Beat on Hard. I didn't want to try Impossible because it sounded too difficult, but most likely would have been able to handle it from what I have read. It started out very difficult with those axe wielding necros, and I died a few times getting used to the controls. I used the smg for humans and plasma cutter for necros. By the time I got to the spaceship graveyard, I swapped out the smg for a line gun. I loved that line gun and kept it for most of the game. Put damage, rate of fire and clip circuits, damage support and electricity mods, and force gun secondary (with rate of fire and clip circuits). It maxed out on damage and could kill most enemies in 1 hit. The big horizontal beam could hit multiple limbs and enemies. I would aim for the legs, which would usually sever both. It was also great for hitting multiple tentacles. The problem was the very slow rate of fire which was way too slow for multiple enemies. The force gun fixed that though, and with proper timing it was no trouble to keep enemies knocked down and then cut off those nice stationary legs. I kept the plasma cutter as my other weapon and put a rivet gun on it for extra ammo, but it was not a great weapon. I tried to be as cheap as possible, using what I found for free rather than crafting. I should have dismantled that smg but I was not familiar enough with the crafting system yet. Instead I waited until finding 2 military parts to make an assault rifle with underbarrel shotgun. This weapon was my MVP, seeing a lot of use, being my boss killer, and getting me out of sticky situations. I focused the AR on damage, reload and clip, while the shotgun was where I put those +2 damage -X circuits. Mods were scope (later the full zoom) and ammo box. The AR had a comfortable rate of fire and I found it extremely effective, especially against those skeletal enemies. I later tried pulse rifle but felt the higher damage per second was not worth the higher ammo consumption. The bullpup was the best being a straight damage upgrade from the AR. And that shotgun had maxed damage and would disintegrate enemies in 1 shot. But I did not realize there were stat caps and my circuits were not optimized.
I had a bit of trouble with the unkillable enemies at the shuttle because I thought it was a homage to the previous game (I think it was 2 that had you finally kill the bastard with an engine). So I kept trying to lure him into the fire only to die to it myself. The whole shuttle flying sequence was dumb. Like why not go very slow and have the guys outside shooting the mines? I took a lot of damage fighting the crab boss because I did not know to circle around the obstacles to avoid getting charged, and the drill boss was annoying with all the adds. The biggest problem was decending into the giant monster with the probe gun. I really should have taken the scope off my rifle because that loss of peripheral vision got me killed several times. Then after I got stuck in the cage and had to watch a video playthrough to get out. Oh I had to hold kinesis on the switch when every other time I had to hold it, there was "hold" displayed. By the time I got to the final base and started encountering power armor necros, I felt the line gun was no longer cutting it and replaced it with a chain gun. That was a sweet gun, but not long after I had to begin regularly crafting ammo. Before that I tried out the arc welder but found it too slow and harder to aim compared to the line gun.
The final stretch of the game was intense and I was very impressed with how much content was in the game. That final battle in the disposal optional mission was by far the most difficult part of the game; holy fuck the sheer amount of enemies and lack of cover. It took several tries. My general strategy for combat was to hold up somewhere that would minimize their ability to flank. I would fall back through doors to use as cover, or make them come after me through the vents. Some enemies seemed to get stuck or vanish after going into vents. I also liked letting the cultists and necros fight each other. I died a lot at the corrosive gas sequence because I was doing my usual slow and steady pace. Several deaths later I realized I was supposed to run fast. Then for some reason the loot in the entire base respawned, so I went everywhere again (except into the optional mission). The last optional alien artifact mission was tough, with those damn regenerators but I did not have much trouble. The chain gun wrecked the alien necros. I did have to make some health kits late game, but I was rich with resources. It was more of a challenge keeping enough inventory space open to carry loot. The very end of the game was silly, with running and flying through floating land. It was way too convenient how things just happened to come together to create an easily traversable path, while simultaneously being very annoying with instant deaths for not moving fast enough. I really think that entire part should not have been in the game. The final boss fight was easy. It was pretty good but felt like it could have done more.
