Steam Makes One of 2011's Best Games Free for Some Users

Some Steam users are getting one of 2011's best games for free, and we say some because there's a pretty pricey requirement upfront. Next year, 2023, there are some major releases. In fact, if everything delivers and isn't delayed, it could end up being one of the biggest years in gaming history. That's a big "if" though. That said, one thing gamers can presumably count on is one of the first big releases of the year, and that's the remake of Dead Space. Not only is it difficult to mess up a remake, but it's even harder to mess up a remake of a great game, especially if it's as limited in scope and ambition as the first Dead Space is.  The free game isn't for the remake though, but for the original Dead Space 2. If you pre-order the remake of Dead Space, you will receive a free Steam copy of Dead Space 2 on release day, which is January 27. This will cost you $60 and requires a leap of faith as you have to purchase the game before reviews come out and public opinion reveals whether or not it's a competent remake. 

Released in 2011, Dead Space 2 is a survival horror game developed by the now-shuttered Visceral Games and published by EA. A sequel to 2008's Dead Space, it sold a few million copies in its lifetime and garnered Metacritic scores ranging from 87 to 90, depending on the platform. In other words, it was one of the bigger games of its year, though EA with its unrealistic standards deemed it a commercial failure alongside the series as a whole.

"In Dead Space 2, you join Isaac Clarke, the Systems Engineer from Dead Space, as he wakes up three years after the horrific events on the USG Ishimura," reads an official blurb about the game. "The Ishimura was a Planetcracker-class starship besieged by grotesque reanimations of its dead crew, known as 'Necromorphs.' After unearthing a strange artifact known as the Marker, Isaac finds himself on the Sprawl, a giant space station in orbit around Saturn. Unable to remember how he got here and plagued with demented visions of his dead girlfriend Nicole, he must survive another nightmarish outbreak of Necromorphs as he fights his way towards an answer he hopes will end all the chaos."

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