A door in front of you beckons to be opened. Shaking off the horror and carnage you’ve seen, you move through into what appears to be a church sanctuary. It’s cold, dark and eerily quiet, yet it still glows as a beacon of salvation, a spiritual release from the terror experienced by your earthly body.

Suddenly, descending from above, a towering three-legged beast pins you to the floor, screaming an ear-shattering wail and stabbing at you with a javelin-sized stinger. You toss from right to left, struggling to aim your weapon at the pulsating, oozing sac dangling from what appears to be an open rib cage, and you suddenly realize that this monster was once human, just like you. A few well-placed blasts send the beast scurrying up the wall past the altar—but your fight hasn’t ended, for the struggle has awakened a pack of rabid, child-sized impish zombies. The demons descend upon you like a gaggle of hyenas, furiously slicing and biting with their razor teeth and nails. Unable to get a clean shot, you swing your weapon and stomp frantically, hoping to find exodus from this terror, but the rush keeps coming as the pack grows in number, and your chances for escape dwindle into the darkness.

This pulse-pounding scene is just one of the seemingly endless number of battle sequences created by the sick and twisted minds at Visceral Games for DEAD SPACE 2 (coming from Electronic Arts January 25 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC). This sequel to 2008’s critically acclaimed DEAD SPACE rejoins protagonist Isaac Clarke as he continues to battle the growing Necromorph infestation, while seeking answers behind the government and the Church of Unitology’s involvement in the mental illness claiming the lives of hundreds amidst the space colonies.

Creating a sequel to one of the most horrific and psychologically terrorizing titles in gaming history was certainly a daunting task, but it was one that Visceral’s creative team approached with great zeal. According to creative director Wright Bagwell, “We had a bunch of goals with the sequel. In the first game, we felt Isaac wasn’t a deep character; he was the prototypical voiceless Everyman. It was a little frustrating the way the missions were structured—basically a series of people calling you up saying, ‘Isaac, go do this or do that.’ It gave the impression that the other people in the game weren’t experiencing the same type of horror you were, like they were sitting at a desk, watching you on a security camera. We really wanted to get rid of the feeling that you were just there to be bossed around.”

For the whole story, pick up FANGORIA #299, on sale this month. Go here for full issue details, and here to subscribe to the magazine!

Fangoria - Terror Tidbits