Then I beat on Pure Survival, using the engineer suit early on to max out inventory. I almost ran out of ammo in the beginning. By the time I jumped off the train I only had 2 shots in the plasma cutter. I decided to skip the line gun until I found a free heavy frame and struggled for a while around the reactor with just the cutter and smg. Then I remembered there were no parts to find in this mode. So I made the line gun, dismantled the cutter to put the secondary force gun, and dismantled the smg to make a rifle with shotgun. Pretty much the same weapons I used before only they were better optimized with circuits, and later upgraded to AR and bullup. I also used damage support instead of scope, and found it to be much better. I did the first optional mission but skipped the rest. Resources were tight, with somatic gel for health packs being the most limiting. Even with saving health upgrades for when I needed healing, spending a few hours farming with that scavenger bot early on, and using ration seals, I barely had enough health kits to beat the game. I also never got circuits better than +2 +1, but knowing what was coming made the game easier. I decided to stick with the line gun longer to see how long it would be viable late game. It lasted until the first alien necro. The line gun sucks against them, probably because their limbs are too spread out and moving around too much. I had to change it but wanted to try out something else rather than go straight to chain gun. The trip mine launcher was interesting. Combined with the force gun it easily wrecked power armor and other late game necros, but took the full clip to kill an alien. Not good enough. Even though the concept of setting up trip mines for the next ambush was great, they far too often deployed with the wrong orientation. Also tried rocket launcher but that was a huge downgrade compared to a max damage grenade launcher. Back to chain gun then, and the rest of the end game was not much different from standard.
Beat on Classic using the engineer suit from beating the game, and the bonus resources from beating Pure Survival, which I used to craft a javelin gun and pulse rifle. The javelin was interesting but I really missed having that force gun knockback. A javelin shot followed by lightning was death for early enemies, with the lightning being a small area effect. But it was not good at melee range, especially against multiple enemies. I switched to the force gun as soon as I could, after conning tower, and went around with force and javelin; knockback followed by a javelin shot and electrification was a good combo. The force alt fire was my main attack for the rest of the game. It was easy to max out damage and I could kill most enemies in 2 shots; blow off a leg and then blow off an arm. But sometimes it was difficult to hit crawling enemies. It had poor clip and rate of fire, so I improved those with circuits. It was annoying to switch the circuits from the javelin to the pulse for the skeletal enemies, crab boss and humans; eventually I just stopped using the javelin. The pulse rifle was significantly inferior to the assault rifle because of how quickly it could burn through its clip, which lead to frequently having to reload during combat. The grenade was pretty good, especially following a force knockdown of multiple enemies, but I had to start crafting ammo much sooner than my Standard run. Otherwise it went very similar to Standard. I stockpiled a ton of health kits, only having to craft them near the end. I missed not having to worry about inventory management from Pure Survival, but getting max slots early on helped. I spent an hour or 2 farming that infinite bot spot at the Roanoke, but it was not needed at all. I maxed out the rig, crafted some extra unitologist circuits (still never found all the alien or military artifacts), and did all the torque rod rooms and optional missions. Even disposal with that dreaded fight at the end, but I beat it first try without dying. Probably helped that I knew what was coming, was liberal with grenades, and filled my inventory with a ton of ammo and health. I definitely missed the chain gun and bullpup, as they had much better dps than my classic guns. Those power armor necros could take almost 2 full clips of force shots to take down, and the aliens were even tougher; I ran past a lot of them. There were a lot more sticky combat situations and having to run around reloading, but it was a fun experience. I did notice more horror touches, such as foreshadowing of enemies, unless I missed that on the previous 2 runs. Some fights also played out significantly differently, like with slower spawns, more reluctant enemies, or enemies more willing to pursue through doors. I think Pure Survival was the most difficult. Imagine combining Pure Survival and Classic. No way am I touching Hardcore.
This is a difficult game to rate. It is extremely well crafted, to the point where I wanted to beat it 3 times back to back. It has great user friendliness, replayability, story and core gameplay. I didn't have a problem with the more action focus or coop. Much of the core gameplay is still Dead Space horror, with that psychological horror created by the atmosphere and not always knowing when you will be jumped. There were a few jump scares that got me, even some that were not scripted, just regular enemies. The part that bothered me the most were the coop only missions. At least let me try to solo them. I do not like relying on other people to experience content. Next in line were the microtransactions. The entire scavenger bot minigame should not have even been in the game because it breaks the pace of play and potentially infinite resources hurts survival horror. But the way you spend ration seals, with 1 button to use the seals and another to use real money, was downright predatory. I was worried that I would press the wrong button and spend real money instead, even though I am pretty sure there would be a confirmation screen. It was very immersion breaking as well, as were the times when resource deposits, loot containers, loose loot, and corpses that I smashed or moved, mysteriously respawned. I did not like the ridiculous high octane action cutscenes, and especially the quick time events, despite them being very easy. Either give me full control of the character or let me sit back and watch like a movie; QTEs are not gameplay. I can definitely see EA's greedy influence on the game and why it was so heavily criticized, but the game was immensely better than I expected. Without the greed and Call of Duty influences this could have easily been a masterpiece.
I did get the online pass to work. I was not sure it would come with the game given I got it free from xbox gold, but it seems to be free now. Another predatory anti consumer practice. I would like to play the coop missions but have no idea if I can find someone.
8.2/10 for the game
1.0/10 for EA
