Dead Space 2 (GamingPickz Score 8.2), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with Dead Space (2008) (2009) and follow the release-order timeline below.
The Dead Space games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 4 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
4 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 4 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Multi-platform
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
4 best Dead Space games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
Dead Space 2 at a glance Released 2011 Studio Visceral Games Player sentiment 94% positive of 29,751 Critics 87/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 94% shrinks to 93.9 on 29,751 reviews, then blends with the 87 critic aggregate, giving 8.2.
- 2
Dead Space (2008)
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
8.1GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceDead Space (2008) at a glance Released 2009 Studio EA Redwood Shores Player sentiment 92% positive of 29,163 Critics 87/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck verified Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 92% shrinks to 91.9 on 29,163 reviews, then blends with the 87 critic aggregate, giving 8.1.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- 3
Dead Space
Best for: Players who need accessibility options that actually exist
7.9GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceDead Space at a glance Released 2023 Studio Motive Studio Player sentiment 91% positive of 70,458 Critics 87/100 Price $59.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 50 GB Accessibility 9 declared features Raw 91% shrinks to 91.0 on 70,458 reviews, then blends with the 87 critic aggregate, giving 7.9.
What the data supports- Declares 9 accessibility features, well above the catalogue norm.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Dead Space 3 at a glance Released 2020 Studio Visceral Games Player sentiment 72% positive of 14,960 Critics 78/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 10 GB Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 72% shrinks to 72.3 on 14,960 reviews, then blends with the 78 critic aggregate, giving 6.7.
What the data supports- Small install at 10 GB.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Dead Space game we can score is Dead Space 2 at 8.2. The lowest is Dead Space 3 at 6.7, a 1.5-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2009 to 2023. The later entries score lower than the earlier ones: the series has been trending down.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Dead Space (2008) at $19.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Dead Space 2, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Dead Space entries on Steam:
- Verified: Dead Space (2008)
- Playable: Dead Space 2, Dead Space 3, Dead Space
Platforms across the series
Where the 4 Dead Space games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 4 of 4 |
| PlayStation | 1 of 4 |
| Xbox | 1 of 4 |
The Dead Space series, game by game
Every Dead Space game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2009
You are Isaac Clarke, an engineer on the spacecraft USG Ishimura. You're not a warrior. You're not a soldier. You are, however, the last line of defense for the remaining living crew. (Steam)
Plot
Setting and characters Dead Space is set in the year 2508, a time when humanity has spread throughout the universe. Following near-extinction of humans on Earth due to resource shortages, ships dubbed "Planetcrackers" are being used to harvest resources from barren planets. The oldest Planetcracker is the USG Ishimura , which is performing an illegal mining operation on the planet Aegis VII. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical reception Reception Dead Space received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Upon release, Dead Space earned universal acclaim from many journalists. Matt Leone of 1Up. (Wikipedia)
- 2011
Dead Space 2
8.2Three years after the Necromorph infestation aboard the USS Ishimura, Isaac Clarke awakens from a coma, confused, disoriented, and on a space station called The Sprawl. Explore this world and its zero-g environments to discover the truth about the Unitology and its role in the Necromorph epidemic. (Steam)
Plot
Setting and characters Dead Space 2 takes place in the year 2511, three years after the events of Dead Space . The action takes place on the Sprawl, a space station built by the Earth Government (EarthGov) in the remains of Saturn 's moon Titan in a period where humanity survived near-extinction due to resource depletion by mining other planets. During the previous game's events on the planet Aegis VII, an artifact called the Red Marker−copied from an… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Dead Space 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, while the Xbox 360 version received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Reviews gave general praise to the game for its atmosphere and design, with several critics calling it an improvement over the original. Both Thierry Nguyen of 1Up. (Wikipedia)
- 2020
Dead Space 3
6.7Journey across space to the icy planet of Tau Volantis with Isaac Clarke and Sgt. John Carver to discover and destroy the source of the Necromorph outbreak. (Steam)
Plot
Setting and characters The central cast of Dead Space 3 ; from left to right, Isaac Clarke , Jennifer Santos, Austin Buckell, Ellie Langford, Robert Norton, and John Carver. Dead Space 3 is set in the 26th century. In the backstory, resource-starved humanity experimented with an alien artifact called the Black Marker, which triggered dementia and mental illness, and changed corpses into monsters called Necromorphs. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical response Reception Dead Space 3 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . During the 2013 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards, Dead Space 3 was nominated in the categories "Animation, Interactive"; "Direction in a Game Cinema"; "Sound Effects"; and "Use of Sound, Franchise". Upon its release, Dead Space 3 received generally positive reviews from critics, many of… (Wikipedia)
- 2023
Dead Space
7.9The sci-fi survival-horror classic returns, completely rebuilt to offer an even more immersive experience — including visual, audio, and gameplay improvements — while staying faithful to the original game’s thrilling vision. (Steam)
Plot
The Dead Space franchise is set in the future, where humanity has been able to colonize other planets. By the 23rd century, humanity has used up most of Earth's natural resources, and the world governing body, EarthGov, has fleets of "planet crackers", giant mining spaceships that harvest resources by breaking apart other planets, to gather materials for humanity to sustain itself. During the 23rd century, EarthGov researchers find a double helix -shaped… (Wikipedia)
Reception
The main series Dead Space games have been critically acclaimed. The first Dead Space in particular is often considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time , with its innovations in the survival horror genre highlighted. In an article on the series from 2018, Game Informer said the title stood out for its unique gameplay gimmicks and atmosphere compared to other video games of the time. (Wikipedia)
Dead Space, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Dead Space vs other series
How Dead Space stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Dead Space vs Wolfenstein, Dead Space vs Amnesia, Dead Space vs A Plague Tale, Dead Space vs Danganronpa, Dead Space vs Doki Doki Literature, Dead Space vs Dying Light, Dead Space vs Friday the 13th, Dead Space vs Killing Floor, Dead Space vs Left 4 Dead, Dead Space vs Outlast, Dead Space vs Steins;Gate, Dead Space vs The Evil Within
Common questions
How many Dead Space games are there?
We hold 4 Dead Space games in the catalogue, released between 2009 and 2023. 4 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Dead Space game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Dead Space 2 rates highest at 8.2. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Dead Space games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2009 to 2023. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.